#defensive snake

[thlpp]

If you’ve got a bitey snake (esp. a youngun) -- please consider the snake’s perspective. The only reason they put up a fight is that they think they are in real danger.

Given how small and exposed the snake is compared to yourself, it has a good reason to assume it’s going to be eaten. Snakes are wild animals, after all, and the instinct tells them that in the wild, they’d be dinner to anything bigger than they are.

The only way I know of “taming them down” is to take it slow and to show to the animal that you aren’t a predator. Simple though they are, snakes’ brains have a capacity to learn. Let the snake set the pace, and you’ll build a real relationship based on trust.

[odorpatrol]

How to start with a snake that constantly hisses with any handling? He also head flings and bites alot. I've only gotten him calmer by covering his head and balling him up esentially. He's a BCI .

Unfortunately, I don’t have experience with this sort of thing.  The closest I’ve come are the few times I spooked my retic and my late Picasso BRB girl, who would basically just posture at me.

In the case of my retic, I just disengaged her so she could decompress and picked her up when she stopped rearing up at me/striking at me each time I moved.  With the BRB, I’d just hold her in my hand and let her stare at me for an hour (hyperbole) until she finally figured out I wasn’t going to eat her.  Getting her out, I just scooped her up because messing with her at all got her huffing and puffing and rearing up, and a few times she struck but never hit me.

That’s only for one-time defensive reactions and a snake that didn’t resort to biting let alone hissing.

The most common advice I see passed around is using a hook and gloves.  Whenever you want to handle the snake, you rub them with the hook, and if their front end is near their tail, use it to put their head away.   Then you grab them mid-body and take them out.  The gloves are an added measure if being bit makes you uncomfortable, offering you a bit of confidence if you know their bites aren’t going to hurt you.

From there, it’s basically just handle them semi-often to get them used to you.  I believe @rainbowsnakes made or reblogged a post about keeping the sessions short; a few minutes a couple times a week at most so they don’t stress out, and then slowly increasing the session lengths.  Keep the sessions positive as well, and don’t put them up immediately after biting.  Give them time to calm down before setting them back in.

I’ve also heard of people putting article of clothes that smell like them in the enclosure.  This is a hazard, though, as many times snakes will eat things they shouldn’t.  So setting the clothing outside their enclosure but nearby might be a good idea to get them accustomed to you. :)

Anyone with experience with a regularly defensive and hissy/bitey snake please chime in with any other advice!