First Handling

Hi All,
Just about to handle my ghost baby for the first time. I have just lifted him hide out and he is sat on the aspen bedding looking all cosy, but looks nervous when i go near him. I presume this is because he has never really been handled before, he is curled up, but his neck is like a zig zag, looks like he might want to strike at me if i get too close, might be wrong though. Any tips for how to approach him best? I dont wana scare him but want him to become comfortable around me. Hope anyone can reply as quick as possible, because im about to attempt the pick up!!

An update on my previous post. I slowly put my hand into the tank towards him, and he moved his head towards me flicking his tongue, he then quickly turned and shot off into the corner of the tank by the glass. He looked nervous and scared. I suppose I should give him a few more days to settle in? Anyone else had problems when first handling?

then gentle pick him up.... just be slow moving... let him know your not going to eat him. I first handleing doesnt have to be very long, even a few moments gets the ball rolling just be careful because he will more than likely try to zip away from you...

LOL oh ya.... I bought 9 out of the shell... for them I was the totally snake eating monster.... tail rattleing... bitting out... one even had his mouth wide open and went for my nose hehe they are cute when they are feisty but they do take wayyyyy down after just a few handeling sessions A month later and I open the tops, they look at me like "ok...where are we off to today?"

Well I thought i would leave him for a bit, and he had just gone back into his hide, but as I type he has just come back out for a wonder. Would you recommend I really slowly pick him up for a few moments then, or leave him for the day?

I find it easier to take mine out quickly. If I approach slowly he either looks at me with that 'Ooh, food' shine to his eyes, or scarpers. If I just lower my hand and pick him up fast, he has less time to react. He seems a lot calmer that way.

I would pick him up for a few moments.... as long as he has had his time for getting used to the place and hasnt eaten recently....I say go for it be slow but precise... going slow doesnt mean chasing him all over the tank , that would stress him out very quickly... just get close and gentle pic him up let him know you arent going to eat him and then when you go to put him away.... let him crawl from your hand so he knows hands are always big bad things

Well he has been in his new home for 24 hours, and last ate 52hrs ago??

Right, tried again, and everytime my hand touches him he shoots off in another direction. He really isnt having it! I tried a couple of times and he was just shooting from one corner of the tank to the other. Ive given up again because Im scared of stressing him out too much.

I agree on doing it fairly quick but smooth. If you chase him around tank he will get stressed. But you don't want to go so fast he feels like he is being attacked. I know this is not a great description but its the best way I can explain it. Good luck!

Do you think, after my 2 failed attempts this morning, that I should leave him the rest of the day. Or try again in a few hours?

That's a lot of excitement for one small snake: I'd leave him alone for the rest of the day.

FWIW, those tiny baby teeth aren't going to be able to do you any harm. I was once trying to pick up a baby in a pet store to look at him, and one of the other snakes in the tank hit me three times before I even realized he was trying to bite me!

The usual advice is to wait three days before handing him at all, although a healthy percentage of folks ignore that rule. I would say that if you are going to fuss about it so much, you should probably just go in there and get him out and get it over with. Then you'll be happy, he'll get to rest for a day - hopefully - and you will have started on the road to bonding. I will note that after mine was done digesting in the early days, I would chase after him if it came to that. Handling time was determined by me, not my snake. Nowadays I tend to only pull him out for handling when he's not hiding. He still isn't too keen on being extracted from his viv, but he's fine once he's out and shows no indication of problems from stress.

-Sean

Thanks for everyones advice. I will let you know how my next attempt goes!

Hello!

I remember very well how hard it was at first to manage to handle my first corn. Se seemed to be lightning fast and I was scared of her jumping out of her smartbox and escaping, which didn't make it easier at all. It gets a lot easier once you manage to do it a couple of times and gain some confidence.

Well, on to the advice part:
It took me a million tries to get my first snake out of the box. What finally worked for me was when I saw a video on youtube of someone picking up their baby snake. The snake was curled up iside a turned-over flowerpot. The owner picked up the flowerpot calmly but determinedly and scooped up a few "rounds" of the snake. This works fine also with my younger (and really feisty) bloodred. If the snake is sort of curled up when it ends up on your hand, it can't just immediately shoot off like a rocket,which givesit time to realise the situaton and calm down, as I see it.

Since your snake is apparently a little nervous by now, I would wait until it settles and seems sort of drowsy - any tries of handling my bloodred when he's already up and moving around are absolutely doomed. Though he's apparetly finally starting to calm up with age, as I'm sure yours will do too

I guess teh main point would be that the more of the snake you get in your hand when scooping it up, the better. Especially if it's already sort of around your fingers.

I hope this was of some help, even if it wasn't the clearest explanation ever.

Thankyou Liselle. He has been in his hide since the last attempt. I may wait until tonight now (bout another 5-6 hours) and try once more, this time not giving up until i hold him for at least 30 seconds or so, so he knows im not trying to eat him. I will try and be a bit more positive and confident aswell i think. I suppose i was 'pussy footing' aroundhim earlier!
How old is your bloodred now? Does he handle better?

He is approaching 1 year and isn't a problem anymore. At some point I found it easier to move him into - and especially OUT of! - his feeding box by just waiting until he was in his cardboard roll hide (from a kitchen roll xD) and move the whole roll into the feeding box... And then waiting until he returned to the roll after eating (only took a few minutes, usually) and putting the whole roll back to the bigger terrarium. He seemed to think EVERYTHING was food once he got soething. o_o But as I said, the bigger he gets the more he calms down, just like 99% of corns apparently do. So no worries

He did bite me once when he had just arrived.... Was 3 months old at that point. Poor thing thought he was going to be eaten, I guess.

- Lissu

Right, well I attempted it once more, he showed the same scared signs, but I managed to lift his body with one hand and he stayed in it for a little while. He stayed stretched out and moved between my hands for a short time, whilst trying to get out of the top of the tank! I then let him move onto the plant I have that is attached to the back panel of the tank, and he stayed up there for about 10minutes after I had put the lid back on. Before climbing down when he thought the coast was clear and going back into his hide!
Im glad I managed it, because I wont be so nervous next time, and hopefully after repeating this a couple more times he will start to relax a bit more. Thanks for everyones help and advice! I do have a picture I took of him in my hand which I shall try and post at some point.

I can remember those days! It will get better. :grin01:

So here is a pic of my first handling session! Not the best pic, but at least there was contact!!