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newbie with a problem?

A

ardentglow

New member
Hi there.
I wanted to officially introduce myself to the group. I am a newbie to all ways someone can be new to the snake world! I have always wanted a snake, and would admire them in petstores, but never thought I could feed them live mice, so therefore never bought one.

A couple weekends ago I visited my friends house. As usual I cooed and played with their adorble little snake and began asking more questions regarding it's diet etc. I had never known that you could feed them frozen mice! I was excited, as this opened up the door for me to get my very own.

I bought my corn snake at a local petstore, and I found out from this site that it is a amelanistic motley. I held all the snakes in the store, and told the store keeper that I wanted the least skittish one. After holding each one, we determined the right one for me and I took her home.

I named my snake Orchestra. It is a weird name I know, but I think it is pretty.

I learned on reptileknowlegde.com that you should leave a new snake alone for the first 5 days or so in order for it to get used to it's new home. Today is day four, but yesturday I couldnt wait, I wanted to hold her.
I approached the cage, and took off the lid. As I reached in to touch her I was suddenly gripped with fear of her biting me! I dont uderstand why this would be as I handled my friends snake, and handled Orchestra at the petstore. I shouldnt be scared, but have comet to the realization that every time I have held a snake, someone has handed it to me, and therefore I have known the snake is calm with the other person, so it will be fine with me. I am not really sure what to do from here because if both Orchestra and I are skittish, that doesn't make for a very good mix. Does anyone have any advice for me?
 
Hmmm... Well I can't really give you any concrete advice, but what I did to overcome my childhood fear "skittiness" of snakes is to understand that they are just as afraid of huge you, than you might be of them. I also tried to make myself understand that if I don't try I will never know.

I'm not sure if that could help you, but what I would do if I were you is to slowly tell yourself that as long as your calm and non-aggressive nothing will happen to you. In a last ditch you can also try practicing with gloves as first if you want to, to help build comfort of it being just you.

Best of Luck!
 
Baby corns can and do bite, and it feels like velcro snagging your finger! The most important thing to remember is not to overreact and pull away sharply otherwise you can injure the snake. Be calm and confident, reach in and pick up your baby. It might try to wriggle away, so hold it over the tank at first and make sure it hasn't got far to fall if it does escape. (Baby corns are fast!)
The snake cannot hurt you at all, and will get tamer as it grows. Even adult bites aren't very much to complain about. Good luck
 
Hi,

my Amel Motley rattled when I wanted to take him out of the viv for feeding the very first time. I hesitated and I'm 100% sure, he sensed my fear. It took my about 1 minute to make myself grabbing him and he pretended to bite me (struck at the air next to my hand).
Same rattling next feeding time. Then I thought to myself: If he's a nervous character, he will bite me sometime, so just get it behind me. I reached to him without pausing and... nothing happened. He never showed any sign of stress or aggression ever since. ;)

So just do it, don't be afraid. If she wants to bite, it will happen some day. But if you don't get over your fear, it will stick.
 
diamondlil said:
Baby corns can and do bite, and it feels like velcro snagging your finger! The most important thing to remember is not to overreact and pull away sharply otherwise you can injure the snake. Be calm and confident, reach in and pick up your baby. It might try to wriggle away, so hold it over the tank at first and make sure it hasn't got far to fall if it does escape. (Baby corns are fast!)
The snake cannot hurt you at all, and will get tamer as it grows. Even adult bites aren't very much to complain about. Good luck
Click to expand...
Great bit of advice..........
Why don't you just put your hand in the tank and both of you get used to each others proximity to each other.... As you get used to each other you will both calm down...
Little corns put on a great threat display, but thats all it is.
Paper cuts hurt a lot more than a bite, and your not scared of books are you?
 
My advice would be stop handling the snake until after you have successfully fed the first meal and allowed her to digest for a minimum of 48 hours, EXCEPT maybe do a practice pick-up the day before so you know you aren't going to freak out on feeding day.

Does the snake hide under a hide, or is she a burrower? If she hides in a hide, I would lift the hide and then scoop up the whole snake gently in a little ball in your hand, and just keep her cuddled in your hand in a ball. This is the most effective way to keep her calm and not trigger her flight response.

If you have to search through the aspen for her, she is more likely to start crawling away from you. The less time you spend chasing her around, the less frightened she is going to be. You'll probably have to pick her up by very gently grasping her body. Be careful not to drop her! Maybe hold her over the viv until you get her settled. DO NOT hold her right behind the head in an attempt to not let her bite. Snakes HATE being restrained in that manner and she will never calm down. Use both hands and try to encourage her to wind around your fingers of one hand, or if she wants to keep moving let her crawl from one hand to the other, but keep a light grip on her in case she decides to jump out of your grasp. Most babies (really, most snakes) won't bite once you have them picked up, and most will not bite the hand that is holding them. Many babies and adults will tail rattle. This is quite common and does not signal an imminent bite.

She may try to bite you the first few times you pick her up. It feels like Velcro, but can be VERY startling, especially if she makes a little hiss at the same time! The best thing to do might be to just resign yourself to a bite, and be ready so you don't jerk your hand back and accidentally fling the baby! If she bites, just go ahead and pick her up anyway. _Sometimes_ a snake may bite out of hunger. You will be able to tell the difference easily. She will calmly just bite on to your finger or hand as if she wants to swallow you! It just means she is hungry. She will probably let go after she figures out she can't swallow you. Be careful not to damage her tiny teeth if you try to dislodge her.

If she bites when you pick her up, handle her for a few minutes until she has settled down before you replace her in her viv. If she bites and you drop her back in immediately, she will learn that biting is a defense against you.
 
i had the same problem, i picked up a snake at the pet store that tried to bite me but for some reason as soon as i get my own snake home I'm afraid to pick him up even tho i knew it wouldn't hurt . i used a glove on one hand and picked him up and put him in the empty hand. after a couple of times like that i was able to pick it up no problem
 
Slight Progress!

So today I took all of your great advice and encouragement and went to hold my little girl. I locked up the cat, and carefully opened my snakes lid so as not to scare her. After trying to pick her up with my bare fingers and her running away I decided to put on some gloves. I tried numerous times to get her but she is so fast! I had her once, but she constricted around my fingers so fast it scared me. Looking back, she was probably just trying to get a hold of whatever was lifting her off the ground.

I felt like the more I tried the more stressed she got, so I decided to just rest my gloved hand close to her for a long while. Every few minutes I would move it closer to her and she eventually came close to my hand with her head to look around, but never crawled on me.

I feel that progress was made on my end of things. I got comfortable with being near her and reading her a little better. I also know to expect her to tightly coil around my fingers when I do end up picking her up! I feel more at ease to try again tomorrow, and that is good.

Also, tomorrow is meal day for her. It will be the first time I feed her. I have heard from reptileknowledge.com to feed your snake in a different box than it's regular housing. Is this good advice?

Thanks again for your encouragement!
 
It is good advise for a few reasons, but it is not the only way to feed. I feed in seperate containers. This allows me to check the snake over before feeding. I can also change water, clean out the enclosure, and do any other general maintence while the snake feeds in peace.
One of the other way is to put the f/t(frozen thawed) meal on a paper plate(I assume you could use a real plate). Make sure it is large enough where the snake will not drag the meal into any substrate. This is so the snake will not accidentially swallow chips of aspen or any other substrate.

Both of these work well, I just pefer feeding in seperate containers.

Also if you do feed in a seperate container make sure the container is the right size. To large of a container and the snake may be more intrested in trying to escape than eat. Also place the container where it is not being disturbed. And if the container is small enough place it back into the enclosure. When the snake is done eating just open the container and let him/her come out on its own.
 
this sounds all to familiar, i had to give up the first day after chasing my snake around the cage. just move in not to fast but not too slow but be confident and hold on to it with a couple of fingers, once its up just let it crawl around. the first day my snake was very scared, the second day he was nervous but he moved from hand to hand and after a week he knows whats going on.

also don't hold your snake 24 hours or more before and after feeding. i also asked Don Soderberg at cornsnakes.net how to feed them and he says he feeds all his snakes in the cage with no problem and Ive been doing the same with no problems, Ive never had the snake think i was food.
 
Success!!!

Yay! I was just able to handle my little Orchestra not one, not two, but three times! I was able to grab her with a gloved hand, and then transfer her to my free hand. After, I took off the glove and was able to pick her up "naked handed" twice more! I am so excited!

There was once when she kind of hoisted herself up to my hand and I felt a slight scratch. Do snakes use their teeth to climb?
http://www.cornsnakes.com/forums/images/icons/icon7.gif
 
Remember how she constricted your fingers when you got her that one time? That is how they climb. You would be amazed at how tiny a bump or uneven spot in a surface can be and they use it to climb up. I have an Anery male who is in a tub type cage for now it has rounded corners and I drilled little holes for air circulation. He usues the corner and the holes to climb around the tip 3 inches of the cage. The corner gets him up there and the "lip" on the drilled holes gives grip to keep him up. I'll try to get pics some time. Congrats on your snake I saw the photo very cute!
 
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