Handling feisty snakes - Info

[mcald]

If i don't want a snake to bite me, I will gently tail it. I do it because it works best for me.

[Battery Acid]

This thread could do with some videos.

[SiUK]

with agressive snakes I hook them and tub them, the WDB is quite flighty and not good on a hook, I use two hooks to control her she doesnt strike much but always looks on the verge of striking, so I take no chances.

[Rain]

I collected my japanese rat snake (currently about 3.5ft) on saturday. Yesterday I took it out to give it a quick check over. Proceeded to get bitten about 8-9 times, all down the sides of the hands, and on the wrist. It flicks it's tail as hard as it can, and has taken to holding on with its mouth. I knew when I bought it, that it hadn't been handled enough and would be very feisty. However, I still have hopes that regular handling, and learning that I wont harm it, it'll calm down.

So, currently, I'm approaching it without hooks and gloves, and just taking the tags, only so it gets used to the idea of being free handled.

[ern79]

i havent owned any truly aggressive retics but i have owned a few testy ones that i have calmed down, i always use a hook, get a good loop about mid body, try and get them looking away from me and then ever so gently, start trying to touch them on the rear half, never by the tip of the tail, that always gets them jumpy, i build to trying to cradle the snake in one hand and gently coax it off the hook until such time as i am supporting the tail(probably wrapped around one hand) and the front part of the body, no sudden movements and then let the snake see what it wants to do. repeat this until the snake builds confidence in you.

[Ian.g]

my tiger retic was a bit of a swine! (nearly went through the glass having a pop once!) with him it was mainly a viv thing so i just used to use a large hook and get him around a third of the way down and gently pull him from the viv then get hold of him about a third of the way down and he was generaly ok unless i tried to restrain him too much! one of my male bulls was pretty fiesty..but my only method there was ignore and just pick him up anyway lol...my female woma is a VERY sneaky one! she will let you take her out with very little hassle...but once you have her she will literally just latch on to you and chew...and chew...and chew...and...so now with her i just hook her out and tub her whilst cleaning etc. my female Tai i had was a bit fiesty..and with some tips from Steve (original poster) i managed to get her very handleable..by simply giving her her own space and not disturbing her too much...and also i put her in a viv with much less activity going on outside it and just gradualy let her calm and stop being so defensive in general...after that i would just go pretty much straight in (as advised) and jently get her from her last two thirds and get her out that way, as when i hesitated etc that seemed to be when she would get more nervous and fiesty herself....she was very wriggly and tense for a while whilst being handled but after a few weeks she soon became more relaxed, again she seemed worse whilst out if i tried restraining her too much...

[chubz]

i have an agressive royal python andmy method is to aproach the snake with a flat hand towards the snake and this appears to work with him as i think in his eyes it looks like a solid surface, so if he strikes he cant grab my habd this method has faild once with me as he bit my thumb

[07dowr]

Handling snakes is great just don't grab it behind the head as this will destress it and could cause injury

[solezram]

I agree with snickers, handle confidently, reassuringly, letting the the snake have a certain amount of freedom moving thru your hands. Obviously the amount of freedom would vary from species to species or snake to snake. Holding too tightly will stress the animal as does limiting movement too much.

I've noticed that different people who've been around herps for years all have their own ways. The above works for me. I'm amazed at people picking up black pines and handling them like they've a taipan in their arms.

If handling deadly snakes then take proper precaution but for most colubrids and many boids an overkill approach will stress the poor snake unnecessarily and increase the likelihood of being bitten.

[chubz]

YouTube - Big Snake Bites and Wraps around Woman
wach this