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Letting friends handle your snakes

Snake Savvy

Snake Savvy

Jake the Snake
Hi guys, just wondering what your feelings were towards letting others handle your snakes. If anyone has some strong feelings about the topic feel free to post below. Have you noticed the snake(s) having a different reaction when someone other than you holds them(either good or bad)? Lastly, any experience with other snakes and how they take to having multiple handlers?
 
Some snakes do really well with handling by strangers. I let my grand-children hold mine. I let the newspaper lady hold one last summer and she looked at and let it go chasing an escaping corn snake through the grass was not fun. She thought it was wild. Clean hands before and after for all concerned.
 
susang said:
I let the newspaper lady hold one last summer and she looked at and let it go chasing an escaping corn snake through the grass was not fun.
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Haha, I can only imagine "umm... you just let my pet loose..."

How do corns compare to other snakes? As some of you might already know I have a weak spot for BPs as well. Does anyone think their ultra laid back attitude makes them easier to handle?
 
Well at the show this past weekend people were holding all kinds of snakes even a large bull snake. I'm not a BP fan. Corns are easy to handle, less nippy. Jen let people hold her 05' male corn all day and he never go anxious even with kids. Little corns are diff, can be a little nippy, move faster so I probably wouldn't let a kid hold a baby.
 
Well, only I handle Connor and Willow because they're fast and unpredictable - most people I know aren't used to snakes and they can be a little tricky to handle. I let others handle Chester because he's much more laidback and predictable.

I do however ask that people wash their hands before and after handling my snakes :)

So I guess for me it depends on the snake.
 
I am always cautious to let people hold any of my snakes because of an experience I had years ago.

I let a GF hold one of my adult corns who was very calm. While she is holding him, she grabbed quickly at his head. He bit her. Her reaction was to throw him :eek: He hit the wall. Amazingly he was uninjured. But I have been tentative to let inexperienced people hold any snakes since then.
 
The only people that hold mine are, my brother, his wife, my 6yo son and me. None of my friends like them. Strangers, its not even an option, no way.
 
ya, sometimes people say they are OK with snakes when they really aren't. One friend I have had to build up the courage to tough him. OK. Then she wanted to put her hand under him, so I was holding him but he was moving on her hand. Ok. Apparently, when a snake constricts to hold on it's 'icky' and the best reaction is to shake him off. Gah, good think I was holding most of him.

Still not at bad as the time I saw a little girl try and shake a crested gecko off her hand though....
 
I let non snake keepers who want to handle a snake, handle one of my calmest semi-adult or adult snakes. Any snake keeper who comes to my place to buy a snake or just for fun can handle the snakes he or she wants if I have the time and if they are not digesting. Of course I warn them if they opt to handle a more fierce snake. If I know they are experienced enough, they can.
 
If we have guests or family over and they want to see and handle the snakes, I let them, but under these STRICT conditions.

1. No children
2. I only let them hold snakes that I know are calm and really laid back (enter Battle, the sweetest snake in the world! lol)
3. Before letting anyone hold my snakes, I demonstrate good handling techniques, showing them exactly how to hold the snakes without injuring them.
4. Before and after snakes are handled, EVERYONE must wash their hands, no exceptions!
5. I do not let people hold snakes that are small or just really jumpy, I have one in particular, she's as sweet as pie but totally fearless so cruises around without bothering to grip onto anything and so if I am not careful, she could easily fall and get hurt.

I haven't had that much experience with people holding different snakes, most of mine are little so are off limits for people other than me, so the ones that usually get handled are Cornflake, my big normal and Battle, my anery motley. Battle is (as mentioned before), totally calm and relaxed, he is like this with everyone. Cornflake is a little jumpy when being held by strangers, but fine with me.
 
IMO I think the only snakes you should hold are venomous ones. All other snakes hold you. when someone wants to "hold"a snake of mine I explain this to them,and if they are comfortable with this concept, I may let them allow the snake to move from me to them. As for a total stranger , no way.
MIKE
 
I normally just let them touch her, unless they really want to hold her.
And then she starts whipping around and squirming for dear life, I think it's because those people don't know how to hold her.
And then I become like a little child, holding out my arms opening and closing my hands saying "GIMME!"
 
I don't mind people handling my snakes. If it's an adult, I ask if they have held snakes before. If they have, then I let 'em do whatever they want. If they haven't, I usually start by holding the snake myself, then handing it over to the other person slowly. I stay very close and keep my hands ready in case the person decides to freak out and give the snake flying lessons. :grin01:

If it's a small child, I usually hold the snake and just let them touch it. If it's an older child, I will use the same precautions I use for inexperienced snake handlers, but I almost always keep one hand touching the snake or touching the child's hands to help guide them. I never get out the really young snakes for children. My older snakes are much more docile. Usually my "handling" snakes are my female snow, my BP, and my young red tail boa.

So far no mishaps. I hope it stays that way. :)
 
Once I get Kel calmed down a bit, then I may start letting friends hold her when I'm there. We have a system here at my school where anything you don't want touched shuold be marked 'Posted.' If food is marked Posted, you don't eat it, chairs that are Posted aren't moved, etc. The same applies for animals in the Animal Room- any animal that is not Posted can be handled whenever someone feels like it. I wouldn't dare 'Unpost' Kel, but I will probably say that if I'm there or they have my permission. (This would only be people I absolutely trust, like my herp expert friend). Otherwise, there's always the risk of the snake getting accidentally mishandled, someone leaves the viv lid unlocked, someone's just insane, etc. Anyways, sorry to ramble on. That's just my input from being in a larger, more public community than a private home.
 
I find people a amazed by my snakes. Most will ask to hold them and in most cases I have no objections. If the person has no experience I will get my Royal or my Corns out no probs, but I will only get Freddy, my Burmese out if there is at least one other experienced handler there, just incase! Trying to get a 10ft, 25kg python off you is not an easy task let me tell you. But in the right situation I see no reason why others cant enjoy these amazing animals.
 
snakewispera snr said:
I think the only snakes you should hold are venomous ones. All other snakes hold you.
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I like the way you put that. :cheers:

Sounds like some of the people out there have had some bad handling experiences. The one that made me cringe/laugh the most was trying to shake a crested gecko off :eek1: .
 
the only thing with my corn nevada is that he doesnt like my dad holding him. when nevada goes over to my dad and smells that it is him, he comes back to the person holding him.
(we think it is the hair on my dads arms, as soon as nevada touches it he recoils :shrugs: )
 
I evaluate each person/situation individually. Some of my friends, such as my roomate's boyfriend, are allowed to hold the snakes (even without me present). Sometimes he even feeds the snakes when I'm out of town. Most people I will let hold Zeke (my corn) under supervision. I only let some people hold my king, because she is fast and strikes/musks. I only let very calm people hold my BP, because I know she gets nervous easily, and I don't want someone jumpy to upset her.

If you have concerns about it, here's my procedure: I let the person hold Zeke, my calmest snake, first. Depending on how they do with him, I'll take the others out. No matter what, I don't leave the persons side unless I have complete confidence in them.

One last thing: I know some kids that are GREAT snake handlers. My niece visited a couple weeks ago (she's 4), and immediately wanted to hold the snakes (much to my sister's horror). After explaining that they don't like to be petted on the head/face, but just like to hang out, she ended up with my BP curling around her wrist and up her arm. And d*mnit, my camera wasn't working at the time. It was cute.
 
I let a GF hold one of my adult corns who was very calm. While she is holding him, she grabbed quickly at his head. He bit her. Her reaction was to throw him He hit the wall. Amazingly he was uninjured. But I have been tentative to let inexperienced people hold any snakes since then.
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I have to agree somewhat with your thinking there - some people I don't think would totally freak out if they got bitten, as I always warn them before handing over the snake that my animals are unpredictable and CAN bite. One or two of the males in my life admit themselves that their instinctive, automatic reaction to a bite would be to kill the 'attacking' animal. Needless to say, I'm less likely to hand over a snake to those guys. :grin01:

Depends on the person, the snake, and the situation.
 
I usually dont.. nobody but me and my family holds my snakes. But my mom asked me to go with her to visit some friends of hers and take a couple of my babies.... I didnt want to but she wanted to show them off... I finally said, ok... well, that was a mistake. The woman wasnt scared of it or anything like that but seemed totally 'dumb' about the fact that babies dont always hold on and you have to be careful.... well, before I could say anything to her... boom! down went my baby... to the kitchen floor, no carpet.. The baby continued to move ok but she refused to eat for 2 weeks after this incident :( I was upset with myself for 'letting' this happen.. I sure can tell you it Wont happen again.
 
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