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Handally snake too careless...

kathinthehat

kathinthehat

New member
I think im giving my snake the heeebie jeeebies every time she sees my hand approaching to take her out of the viv when i want to bust it out to show people or just play with. the experience she has during her time out side the viv aint that great either. she looks scared all the time. bastically long story short- could snakes die of fright? mini heart attacks? or from being in terror consistently? thanks for the feedback.
 
They can become stressed to the point that they end up dying but these are rare cases. It should be easy to notice if something is wrong and would involve not eating, NEVER coming out of hides, and weakness.

Just being a little jumpy is normal especially in hatchlings that aren't used to being held yet.
 
I've mentioned before that I NEVER see mine out of a hide, but sometimes I do see signs of movement (poop - even though he usually poops outside the tank) or he'll be in another hide. I'm home all day though, and I've never, not once, seen him roam around the tank. Some snakes are just hiders, but combine this with lack of eating (for example) and you might have a bigger problem.

That aside, he's great about being handled. I can pick him up in curled position and he'll remain that way for at least 10 minutes, but once he starts moving he seems very comfortable.

If your snake is too jumpy, an idea would be to handle it inside the tank for short periods of time, before bringing it out to show your friends. Or if you can pick it up in the curled position, cup your hand over top (to make a little hand hide). I found with my snake that this made the process from the inside to the outside MUCH less stressful on my baby.
 
Spirit said:
I've mentioned before that I NEVER see mine out of a hide, but sometimes I do see signs of movement (poop - even though he usually poops outside the tank) or he'll be in another hide. I'm home all day though, and I've never, not once, seen him roam around the tank. Some snakes are just hiders, but combine this with lack of eating (for example) and you might have a bigger problem.

That aside, he's great about being handled. I can pick him up in curled position and he'll remain that way for at least 10 minutes, but once he starts moving he seems very comfortable.

If your snake is too jumpy, an idea would be to handle it inside the tank for short periods of time, before bringing it out to show your friends. Or if you can pick it up in the curled position, cup your hand over top (to make a little hand hide). I found with my snake that this made the process from the inside to the outside MUCH less stressful on my baby.
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I sometimes wish mine were like that. They're just over a year old and I've got them both in a 10 gallon (I'll be stepping up soon, or just giving them their own 10 gallon each) and they're ALWAYS cruisin' around the tank. Even worse, when I'm sleeping at night they both have this tendency to climb onto the rim of the tank and fall down, usually onto their hide box with a nice thump. It can get very annoying at 3am when you're trying to go to sleep.
 
Joejr14 said:
...Even worse, when I'm sleeping at night they both have this tendency to climb onto the rim of the tank and fall down, usually onto their hide box with a nice thump. It can get very annoying at 3am when you're trying to go to sleep.
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LOL! :D
I have the feeling that this is what my future will be like. My little kaa loves to climb. Half the time she's out she is sleeping in the vines in the viv's roof. For now the vines are supporting her weight...but later......*thump* :)

Odd though...she never falls from the vines, but always from my hand. Even if I keep perfectly still when holding her, she'll dive for the floor. Circus-snake.

Does human skin offer very bad grip? One would think it would be good...
 
If your snake is so scared i would wait still he's a bit more tame before you 'bust it out to show people'. Appearantly, that's only upsetting your snake more.
 
sawsehel said:
Does human skin offer very bad grip? One would think it would be good...
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Skin gives them very little to hold on to. Think about it. In the wild (and sometimes in captivity) they are used to climbing on wood that has bark on it. They can wedge their bodies in and around the pieces of bark. On a human arm, there's really nothing small enough to hold onto except for your fingers. Even 3 foot long snakes aren't really big enough to get a good grip on your arm unless they wrap completely around it. Some of my snakes are always sliding off my arms when they try to crawl up to my shoulders. A few of mine have figured out what works, but others just don't seem to understand how to crawl on "slippery" skin.


Oh, and about hiding being a sign of stress... I knew I would get flak for saying that. Hiding COULD be a sign of stress, but if your snake seems healthy and is eating, then hiding is perfectly fine. In fact if your snake doesn't hide, I would think something is wrong with the hide box to make the snake not want to use it.
 
Amanda E said:
On a human arm, there's really nothing small enough to hold onto except for your fingers. .... but others just don't seem to understand how to crawl on "slippery" skin.


Oh, and about hiding being a sign of stress... I knew I would get flak for saying that. Hiding COULD be a sign of stress, but if your snake seems healthy and is eating, then hiding is perfectly fine. In fact if your snake doesn't hide, I would think something is wrong with the hide box to make the snake not want to use it.
Click to expand...

Mine has mastered the art of hooking his tail around my finger. Then he tries to slide up to my shoulder and falls right off, leaving himself hanging from his tail. I tried to allow him to do this a few times (thinking he would learn that this is not a safe route to the top of my head), but nope. He's one determined snake! lol

As for the hiding thing, that's exactly why I pointed out that mine is a hider, but not a stressed out snake. I knew what you meant ;) and didn't want someone thinking their snake was one big stressball because it hides all the time.

Max is a funny one though. He'll peek his head out for a few minutes, then when I'm not looking (and only when I'm not looking) he'll ZIP over to the other hide... like he did last night. I put him back and he went for the warm hide. He never stays there longer than a few minutes so I was watching, waiting for him to move. 30 minutes later he hasn't moved so I walked away for litterally 20 seconds. I come back, and he's in the cool hide. Tricky little bastage. :grin01:
 
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