Thor - albino Cape House Snake

Thought I'd finally introduce Thor I got him as an early birthday present to myself at the beginning of March. I've been letting him settle since he's pretty shy and secretive. I figured today we'd start with just a little photo shoot. Boy was he a little jumpy towards the end.

I've never had to tame a snake before. My sand boa pretty much was mellow when I got her, the pet store did all the work. My hognose I didn't have long enough to try. Any tips for house snakes? Or should I just go in and hold him? I've tamed leopard geckos... but those guys pretty much do it themselves. I've been sticking my hand in his tank. Letting him check me out while I do tank spot cleaning. I haven't really tried to hold him yet.

Anyway his stats. When I got him he was about 10grams and born sometime in August. He was difficult to get feeding, but now he pretty much eats every week, even in shed when I don't realize he's in shed. It didn't take him long to start tagging his food off the tongs. I'm going to start with his photos from march plus his breeder's picture.

These are from today including how I have his tank set up.

Good looking Housie!

For taming, Cape house snakes usually tend to be very fast and can be very skittish at this age, when on the ground. I've had a few hatchlings that are that way in the hand too, but for the most part Capes calm down a lot once they are picked up and though they might still be a bit jumpy if something startles them, they tend to grip on to your fingers and jump away from what it is, rather than trying to shoot out of your hands altogether, like most other hatchling snakes. They are generally good to explore your hands, keeping a grip on your fingers the whole time, for long periods of time.

He will probably be skittish for quite awhile and may make you have to chase him to pick him up. But briefly handling him frequently should get him calmer about it.

Thank you Tavia

Do you find them to be nippy?

He did fine for the first few photos and then when I went to put my hand in there to put his hides in he did a jumpy popcorn thing haha. Cute little bugger that I figure it's about time we really got to know each other.

Thor is such a handsome guy. Glad to have another member of the housie club here.

My Clyde is exactly as Tavia describes. When he's out I usually hold him. I can put him down and he'll sit for a while but he can take off in a flash. I need to always be faster than him. So I don't chance it much. If given a hide of some kind when put down though, he will often go straight to it.

I do have Clyde in a 20 gallon long so he can stretch out even if I don't let him crawl around on the floor much. When he was Thor's size he was in a 10 gallon very similar to your set up which is lovely.

Well, I think Thor is great. When I got Clyde he was about the same size as you got Thor. Now he is over 100 grams. It takes a while but Thor won't be so tiny all that long. Clyde has never made a move to strike or bite, unlike my corn snakes who have each given me one very confused and accidental feeding bite. Gotta love the reptile brain moments.

Eve did bite me a couple of times in the very beginning, but of course they didn't hurt. I happened to have the big box my air conditioner came in, so I held her over that in the beginning. It was big enough that she couldn't reach the sides so she didn't try to use it to get away from me, and tall enough that if she did jump off my hands and land in it, she couldn't get back out. The scariest part was getting her out of her cage because her "popcorn" jumps were high enough to jump right out of the cage once the lid was off.

As the other ladies have said, the hardest part was catching her and getting her out, but once out, she was really good and holding on and finger-weaving. I found it was easiest to pick her up inside her favorite hide, which at that time was a toilet paper tube.

Oh, and congratulations. You're going to love holding him. They feel very different from any other snake I've ever held.

Thats so true about how they feel, albertagirl. And the finger weaving is so cool. I call it the wrap-o-rama, lol.

Which reminds me. I've got to see if Clyde pooped overnight. If he has I can clean him and then hold him this morning. He's never pooped on me either. He always does it overnight.

And I almost forgot to mention when he stretches out from my hand and flicks my face. It's so awesome!

Magdalen said:

Thank you Tavia

Do you find them to be nippy?

He did fine for the first few photos and then when I went to put my hand in there to put his hides in he did a jumpy popcorn thing haha. Cute little bugger that I figure it's about time we really got to know each other.

Click to expand...

I've had a few bitey hatchlings and my adult female is so food fixated that I'm cautious getting out of her tank, give her time to figure out this is a handling event, not a feeding event, before I put my hands in reach of her. But in general they have been one of the least bitey species I've bred, even including most of my corn clutches. I seem to get a lot of corns with extra attitude though!

Thank you everyone for your experiences. There isn't much out there haha. And if he does bite at least it won't hurt since he's so little.

DollysMom, your Clyde is what got me re-interested in house snakes I have a book that was published in 1998 that had a brief few pages about them and raved about what a great snake they are (plus a pretty pied example and a pretty red one). Anyway I always liked the look of them but this was the early 2000's when I got this book and my first snake so finding them wasn't as easy.

I keep looking at that one recent pic thinking he looks chubby, especially compared to those baby corns I saw at Petco last night, but he's not really.
I'll update as he grows.

Aww. I'm glad that Clyde inspired you. Yeah, they are quite a different shape than corn snakes. Much rounder for starters. Your little Thor has a totally awesome pattern by the way.

Here's the only book I know that is devoted to House Snakes:

http://www.authorhouse.com/Bookstore/BookDetail.aspx?BookId=SKU-000378858

I own a copy and while it is nice, and written by an experienced breeder, it is not as comprehensive as the Love or Soderberg books we have for corn snakes. I still think it is a worthy purchase.

He does have some neat speckles that I hope don't fade too much.
Anyone notice if there is a certain pattern that more common in these guys?

I hope to get that book eventually. And when I have more space get a corn snake ��

Cape house snakes can be without pattern, lightly patterned, more line like patterned or more boldly patterned like Thor is. They all have eye lines and if patterned the pattern fades about 2/3 down the body. Besides the morphs, the normals can be light caramel color to dark brown and nearly black. My understanding is that older individuals are generally darker. AFAIK from my reading there is no one more common pattern than another.

Corn snakes are different but are totally awesome. I hope you can get one. I love my corn snakes.

Edited to add:

Colour: Above, uniform light to reddish brown (often with reddish blotches on the anterior half of the body) or dark olive to black, especially in old specimens. There are 2 light stripes on either side of the head, 1 running from the tip of the snout across the upper half of the eye and sometimes continuing along the anterior third of the body, while the other runs from the lower half of the eye to the angle of the mouth. This characteristic distinguishes the Brown House Snake from all other South African snakes. The underside is yellowish to mother-of-pearl white. Juveniles may have indistinct spots or mottling dorsally.

Marais, Johan. A Complete Guide to the Snakes of Southern Africa (Kindle Locations 4266-4271). Penguin Random House South Africa. Kindle Edition.

Wow great info thanks.
I'm hoping I can get a stacking set of cages so I'm not having tanks scattered all over my apartment haha. As it is I have room for just two 20 gallon longs. But if I can work something out that's reasonably priced then I'd think about a third. I would love an opal corn. Which would have been what I was originally going to start with. Now if I really had the room I'd get a Russian rat snake

And I was right! Thor just shed. Might explain why he was so jumpy. Well maybe not might. He was super curious about me when I went to get his old skin. I also notice that when I go to shine a little light in his tank when it's dark and I can't see he gets focused on the spot of light like a cat. The guy just does not refuse a meal and I can't tell he's about to shed.
And of course he likes to poop in his humid hide haha

I looked at russian rats. They sound amazing. Too bad they're illegal where I live. Fortunately corn snakes are not, and I do have an opal. They're gorgeous! I like your taste in snakes. LOL

Haha thank you! Your Solace is a beautiful snake. I was checking out his thread yesterday
I like what I've heard so far about Russian rats and while not illegal here they are harder to come by. Also it's a big snake, one of the few big snake I was looking at. But that's a snake that'll have to wait til I'm not renting

Ok fair warning I'm going to gush here. OMG!!! I got brave and held Thor and totally melted. Most awesome thing ever. It went really well. He was a little jumpy at first but settled down after a little bit. We kept it short and sweet since I needed to meet with someone. But man oh man I can't wait to try again.
Eeeeee he's so cute and I'm in love haha

That's awesome! Congrats.

Melted. I so understand that feeling. Congratulations! That's awesome!

He's got such a wonderful disposition. He's going to be a lovely snake once he grows out of his baby nervousness.

I did have to chase him a little, which I expected and he was a little flighty in hand when I first held him. But towards the end he relax enough that I could hold him outside his tank without him popping all over the place. I think it helped that he's so curious about everything.
Question, at this point how often should I try holding him? Other than feeding day and the two days following, of course.