Pic of my eastern

[bulrush]

Here is my new wild caught eastern, about 14 inches long. This guy is pretty nervous. Are males typically more nervous about being held? All he wants to do is get away.

How should I tame him? Should I not touch him for a week so he gets used to his new home? Or should I hold him several times per day starting right away?

Thanks.

[Sid]

I would give it time to get settled in due to getting it to eat. Once it's feeding well, then start gentle handling.

[enigma200316]

I agree with Sid, and I would also like to see some more pics..........

[Zephyr]

I've found that being present while they're feeding or hand feeding is the best way to tame them down. Very nice snake, looks like one of the reduced melanin easterns.

[bulrush]

They call it a "reduced melanin"? I just call it an olive base color.

[Zephyr]

They call it a "reduced melanin"? I just call it an olive base color.

Same dif. :P

[anji1971]

Nice snake!!
I've found that my new one is calming down quite nicely, with a bit of daily handling, and my presence while she eats.
She didn't eat more than one little worm the first week, and I had to put it in her tank and step back for her to go after it, but the second week she nailed two monster-sized nightcrawlers, in the separate feeding bin, before deciding she was nervous!!
It seems to get easier as time goes on..........just keep trying!

[bulrush]

Oddly enough, this snake escaped sometime Saturday afternoon. I have a "fish room" where I keep the snake cage, as it has my fish tanks. I went into the fish room to explain to my son that I could not find the snake. The conversation went like this:

"Hi Trevor. I have some bad news. Pilot (the snake's name) escaped sometime yesterday. So we'll have to --AAAAHHHHH!"

The snake was on the floor 2 feet away staring at me. So I picked him up and put him in a container with much higher walls. He is only 14 inches long so I don't think he can climb out. The good thing is he didn't run away when I grabbed him. It's like he heard/felt my voice and came out to see me.

Anyway, in his original container I had cut a slot to put the thermometer wire through. The hole was significantly smaller than his head, but I think he got through that hole.

Weird coincidences have been happening like that for the past 2 weeks. 2 weeks ago when my son and I went snake hunting the conversation went something like this:

Me: We'll start here because we usually start finding snakes right--
Trevor: There goes one!

Yep. It was another water snake zipping towards the stream.

(I'm doing a survey of all snakes in a local park, logging weather, snake type, snake length, noise levels, etc. Not officially for anyone, just for my curiosity.)

[bulrush]

This guy has a very long tongue. Does that mean anything?

Also, how do I sex garters?

[drache]

pretty snake - a nice find