Handling feisty snakes - Info

[snakeeyes75]

Originally Posted by shaun348

Hey everyone just joined this forum. when im dealing with feisty snakes mostly are rat snakes and blood python i tend to just lay my arm or hand next to them for few minutes so the get used to me. then most of the time i get them from behind the neck. i have found out from my experiences that they normally calm down after a minute or two then you can let go of the snakes neck and they will be fine.

hi i have just got my first abberant cail king 08 snake and a bit on the keen side will it carm down . whats the best way 2 handel it

[jaynexpain]

i have a snake who is very detyermined and usually refuses to calm down for about 2 hours.... he has all the energy in the world and i love him to bits but he just finds it soooo hard to calm down and all he tries to do is escape his tank.

in this situation if i were to try and get him out of his tank i would have to open his tank doors and let him come out to me instead of me going in to him because if i go to him he does get worse and like its impossible to keep hold of him even though i can keep hold of him when he is like that but noone else can. if i were to let him come to me , he would still be troublesome but not as much as if i were to go to him.

once i get him out i have to try hold him for ages for him to calm down before i let others hold him because he seems o get extremely attatched to me. like last night he tried escaping again until i got him out and he went absolutely spare for about an hour then realised who i was and started to calm down a little - was still manic but calmer.

this behaviour seems to have gotten worse after the great escape a few weeks ago....
we found him behind the fridge in the kitchen and i consaulted a specialist and she advised to leave him in his tank on his own alone for about a week or so to let him setlle back in so we did and ya know he calmed down for a few weeks ... then my boyfriend came in and stole alot of my attention now my snake has slipped back into old ways and it hurts ya know .

i have to choose either

snake orrr boyfriend?
itis one i must think on.

hope this info helps too.
rachael

[ConstrictorCrazy]

I have a pair of Boa Constrictor Longicauda, the male is tame but the female can cause problems on her off days. She was quite tame to start with but due to breeding attempts she wasnt handled unless neccessary. She is nine foot now and quite a handful to hold if bitty.

I read one good way to handle aggressive snakes is a method called "killing the hunt". This involves using a board or something to tap the snake on the nose, at this point the snake backs off then it is much easier for me to handle her. This works brilliantly with my female, i have never treid it with other snakes as all of my others are tame.

Hope this helps, ConstrictorCrazy.

[david-w]

could u tell me how to advertise on rfuk thanks

[mkptbull]

i got a yellow rat snake and have had him for 3 months, he is 15 months old i try to handle him daily but sometimes he rares up an strikes me other times i get him out and hold him for about 15 min then he bites me for no reason he`s a right little nipper how can i tame the little bugger cos he the only snake to bite me out of the other 4 i have the royal python is soppy as hell and both corns are placid but the yellow rat snake is the most nippiest little sod i have,

[MrsRaven]

There is only one of our Royals that's likely to have a pop and that is the '07 granite female. She is very hissy and hates strangers. She used to have a go at me on a regular basis when I first had her nine months ago, but with careful handling has calmed down now to the point where she only does it if I do something really silly and freak her out. Of the others, the Amazon female is very nervy. She has only popped at me a couple of times when she didn't know me, but if I pushed my luck with her I know she'd bite, so I keep handling to a minimum and treat her with respect. Likewise the Macklots female, who can be quite bloody-minded when she feels like it. With her it's definitely a case of watching her body language and being very careful. I'm not a fan of being bitten and certainly wouldn't want to be bitten by her. She's a powerful snake and I think it might hurt! I had a male ATB who could be a bit of a tartar, but usually managed to handle him without a bite, if I had to. I find that taking the line of least resistance is best, and to be honest if I've been bitten by any of them it's usually because I've got too blasé.

[thegman]

Royal python do you feed her live food? Just wondering why she is so agressive.

[SilkySkills]

I Recently got a macklots python she's about 1yrs old now and was so agressive
when I got her home and in her viv I couldn't evan go near the viv without her stricking the glass
I'm no expert but I've noticed that pythons seam to be more agressive in the viv
Well my macklots was anyway I left her to settle in for A WEEK then started to try and handle her
I had no luck trying to pick her up in the viv so 1 day I left the viv open just a little and sure enough
She poped her head out to take a look around the living room I slowly moved my hand towards her and she just used me as a branch I put her back after about 20 mins and repeated doing so for longer each day
It took a few weeks but now I can pick her up in the viv MOST of the time but when she dosent wanna come out she let's me know

Remember to ALWAYS WASH YOUR HANDS BEFORE HANDLEING evan if you haven't been handleing food for your snake!

And if you do get biten try NOT TO RIP YOUR HAND AWAY some snakes teeth curve inwads so their prey can't escape
You could damage your snakes teeth it will let go a soon as it knows your too big

Also I've herd that feeding snakes in their vivs makes them more agressive ?

[CraigMcLean]

The title “Handling of Feisty Snakes” reminds of a particular snake I had to deal with some time ago. It is the Mozambique Spitting Cobra. Now before you all role your eyes and wonder why anyone would be d*pstick enough to discuss such a snake in this forum, I beg you, read on because there is a more universal point to this story.

I was about to do a demonstration in the snake pit at the FitzsimmonsSnakePark in Durban SA. This had become a relatively boring affair for not only myself, but for the spectators as well. The unfortunate fact was that there we were, standing in a pit full of deadly poisonous snakes that simply were even more bored than we were. The general procedure for people doing demonstrations was to try and engage the crowd with snakes that would display at least some of the traits that had made them so fearsome. The trouble was that these snakes had become so used to being handled that it was virtually impossible to convince the spectators that they were actually alive. Of course there were new snakes coming in all the time, but there was a balance that had to be struck between a new snake that was so ‘aggressive’ that it would demand all of your concentration to avoid getting bitten and a snake that had started to calm down to the point were you could commit some of your attention to the audience.

Until that day, part of my demonstration included a large Mozambique Spitting Cobra called George, if I remember the name correctly. When he first came in, he was a lovely snake. If you put him down in front of you and waved your foot in front of him, he would rear up and display his hood. He would sit there quietly rocking from side to side allowing you to continue with the talk. As soon as he started losing interest you simply had to wiggle your foot and up he would go. Sadly, George, due to his size and manageability was the preferred choice for all of the demonstrators and in a short time, George became so tame you could actually pick him up (I kid you not). He was no longer the star attraction.

On this particular day, as I was about to climb into the pit, my colleagues indicated to me a large white bucket full of air holes. It had just arrived and contained it was claimed, a Spitting Cobra to rival the “old” George. Well I am ashamed to say that all of the chuckles and eye winking between them proved too much for my ego and after a brief peek to confirm that it was indeed a Spitting Cobra; I grabbed the bucket and jumped into the pit. At the appropriate time, I opened the bucked and with the L-stick (I think you call them a snake hook here) I lifted him from the bucket and placed him on the ground in front of me. He instantly reared off the ground and spread his hood. A murmur went up through the crowed. By this time all of my work Mates had gathered to watch.

Well, this new snake, “Hitler” I think we dubbed him, once he had recovered from the shock of his sudden environment change, caught site of me. He instantly turned to face me and covered me in a spray of venom (we always wore surround glasses for this part). I carried on bravely. It was at this point the Hitler made a dart for the cover of the bushy rockery slightly to his right. Not be out done, I lunged forward and grabbed him by his tail to prevent him for disappearing into the bushes covering the rockery. He promptly reared up and confronted me with his tail raised by me and his head right up, with only about an eighth of his body touching the ground, he struck at my thighs. I avoided him with a deft skip and used the L-stick to get him under control. I turned back to face the crowd. A sea of dinner plates stared back at me. Holding him by the tail and using the L-stick to extend him away from my body I was able to continue the talk and once I had covered his species, I was relieved to put him back into his bucket. My mates all ambled off with a distinctly disappointed air and in the ratings form filled in by the spectators; I received the highest score of the year. It took about a week for Hitler to go from Hitler to Ronnie Corbett. Even Hitler got used to being handled.

The point I am trying to make here is that most snakes, with a bit of persistence will probably settle down when handled. If a snake is “nippy” or “feisty” then maybe use an L-stick about 2 thirds of the way up its body and hold his tail until he settles down as we did with “Hitler”. Different species do play a part – I have found that constrictors tend to settle more quickly than active speed hunters like Spotted Bush Snakes. At the end of the day, it’s not trying to create a fact sheet about species that is important, it is the experience gained by handling snakes that counts. One develops an instinct through experience. It is no coincidence the Steve Irwin was not killed by a snake or croc. He knew the behaviour of these animals so well that he was reacting BEFORE the animal struck. The one that killed him was the one he had the least experience with. One needs also to accept that as a snake collector you will get bitten. It goes with the territory. The quicker you learn the subtleties of your animal the less you will be bitten. I have found that the anticipation of a bite is far worse than the event. If a Mozambique Spitting cobra can become “tame” through handling then any snake can.

DISCLAIMER: This does not apply to 15 foot + Retics, Burmese or Black Mambas. Also, health and safety in the workplace was never big in Africa. Furthermore, the stress level in animals today is far more of a concern. I may add though that “Hitler” went on to be a good feeder despite his ordeal – always a good sign of a healthy snake.



Mozambique Spitting Cobra



Spotted Bush Snake

[snakewhisperer]

Some good stuff on this thread.

Having been tagged by a 9.5 foot burmese many years ago (which was spooked by a Jack Russell while I was halfway inside the large viv cleaning) I have experimented with many different ways of handling "lively" snakes. This is what I do now: with slender bodied snakes up to 6" (ish) put hand into viv confidently and fairly quickly and place over head and as much of body as poss. This makes it very difficult for them to strike up. Thai snake boxers use this method to kiss cobras on the head because they can't stike up. I've used this method with my carpet/IJ and my formally very bitey grey rat female to very good effect. With larger bodied snakes, as others have suggested, covering head while you pick them up works very well. With the vast majority of snakes, allowing them to "run" through your hands to expend their nervous energy while holding/controlling very gently usually means they will calm down quickly and become a joy to handle.