Kleos journal.

[Bart]

Ok, my dear fellow garter keepers, Kleo's just fine. It's time to teach her that pinkies are good stuff. I will soon get them and scent them with fish. I understand, ribbons can actually eat pinkies, do they? I mean with any harm...
After that, the time will come to tame her to the point, she won't freaks out, when handled. Is this even possible with eastern ribbon snakes?

Cheers from Kleosland.

[guidofatherof5]

Pinkies are fine for ribbons. Scenting with fish should do the trick and eventually you make not need to scent.

Taming is not only possible but shouldn't be too much of a problem.
Just do it at your snakes speed, not yours.

[Bart]

My speed? Dude, good joke. I'm working like a clock around her. Kleo wants to eat, shows it to Bart, Bart obeys. And so on.

Anyway, I'm still little afraid of handling her. I remaind you, she's my first snake and we all have some sort of fear about snakes in our DNA. Kleo has to get used to me, just like I have to get used to her. Dang, who's taming who? She didn't bite me ever, but she can sometimes do a deathroll like cobra or crocodile and that freaks me out.

[d_virginiana]

My speed? Dude, good joke. I'm working like a clock around her. Kleo wants to eat, shows it to Bart, Bart obeys. And so on.

Wait... You mean some people don't live their lives based on the whims of their animals? But I thought that was the only way!

[PINJOHN]

my own inexperiences with ribbons is not good, i have not had any for more than ten years and when i did i never managed to stop them being very skittish, i think the problem was that they were always wild caught snakes, Shannon has her's eating out of her hand [literally] and her's are captive bred.
don't worry about being nervous handling the snakes your confidence will come with time, i still remember my first experiences with my grassnakes.

[Mommy2many]

My ribbon was a spazz but you could hold him with no musking or biting. Good luck!

[ConcinusMan]

Shannon has her's eating out of her hand [literally] and her's are captive bred.

Honestly, CB or WC in my experience doesn't matter. Some tame, some don't. WC or CB.

[kibakiba]

And some come to you tame, like Squirt and then turn into wild little beasties for no reason! Squirt was almost meaner than Snap! I've never seen a garter snake flatten its head, open its mouth and wave its head around like a little crazy snake! It was kind of cute though.

[Bart]

One of my swordtail just avoided death for fifth time in two weeks, when I was trying to feed him to Kleo. He had incredible luck - Kleo missed him and ate smelt instead few times or was too full to even bother. Hence, I decided to spare his life and keep him as a pet. His new name is Lucky. Bad news for his pal, though...

[RedSidedSPR]

we all have some sort of fear about snakes in our DNA.

eh... i wouldn't say that. I never did. You shouldn't worry too much, she can't hurt you.

But I understand

Honestly, CB or WC in my experience doesn't matter. Some tame, some don't. WC or CB.

I agree. My WC is tamer than one of my CBs.. but that'll probably change eventually. Still, that's very true.