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Snake likes/dislikes

rhinecat

rhinecat

New member
Something Roy Munson said in another thread made me think of this. Do you think your snakes like you? Do they act "friendly" and "pet-like," or are they basically uninterested in you and other humans? What ARE they interested in doing?

Obviously, this is a massively unscientific question, but I think we can safely interpret avoidance as "dislike" and orienting towards and slithering towards as "like," or at least "interested in."

My yearlings and older corns all seem to be equally interested in crawling around on me and in investigating the furniture, but are fairly content being held still, while the younger corns all would rather be on the floor causing trouble. The youngest babies actively avoid being held and touched and seem to just want to get away from people. On the other hand, the two ball pythons really seem to like being in a sweatshirt pocket or around my wrist, and just hang there looking at and smelling everything. The sand boa approaches everything to see if it's food, and if it isn't, she moves onto the next object within reach...that snake is a bottomless pit!

I still think of all the snakes as "pets," though. After working with dwarf hamsters, who actively HATE people and are still thought of as pets, I probably have lower standards. :)
 
I don't own him, but I sometimes handle a friend's corn who is really friendly (in as much as a snake can be.) And he LOVES to hide out in my hair. I get him out his tank and within ten minutes he's always tangled up in my long hair :p I'm sure it's not an insecurity thing (trying to hide) because I handle all her other snakes and they never go in my hair.

This one is a real honey. I'd take him home if I could, LOL.

Pretty much all the snakes I hold like to be handled, except the big six-foot corn, she hates it and goes frantic after a few minutes. But she is one BIG snake and she's a bit more demanding to control than the smaller snakes; I guess she maybe feels unsupported or something. :shrugs:
 
Out of my snakes, Norwood is definately the most petlike, and the nicest to handle, but even my evil Deckert's is more petlike than my one-eyed hamster, who tries to attack when we fill his food bowl, and also tries to reach through his cage bars to get me
 
I have always found this to be an interesting subject and enjoy reading how people interpret the "tameness" of their snakes.I really don't believe that a snake can be considered "tame" or pet like, however, the majority of my corns are very calm and seem to enjoy being handled. I have a few ornery ones, but those will soon be Cowboyman's problem :grin01: One snake in particular, CC, a male Crimson is so cool, he's in a 27qt sterilite and when I remove the lid, he slowly comes to the top of the tub and seems to wait for my hand, I offer the palm of my hand and he slithers right on to me. That's about as good as it gets IMO and he can be kept out for long periods of time without showing any fear or anxiousness :cool: He is also easy to return to the tub after feeding and it almost seems like he enjoys living in it :wavey:
 
I have 3 corns now. And it seems to me that they each have their own "personality". Bobo is by far the easiest going of the three. He's been that way since I got him from a petstore in the mall over a year ago. He was a tiny hatchling, but still very calm. I think he remained calm because he was my very first corn and I handled him A LOT.

Skizzard was my second and skittish as can be. The first time I saw him, still in the breeders tub, he tail rattled at me and basically told me to go to hell right then and there. He was 5 months old when I got him and hadn't been handled except for at feeding times. Which considering he was only 10g at 5 months, was probably every week or so. I brought him home, left him along for a week, and then proceeded to handle him and got bitten, musked, pooped on, tail rattled, etc.... Although, with consistant handling, he has calmed down a great deal, he still tail rattles when he eats and if I startle him. The only time he is really calm is when he is in blue. When he is out, he is always on the go. And is very head shy.

My third and largest, oldest corn is Doug. He's 5 years old and breeder raised as well. He is kind of a mixture of both Bobo and Skizzard. At first, when I go to get him out, he doesn't want to get out. He fights it by whipping his body around. But once I have him out he relaxes. But then he is constantly roaming and never sits still for very long. He isn't aggressive, just very curious and strong. He is the only corn I have that "hisses" when he is frustrated. If I don't let him go somewhere, and make him go a different way he will puff out air. It sounds like a person sighing. When I go to put him away, he always tries to not go back in. To me, he seems very "aware" of everything. He will look back at me when I look into his viv. Its almost creepy. He will just turn his head towards me and stare.

So those are my corns' attitudes. This is a cool thread, keep the corn drama coming!
 
I think my snakes tolerate me, and some definitely tolerate me more than others do. I think that they would "prefer" to be housed in 200 gallon enclosures and left alone. I don't think they "appreciate" the fact that I'm the one providing the mice they enjoy. I'm just a guy who bothers them a couple of times a week. Sometimes my meddling in their affairs results in a nice meal. Other times, there is no reward, and they are subject to physical restraint and strobe-torture (camera).

My attitudes toward them fall somewhere within a pet---project/hobby spectrum. The snakes for whom I have zero real breeding plans, tend to fall near the "pet" end of the spectrum. The majority fall much more toward the "project/hobby" end. I have a cat, and though I consider it a pet, I honestly do not like the animal. Dumping food in its dish is a chore for me. I don't think that way about my snakes. Feeding and caring for them are necessary if they are to fulfill my project plans. That's not to say that I'm always in the mood to feed a couple of dozen snakes in a given day, but I don't resent it at all.
 
After working with dwarf hamsters, who actively HATE people and are still thought of as pets, I probably have lower standards
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its sad that you think that all Dwarf Hamsters hate people! I have 4 of them and they are the most AMAZING pets! they are so friendly they never bite. when I come home at night they climb up to their door and wait for me to open it so they can come out and when I try to put them back into their cage they sit in my hand and wont climb off. to me that makes an AMAZING pet!! I wouldn't trade them for anything!

As for my Snakes liking me .. well the only time I notice that they may responded to me is if someone else is around trying to hold them. my adults always seem to try to reach back to me and get away from the other person, but maybe that is because I smell familiar and safer to them.
I think that baby snakes are so small that it isn't the same for them, they are usually very nervous and not always interested in exploring in the same way.
 
Lets see, my big amel will wait until you open the lid so that he can come out. Even if he's in his cave, when I open the top, he'll come out and climb to the top. One of my Okeetees is similar. The rest don't really want to come out, but are fine once they are. My green tree python acts like she doesn't want to come out, but once out, doesn't like to go back in so she must not hate handling as much as she first seems. She's quite curious and loves to check everything out all the time.
 
MegF. said:
Lets see, my big amel will wait until you open the lid so that he can come out. Even if he's in his cave, when I open the top, he'll come out and climb to the top.
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My king snake will do this, too. As soon as I open his viv, he's perked up and climbing to the top. However, I don't know if he's so happy to see me as he is thinking, "That top is off again. Maybe I can get away this time!"
 
I can't say any of my snakes will slither into my hands or come to greet me when I open their vivs. They seem to have different levels of "liking" or "not liking" being taken out of their vivs.

The closest I've come to having one of my snakes show trust or affection was when my Amel used my hand to begin his shed process and completed it as I was holding him and my kids were watching!


Jo
 
Pumpkin has just recently started going towards me off and on rather than bolting when I open her tank. Of course, she's also in the past few months shown that she's completely comfortable in her tank and no longer afraid to explore or hang out in places where she is exposed. She's extremely docile...I've never even gotten a tail rattle out of her...and while relaxed when held....super active, alert, and way too curious for her own good. I think she puts up with handling because it gives her the chance to explore new things.

Worm, the leucy...well, the vote is still out on him. He let's me scoop him right up...but is a moody little kid. Most of the time, he's super relaxed and curious...of course, he turns into a rattlesnake on occasion if he doesn't get his way (yes, my baby throws temper tantrums).

But, I do see them both as pets. I talk to them like an idiot. I call them pet names. I'm a dork.

My cat on the other hand, he isn't a pet. He's a roomate. Or a supervillian. Or a ninja. Yes, my cat is a ninja. Living with a ninja can be dangerous at times. Indeed.
 
Cora said:
its sad that you think that all Dwarf Hamsters hate people! I have 4 of them and they are the most AMAZING pets! they are so friendly they never bite. when I come home at night they climb up to their door and wait for me to open it so they can come out and when I try to put them back into their cage they sit in my hand and wont climb off. to me that makes an AMAZING pet!! I wouldn't trade them for anything!
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Not all of them are mean, but literally every single one I've met in the pet stores I've worked at has been. I know that, if tamed and handled properly, they can be nice pets, but I was always so shocked that people would deliberately buy a hamster that screamed and bit whenever you tried to touch it. I wouldn't hesitate to get one that was nice to me--I've just never met one. Even the one I adopted and kept for 1.5 years never tamed, despite my best efforts... we got to a point where he would take food from my hand, but then if I left my hand there, he'd drop the food to come back and bite me. :shrugs:
 
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