How often can you handle the snakes?

[Corny Noob]

As you can see by my post count and my name I am still at the moment completely uniformed.
How often can you handle your snakes? I've read that they're more active at night, and I understand that disturbing any creature while it's hiding is never a good idea.
Are they sometimes agressive when coming out and then more calm once you get them out?

I guess I'm just trying to get a feel for their handling tempermant.

 

[ladydragon]

handling all depends on your snakes temperment.. some snakes dont mind being held, others need some warm up time. Just dont handle them for 24-48 hours after feeding them.. and some dont like being held while in shed.

 

[JollieMollie]

Corns are very good with handling as a rule. (-: Some tend to not like being picked up but they don't mind being held, if that makes sense. My new ghost corn is very jumpy when I reach for him, but once out of the cage he is very tame. Of course, my butter doesn't like either phase, and my female is fine with anything. :smile:


As to how often, I don't know what to tell you except that most people agree you shouldn't handle a snake for several days after moving it to a new home, and I haven't heard of any limits after that. (-: Certainly once a day is fine, I'm sure. The more you handle them, the tamer they become. In my experience, sometimes snakes will be calm for ten minutes or more, and get jumpy and fidgety after awhile. I generally hold them when I can and put them back when they get fidgety. :shrug:

 

[tyflier]

JollieMollie-

You might want to consider putting your snake back when it is calm, rather than when it gets fidgety. Ultimately, you are teaching your snake that if it acts fidgety it will be put down, which is truly what it wants, so it will only get more and more fidgety. Same with bitey snakes...

Other than that...48 hours after feeding is a "no handling" zone. The rest is between you and your snake. I am a big fan of the phrase, "Let your snake be your guide" because all snakes and all people are different, so "how often to handle" will change with every snake and owner...

 

[DogStar5988]

If your snake is a hatchling you'll likely find that there really isn't all that much time for handling because of how often they are usually fed. I have about 2 days that I can safely handle my snake and of course those end up being the days that I am very busy. But like everyone says it all depends on you and your snakes schedule. Good luck


---Kenny

 

[JollieMollie]

Tyflier - I thought about that, I was kinda wondering. (-: My first snake, Mara, lets me hold her 'til I get bored (which takes awhile) and doesn't really care; she's active and wants to get in my hair and stuff but doesn't get fidgety. My two newer snakes are the only ones that get fidgety and I've only held them each a few times so I didn't know what to do about that.... do you think I should only hold them for short periods of time, maybe a few minutes, and gradually increase it?


I guess I just got lucky with Mara and didn't have to learn how to deal with jumpy snakes! (-: Thanks for the advice.

 

[tyflier]

JollieMollie-

Yes, I would recommend holding them for shorter periods of time. Actually, the length of time isn't so important, so long as you are sure to put them back while they are being calm. I know that is a little difficult, because we all enjoy handling our snakes while they are being calm. But in reality, it is the best way, IMO, to get them to settle down. It worked with my "heavy musker"(an MBK), and my biter(a florida king)...

 

[brtrude]

sometimes once iv held my snake it will go back into its tank (having bean pretty calm when iv been handling her) but then once he gets bak in, hel go a bit mad, not so much in a bad way, he just like moves around faster and rubs his knoes up against his tank and it kind of looks as if hes tryin to get bak out. But once he works his way round to his hide he crawls straight bak in ther and stays in ther for a while n then al just see him out and about later on. is that normal activity???

 

[nickj]

my young corn does the same when i put him back in his tank, or at least he did till i put some plastic leaves in there, it seemed like he was sort of chasing his reflection in the glass and didn't quite kno what to make of it.

 

[Roy Munson]

:-offtopic

...he just like moves around faster and rubs his knoes up against his tank...

That's one of the most interesting misspellings I've ever seen ("knoes" for nose). I've seen silent consonants incorrectly dropped countless times, but I think this is only the second time that I've seen one incorrectly added. Don't feel bad, because the first time I saw it, the error was mine! I spelled dilemma as "dilemna" until a professor corrected me when I was about 20 years old. How I got through 15 years of school and avid reading without realizing this is beyond me. I think the word "condemn" must have confused me at a young age. :shrugs:

You're misspelling is more justified when you consider anatomy. We have knees and knuckles, why not knoeses? On the other hand, we don't have knecks and knavels, so maybe this is weak justification. :grin01:

 

[mbdorfer]

:-offtopic
You're misspelling is more justified when you consider anatomy. We have knees and knuckles, why not knoeses? On the other hand, we don't have knecks and knavels, so maybe this is weak justification. :grin01:

Don't even get me started; tomb, comb, bomb. Why don't we have a simple language like Latin? :crazy02: