• Hello!

    Either you have not registered on this site yet, or you are registered but have not logged in. In either case, you will not be able to use the full functionality of this site until you have registered, and then logged in after your registration has been approved.

    Registration is FREE, so please register so you can participate instead of remaining a lurker....

    Please be certain that the location field is correctly filled out when you register. All registrations that appear to be bogus will be rejected. Which means that if your location field does NOT match the actual location of your registration IP address, then your registration will be rejected.

    Sorry about the strictness of this requirement, but it is necessary to block spammers and scammers at the door as much as possible.

Handling problems, help!

C

Cara84

New member
Andy and I are having some major problems handling Loki. She really doesn't like to be touched at all. We have tried letting her come out of her viv on our hands but as soon as we moved to go to lift her and support her tail, she starts thrashing around and on a number of occasions has launched herself out of our hands back into her viv!

I am so worried that one day we are going to squash her trying to hold onto her! Can anyone offer any advice?

Thanks.
 
don't hold too tightly!
give her time.
maybe only handle her for 10 miuntes at a time to get her use to it, to make sure it doesn't get too stressfull for her. Don't worry too much about supporting her tail, it may be a touchy area for her. Amel boy HATED it when I touched his tail, after 5 months of giving him little touches he's gotten use to it, and thrashes a lot less. I'm also dealing with a spotted who likes to launch himself, apparently a 4 foot drop is less scary than my hands -_- i'm just going to keep working on him, getting him use to being handled. Mostly I let him go where he wants, I move very slow, unless he's going to hurt himself.

How long have you had her? How long do you handle her? How old is she?
 
sound like quite a feisty one. ummm i guess try to hold her as often as you can for short intervals, maby hold her in her vivarium until she gets used to it.
thats all of the advice i can give you, as i have never had an issue like that...

Lewis
 
Well one thing you have to make sure is that you are not afraid of your corn for any reason. Any quick reactions resulting from fear of bites or whatever, might cause you to hurt your corn. Letting her come onto your hand naturaly is a good idea. Make sure that when holding her, you dont block her point of view. Corns don't like when they get blocked off or when they cant see over somethings. How big is she? If she is a newborn its better to get her handling issues over with before she grows a habbit.
 
she's 3 months old, we've had her pretty much that whole time we try to handle her most days, but she had a rather long shedding period which had her hidden away for over almost 2 weeks and with feeding before and after, its maybe 3 weeks since we were able to handle her regularly, we try handle her for aslong as we can sometimes we can get 30 minutes, sometimes we just get her out the tank and she jumps back in.

we dont pick her up out of the tank, we let her climb out and as she gets to the top she climbs onto either one of us, tentatively but she does climb on. but then once she starts to go from hand to hand she freaks out and jumps back into the viv and hides, its not so much that we grip too tight, as she can move pretty freely through fingers, its just that when she jumps you kinda need to apply a small amount of pressure to make sure she actually makes it back into the vivarium instead of over the edge and a couple feet to the floor and then out of sight.

this is our first snake so we want to keep stress on both sides to a minimum. so all advice is appreciated
 
Personally, I don't handle the little squirmers much at all. I only pick them up to put in their feeding tubs and then let them slide back home after. As they've got older and bigger, the freak-out behaviour just mellowed, so I start handling in between if I want to.
It seems to work for me so far, they've all grown out of the panicy stage. (Of course, this years' squirmers could always prove me wrong).
 
I don't think the name is the problem :) We have a cat with the same name and he's the most mellow laid-back cat I've ever had. Of course it may effect snakes differently than kitties. :shrugs:
 
When I first started handling Arlo I think I was more scared of hurting or scaring him than he was of me. It ended up like I was chasing him round his tank, which just freaked him out even more. One thing I have quickly learnt is be confident and positive when handling him. I normally put both my hands in the viv, put one hand in front of him, and use the other to pick him up from behind, I then pick him straight up and place him on my hand, every now and then he will attempt to shoot off, but now most of the time now he is quite comfortable just worming between my fingers! Good luck with her, Im sure she will get used to you very soon, just be confident! :)
 
Its perfectly normal for them to run away. Over the years almost every hatchling i have ever had or seen has shot off. Dont worry about it they will stop doing it as they get older. They just see you as a big preditor trying to eat her. Once they get older you can get them to roam around your living room if you want because they love it !!!
 
It may be easy for those who have many snakes to just say ignore the squirming hatchlings and maybe try when they are older. But if its the only snake, its very disappointing to not be able to handle it. My Jake bless him is a dote and loves coming out and crawling on me, but the snow is still jumpy and it makes me sad :( I want her to feel comfortable out with me.

However, just be confident and don't give up. Being skittish picking them up will make them skittish. If they strike or rattle their tails ignore them, show them they don't scare you.

It sounds like your doing a good job with Loki anyway, keep at it and hopefully she will calm down :)
 
My most skittish snake (Inez) feels comfortable when I hold her cuddled to me with both hands- not actually gripping her- and letting her peek out.

You also can gently restrain the snake and not let it fly back into the viv. Also, if they are skittish, they usually hate being touched around the head.

2snake640.jpg


greensnakesm.jpg


Inez_02_2007026cr800.jpg


None of these snakes wants to be held. (I am only wearing gloves because I was on my bike and stopped to pick up snakes).

Nanci
 
Here's a picture of Inez being held cupped in my hand. I'd have her completely closed in, except I was taking a picture.

Nanci
 

Attachments

  • Inez 021_800.jpg
    Inez 021_800.jpg
    110.9 KB · Views: 36
diamondlil said:
Personally, I don't handle the little squirmers much at all. I only pick them up to put in their feeding tubs and then let them slide back home after. As they've got older and bigger, the freak-out behaviour just mellowed, so I start handling in between if I want to.
It seems to work for me so far, they've all grown out of the panicy stage. (Of course, this years' squirmers could always prove me wrong).
Click to expand...

I side with Janine on this, handling the little squirmers is both traumatic for them and me. I take them out do a quick checkover and into the feeding tub. I have one hatchling I feed in it's tub, I use paper towel so he can eat on it. I still take him out to hold (checkover) but not on feeding day.
I am also one of those people that attempt feeding during blue, until I know their habits. good luck, susang
 
beaniebopps said:
It may be easy for those who have many snakes to just say ignore the squirming hatchlings and maybe try when they are older. But if its the only snake, its very disappointing to not be able to handle it. My Jake bless him is a dote and loves coming out and crawling on me, but the snow is still jumpy and it makes me sad :( I want her to feel comfortable out with me.

However, just be confident and don't give up. Being skittish picking them up will make them skittish. If they strike or rattle their tails ignore them, show them they don't scare you.

It sounds like your doing a good job with Loki anyway, keep at it and hopefully she will calm down :)
Click to expand...

To be honest, right from the first one of the attractions about having snakes was that they don't need handling/cuddling/talking to etc. As long as I can handle them without getting bitten too much or them being stressed, I'm happy. :shrugs:
 
diamondlil said:
To be honest, right from the first one of the attractions about having snakes was that they don't need handling/cuddling/talking to etc. As long as I can handle them without getting bitten too much or them being stressed, I'm happy. :shrugs:
Click to expand...
:laugh01::laugh01:Nice one...Thats about how it works here.
MIKE
 
Well, I expect my snakes to be able to sit through at least one episode of Scrubs. The more intelligent/advanced snakes wll gladly take in an entire two-hour movie without becoming restless. I don't have cats and dogs- I have snakes. They are still The Pets.

Nanci
 
Oh Nanci, I've got an attention-dependant dog, 2 cats, a screechy cockateil, three teenagers ......... the snakes are a little window of sanity!
 
Choco agrees. She's watched two episodes of Scrubs (or was it three?) and now we are taking a short break before going back for more.

Nanci
 
hi I read your letter yesterday morn and went to see my corn in the evening and he behaved the same which i have never seen before! they probably have there off days just like us... He even flicked his tail fast ,sounded like a rattle snake, Bless them x:spinner:
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top