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How often should you handle a baby?

Clickslither

Clickslither

Force-Sensitive
I've had my corn for about a week now, and I was wondering what is the best way to acclimate a 2 month old to regular handling? I try to limit it to once a day, and I gave her a few days to be left alone when she first got here but I am definitely one of those people that can't wait to take her out (and I'm sure she loves me because of it :nyah:). I really want her to get used to being handled, although it always involves almost completely disassembling her viv to track her down and then the ensuing chase messes up whatever was left in there, she has so far been pretty calm after a few seconds of holding. Well, tonight she was a lot more uptight about it, seemed like she was trying to constrict one of my fingers and was much more jumpy than normal. Is daily (excluding 48 hours after eating) too much for one this young? Am I doing more harm than good?

How would you guys go about getting a young corn to acclimate to regular handling? Time is probably the biggest factor here, and I'm pretty sure that in a couple months she will be better. But I still want to know how often is too often during this stage and what is the best way to go about it.
 
New arrivals should ideally be left completely alone for a week so that they settle into their new home. However, after that it's just a combination of what the snake will tolerate without becoming stressed and what's convenient for you.

The basic requirement is that you should be able to pick them up safely in an emergency. Plus obviously it's good for them to understand that you're not going to try and eat them! Beyond that, you just make it up as you go along. The vast majority of Corns don't seek out or enjoy interaction with humans - most just tolerate it. Once they've realised that you're OK, few will revert to a "wild" state if they aren't handled. Mine are picked up once every 2-3 weeks for feeding and they're all pretty laid back (apart from the odd ones which were always problems!).

As well as not handling for 2 days after a feed, you should avoid handling when they're going into a shed. They can't see and are especially nervous of predators during this time, so it's best not to bother them.
 
Her colors are looking a little dull, but I haven't handled her enough to be able to tell the difference between her from yesterday and today. Hard to know if she is going into a shed, her eyes looked normal. Going to try and feed her tomorrow though, so we will see if she takes it. If she doesn't she probably is going to shed soon.

I've always been very interactive with my pets, they are a great source of entertainment for me. I'm used to dogs/cats which are obviously much more affectionate/fun than any snake will be, but I have met some extremely extroverted snakes that seem to love their handlers getting them out and walking around with them, and would really like mine to be like that as well (doesn't everyone?). Obviously that depends a lot on the snakes individual personality, but I'm sure that the way they were handled when they were young matters too. I mainly just want to make sure that I'm not going to traumatize her by handling too often. If that means not touching her for other than feeding until she is older and more confident, then so be it. It's just not ideal for me.
 
Personally, I'm pretty hands-off with babies. Handling every 5 days just before feeding, for me, helps to get them tame enough without using up energy that they need for growing in the early stages. Put it this way, most young animals basically feed and sleep during the fastest stages in their development, after hatching/being born. To me, handling a corn hatchling very much in the early stages is taking resources away from it growing.
Mine get nicely tame, associating handling with no harm being done and with the positive association of being fed and grow nicely. Then when they are older and more robust I can handle them more often in between feedings if I want, without feeling I'm stressing them at all.
As I got more corns, I probably handle each individual less, but like Bitsy I really wouldn't say any have got less tame at all. The ones that are really calm and easy to handle have stayed that way and the flightier ones have tended to get more mellow with age.
 
@nfafan: I'm confused. Seems like this thread has gotten two decisive answers that agree with each other. Why start a new thread for the same dillemma?
 
Welcome to the forums NFAfan! You a class 3 owner? And yeah, if having the exact same dilemma, feel free to chime in this thread rather than start an identical one. Since I've gone this far, I'll add my agreeing two cents.

I hardly hold babies at all. I like to, I just neither have the time nor find it makes much difference in their attitudes. Plus I feed babies on a 4 day schedule, so they are usually digesting. By the time they are yearlings, some are shy and some come out to see you -even if in feeding mode. If I had to guess a number, I'd say 19 out of 20 of these are calm when held, just from their brief weekly handling at cage cleaning time, and perhaps deli-cupping for feeding. That twentieth super spooky one can be tamed too, some (Brian Barczyk and Clay Davenport come to mind) have postulated these make better breeders. I find almost all corns make good breeders, though. I also find almost all corns can be tamed to make a good pet. I have a few breeders that have a strong distaste for being picked up, and would surely take a lot of work to make a pet. For the most part, I respect their wishes, and keep hands-on interactions to a minimum. If it's something special, it's getting handled whether it likes it or not! My first tessera is the calmest snake I own, no doubt in part because I couldn't keep my hands off him. But even with him, handling didn't get very regular until he reached yearling size.
 
So it's easy for those of us with a hundred snakes to say minimize handling. If you only have one- that's no fun. I say if you keep it short and non-stressful, say 10-15 minutes of sitting quietly in your hand or cuddled up against you, that will be fine for both of you. I also give babies three days to digest, but notice that after feeding they are typically out and about 24 hours later. 48 hours is probably just fine. I don't intentionally handle blue snakes.
 
And this brings up a good point. When you buy your first snake, a juvenile or adult can be a lot more fun, simply because it is bigger, sturdier, calmer, and knows what to expect from humans. WAY more enjoyable to handle than a flighty fragile baby.
 
I guess I've gotten lucky! I waited a week and after a feeding to handle him, and he loves coming out daily. He pops his head up and greets me in the morning. In the evening he comes out and will go to the top, then come down and stare at me, then go up to the top. If I take him out he's happy as can be crawling around on me and checking out his world. I try to limit the time out to 15 minutes or so, just so he doesn't get stressed. He's pretty calm, but fast of course. He's 3 months old or so. Maybe 4 now. He's the sweetest little guy. But I think it also has to do with the snake's personality? Some seem to be more reclusive and shy than others, my little Hitch definitely has an outgoing personality. He comes out during the day sometimes to see what we're doing. I wish you the best of luck with your little one!
 
From my experience, When my corns were little they did good with 10 mins of handling once a week. As they got bigger I increased the handling gradually.

Now when I open up the viv doors they come out of their hiding spots to check out what is going on. I've never had them climb up my hand like some people on the forum have, but they are curious and seem to enjoy the out-of-viv time, Which makes me happy, even if it isn't that they enjoy me handling them!

Personality plays a huge role too in how much they like to be handled.

Tsunami my female normal het peppermint, is definately the most active girl I have, out of her viv. She moves non-stop and checks out EVERYTHING. If she dosen't know what it is she will get right up to it check it out.

My male, Monsoon, Is content just sitting in my hand and absorbing the heat. Once he gets too hot he starts getting lil restless so that is my cue to put him back in his viv.
 
She finally shed today! After trying to feed her a few days ago and she wasn't interested, she found a corner and sat almost completely still for 3 days. I figured/hoped she was about to go into shed (it's hard to tell with the amels, their eyes don't look different) so I wasn't sure, but found a beautiful complete shed after some searching when I saw that she had finally moved from her corner. Took her out to feed (she couldn't have finished shedding more than 5 hours prior) and she took the f/t pinky right when I put it in her face. She looks great too, there was this little spot on her head that looked like a stuck shed from last time and that is now gone also. Couldn't be happier!
 
elrojo said:
Welcome to the forums NFAfan! You a class 3 owner? And yeah, if having the exact same dilemma, feel free to chime in this thread rather than start an identical one. Since I've gone this far, I'll add my agreeing two cents.
<snip>
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I was thinking it would be rude to suddenly step in and start "talking".

But yes - NFA, good catch. In this world and this message board - the equivalent of owning some "hots" -like a mamba or krait.
 
Adding a little late to this but, when I first got Snake I used to go into the store after work or during my lunchbreak and handle them for 10 minutes or so. This would normally only be once or twice a week since they got fed on monday so no handling until wednesday or thursday if it was a big meal.

I did see a few "tricks" some people recommended online somewhere (i forget where) to get them a little more used to you. One of them was to keep a sock / paper towel or something in your pocket for a few days so it absorbs a bit of your smell, then just stick it in with the snake so they get used to your odor. Not sure how well that one actually works.

Another was, rather than handling them, get a shirt with a front pocket, take them out and put them in the pocket and then just go about whatever you're doing. They're mostly comfortable because they're in a dark warm securish place, and they're getting used to you again. Just keep an eye on the pocket. One time I did it Snake crawled out while I was responding to somebody on Skype. Had a heart attack, turned my entire room upside-down trying to find them.

They'd crawled beneath my keyboard.

I'm sure there are other tips aside from direct handling that people might be able to share.
 
nfafan said:
I was thinking it would be rude to suddenly step in and start "talking".

But yes - NFA, good catch. In this world and this message board - the equivalent of owning some "hots" -like a mamba or krait.
Click to expand...

Personally, I find it a travesty that short barreled rifles and suppressors are class 3. Now MGs, that's kind of like a hot! :fullauto:
 
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