• Hello!

    Either you have not registered on this site yet, or you are registered but have not logged in. In either case, you will not be able to use the full functionality of this site until you have registered, and then logged in after your registration has been approved.

    Registration is FREE, so please register so you can participate instead of remaining a lurker....

    Please be certain that the location field is correctly filled out when you register. All registrations that appear to be bogus will be rejected. Which means that if your location field does NOT match the actual location of your registration IP address, then your registration will be rejected.

    Sorry about the strictness of this requirement, but it is necessary to block spammers and scammers at the door as much as possible.

Adult Corn goes hyper whilst being handled

G

gaz1974

New member
Hi all....I'm new to keeping reptiles..

I've had Fuzzy for five weeks now. She's a 3 years old amel corn snake.

Sometimes she tail rattles when I go to get her out but this is getting less frequent. I always get her out anyway.

However, when handled she is calm to start with but after about 5 minutes starts to get hyper, clinging tightly around my wrist with her back end and darting around wildly with her front. She also contorts her tail.

Once she gets near this point I put her back in. She normally goes to her cave hide shortly after.

I assume she's starting to panic about not being in her viv.

I don't handle her for two days following a feed and the viv temps are (at hot end) 31 in the day and 21 at night.

Does anyone else have this experience?
 
How are you holding her? If you aren't supporting a large part of her body I completely understand why she is doing that. The only time my snakes have ever flailed around like that is when they are not being supported. I try to make sure that I have at least three points of contact at all times, by the tail, middle, and front.
 
Where exactly are you measuring the temps? 31 C is about 87 F, and that's a bit high.

She's new to your care, so her behavior is pretty normal. A lot of corns settle in, but there are some that are just never completely tolerant of handling...
 
Charlemagne said:
I hope those temps are Celsius...
Click to expand...

If they aren't she's a snake-cicle! Both values are under freezing Fahrenheit. :)

Agree with Chris. I sometimes move snakes that are GREAT handling specimens to my house or new vivs and they become nervous nellies for a while. (Nanci, your "Elle" did this recently!) They always calm down -though if any individual doesn't right away, I kind of "make" them. Hold them close to you, support all of their body, and don't let them dart or flail. A light towel draped over them can help. They almost always cool their jets, just don't put them back until they are no longer breathing heavily. You might get pooped on or bitten by an animal with less potential for damage to human flesh than a kitten, but you'll both live! Might be surprised if the next time you take them out they are perfectly fine. If not, then repeat the process.

Some corns are high strung and will stay that way. Most are not, and if get keyed up once, for some reason or after a move, will get over it.
 
Hi guys

Thanks for all of your replies. It's really helpful to learn from your experience.

I have recently lowered the temps slightly. They are taken 4 inches up at each end (away from the heater).

If she is curled up in the viv I tend to sccop her up gently so that all of her body is supported. I then let her do her thing. Generally she tends to get a good grip round my wrist.

I think she's in blue at the moment so am not handling.

I might try the towel thing..might help to make her feel more secure.

I guess with corn snakes they are a little different to say Pythons in that they tollerate less handling and like to keep their activities a little more secret.

I shall keep you all updated with how her shed goes and as to her temperament afterwards.

Best regards to all
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top