hard to handle... help!

[autumn75]

Ok, so last night I attempted to handle my new baby. Let me just say she is TERRIFIED of being touched and held! She is so fast too and just stretches straight forward and stiffens up like a little metal rod! She relaxed twice in the whole 5 minutes I was holding her and even wrapped her tail around my pinkie very briefly. But every time she felt the tip of my finger on her she tried with all her might to zoom away. It was all I could do to not drop her!

Is this normal for a hatchling whose probably never been handled much before... and do you think I might be able to hand tame her? :shrugs:

My first corn was nothing like this at all!

[bitsy]

Absolutely normal. They have different characters and some will take longer to relax with humans than others. Stay calm, be gentle and be patient - time is the key to taming them down.

Look on the bright side - at least she isn't trying to bite you!

[Jcapicy]

And if she were, it's not like it hurts, especially at that age.

[autumn75]

I know, I think she would've tried by now. I have seen her flatten her head, but no strike attempts.

While I was holding her, after she wrapped around my pinkie, she suddenly moved backward sinking back into my hand, then relaxed a few seconds before trying to bolt forward again.

This is the first snake I've seen move backward before. She's been doing it in her viv too. I would think that would be hard on the ventral scales.

[wade]

Try cupping your hands together like you were holding a bird in them. Give the snake a nice warm, dark, place to hide in your hands and just hold her that way for a while. She can feel secure and safe in your hands and will maybe calm down.

[Weebonilass]

Kieran, my oldest, was on a suicide mission, I swear when he was little. He was constantly trying to zoom out of my hands. How I never dropped him I don't know, because he was super fast too.. Never anchored himself at all, which made me even more paranoid :) I tended to sit down with him.. just in case :) Kieran still tends to not anchor, but he's not so fast to try to dive out of my hands now. Of course at over 5feet, it's alot easier to keep ahold of him too.

Gailleann always tries to move backwards out of my hands, she was the first, but my new guy from Dean is a champion at moving backwards. He'll have his head out of his hide, then see me looking at him and he's back in like a turtle. :) Growing up in rack systems, being out in the open must be a little overwhelming ;)

[Snake Dave]

Kieran, my oldest, was on a suicide mission, I swear when he was little. He was constantly trying to zoom out of my hands. How I never dropped him I don't know, because he was super fast too.. Never anchored himself at all, which made me even more paranoid :)

Salazar was just like Kieran. He'd zoom around, and literally go flying out of my hands. He didn't anchor himself either. He was my first snake and I was a complete newb, and didn't really know a lot about handling. He flew out of my hands once and fell 2 feet on to carpet. Thankfully there wasn't any damage, but I worried like heck afterwards.

But he's calmed down since, and is great to handle now. So to the OP; don't worry, he'll be great in no time. :)

All the best

David

[Morph Collector]

I have a BP that over a year and a half of handling has NOT calmed down. I thought for some reason that all ball pythons were easy to handle, but its not the case. Corns are more flighty, by being tagged by larger teeth sucks. What I am trying to say here is that you just got to know your snakes quirks, the one I am talking about was nippy as a baby, and I admit, I only handle them a few times a week, but the others are nice (for the most part big ole babies) and she waits for me to mess up, or take my eyes off of her and BAM! im tagged by a few rows of python fangs.

[Maize411]

Since it's only been 5 days I'm not attempting to hold my new baby yet..I'm gonna try and feed her for the first time tomorrow and then maybe in 3 days or so I will start her hand taming..from the way she acts while in her tank though..I'm pretty sure I'm going to be experiencing something similar to what you are facing..heh..It's just gonna take time and patience...:dancer:

[Voodoo]

autumn,

what you've described is normal, as the others here have stated. It just takes time. Keep in mind that to this little snake, you are a GIIIIIIAAAAAANT! LOL.

A neat trick I've shared with others on this forum is to buy a plain white t-shirt and sleep in it for a couple nights. Then, place the t-shirt in the snake's viv for a couple days.. Then, try handling her. The idea is that the snake becomes accustomed to your scent, and relaxes more easily the next time you decide to invade her space with your GIIIIIIAAAANT hand. :)

[Maize411]

My snake's current enclosure is much to small for a t-shirt..but I may tray that with a glove or something...it sounds like a good idea :0)

[autumn75]

Thank you all for the advice and reassurance! I'm really going to need support with this one. We tried feeding her last night but she was not interested, which didn't surprise me. I think she's going to take a lot longer to settle in.

The good news is that after I returned her to her viv (post feed attempt) she was really active and watching us while being out and about. I have her viv on a table beside the couches in the living room and she has been watching me handling the other 2 snakes every day, so maybe she'll figure out we're not out to kill her in the next week or so and the tension will ease up... or at least i'm hoping!

[serpantMASTER210]

yeah just be patient thats what im doing with my yearling hes about 2 and a half feet long. ive had him for about 6 weeks now and he still bites be sometimes 2 or 3 times every time i try to take him out of his tabnk

[serpantMASTER210]

oh and when he bites it dosnt evrn hurt or leace a scratch or anything

[Nanci]

Things might have gone better for you if you had given her a week to settle in with no handling, then attempted to feed her.

[autumn75]

I agree, Nanci. Live and learn! :)