A matter of personality
Wow, look out… I have seen these posts heat up!
While many ‘online forum Herpers’ have opinions ranging from days to weeks, I am an advocate of getting to know your animal and allowing him (stress levels) to dictate. I read a post where some one advised to not touch for 2 weeks, then feed and don’t touch for another 7 days.
I find that completely baseless.
Many books and other (reliable?) sources I ready suggest a few days to allow it time to acclimate.
Me? I suppose it varies. My Okatee was, and has always been, super friendly and low maintenance (great eater etc..). My last addition ( Benny the black Pine snake) was a different story. Even after settling in, he took many weeks of incremental handling to settle down to the point he is now. Scared the crickets out of my wife (Lizard lady) with his hissing and bit her. Felt bad for both of them They are great friends now.
Another consideration, somewhat off topic, is ‘quarantine’. Many breeders, (herpetoculturists) quarantine new snakes from the rest of their collection for at least one month to observe for signs of disease and other health problems that can be passed to the rest of the collection.
So, if you have a new snake (and already own others) be sure to thoroughly wash your hands and disinfect prior to handling your existing Herps. Just a side note.
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