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Corn Handling Probs

A

arnottben

New member
Hi there,

I've had my grey corn for about 5 months now. When I first got him I handled him daily, and he never tried to bite. He was a bit jumpy but this subsided with time. 2 months ago I went traveling, and I entrusted my flatmate to look after the snake. He looked after the him well, but didn't handle him apart from getting him out to clean his tank.

Now when I go to handle him he is very nervous and has tried to bite me a few times. It makes me jump when he tries to bite, and this in turn i assume makes him even more nervous. i miss handling the wee guy and want to start again as soon as poss, but it really seems like he doesn't want to you know?

just wondering if you guys know any tips for hadnling them when they are a bit nervous etc, and if he tries to bite once should I leave it at that or try to pick him up again?

p.s. I know my flatmate will not have tormented him as this was suggested to me before, there is no chance.

thanks,

Ben
 
Just keep going at it; it wont hurt when he bites so dont be afraid of it. If he does bite you and you pull away as he grabs you you could hurt him. Without thinking just reach in and scoop him up, dont hover infront of him, when holding him try not to wave any fingers infront of him. If he bites dont put him away, handle him untill both of you are calmer before putting him away, always end on a good note.
 
Like DaemoNox said keep at it, if you put him down or stop trying to pick him up all he learns is that by him striking/biting you'll leave him alone. I got bit the other day at a show and if I didn't see it happen I wouldn't have know it had happened. That corn was only a month old though.
 
As has been said, you shouldn't put him down when he strikes at you, as he knows he can get what he wants! A good training method is to wear rubber gloves for a while. It gives you more confidence, and if he does bite he gets a mouthful of rubber, which they don't like at all. He'll learn that biting gets him nowhere.

A word of caution though, get thin gloves that fit well if you can. I tried normal doing-the-dishes gloves and it was really hard to tell how much pressure I was putting on the snake. Those medical throw away ones are good and pretty cheap.

Another approach is to use a snake hook (or something like it) to get him out, then slide a hand underneath him. Some of mine try to bite during the lift-up, but not once they're slithering, so that might work for you too.
 
I use some thin cloth gardening gloves for handling my bitey ratsnake. He has stopped striking now and it's made me a lot more confident in handling him
 
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