Maloof
New member
Hey guys, I know a lot of people on here post that their snake is aggressive and they want help, but I have a bit of a different problem.
My snake is 8 months old, and I've had him for 6 months. It doesn't really feel like I've had him for this long and when I look at how much he's changed I'm amazed. Anyway, for an 8 month old snake he seems to be too jittery and anxious. I try to handle him 4 times a week, the other three days are a feeding day and 2 days to digest. Handling is a very unpredictable thing with my snake. He is either fine, no objections, nothing wrong at all and just handles normally, or he completely freaks out and refuses to be handled whatsoever.
When he does refuse to be handled he either burrows before I can pick him up, or lets me pick him up and then jolts out of my hand and burrows to run away from me. I have never taken him out of a burrow for any reason as I believe it would be really stressful, but he has also never been aggressive. Even though this is my first snake so I'm not very experienced, this seems to be more of a younger snake behavior or perhaps that of a newly obtained snake who is getting used to things.
After saying all that I must say that he has never bit me, attempted to strike, or done anything more than slight rearing which resulted in nothing. Once he rattled his tail, but I later found out that he was entering a shed cycle so it wasn't a big deal. So I know I don't have an aggressive snake, and I really do enjoy my snake a lot when he behaves well, but how can I stop, or at the very least reduce this anxious behavior? Please, I'm at a loss and any help is greatly appreciated.
Oh and just for some background information: He's in a 10 gallon tank, he's on a weekly feeding schedule and has just recently been bumped up to fuzzies. He is roughly 20 inches, although I've found it difficult to get an accurate measurement. He's on aspen and has 3 hides, one on the warm and cool side, as well as one in the middle. He has a water dish on the cool side and some bendibranches to climb on. Temperatures are around 80 on the warm side, occasionally being 75 or 85, and around 70 on the cool. He's never had mites, scale rot, or anything like parasites or anything. Oh and just for your information, I never had it sexed so I just refer to it as male based on the tail, sex was never important to me because I never plan to breed. Thanks for your time and you opinions.
My snake is 8 months old, and I've had him for 6 months. It doesn't really feel like I've had him for this long and when I look at how much he's changed I'm amazed. Anyway, for an 8 month old snake he seems to be too jittery and anxious. I try to handle him 4 times a week, the other three days are a feeding day and 2 days to digest. Handling is a very unpredictable thing with my snake. He is either fine, no objections, nothing wrong at all and just handles normally, or he completely freaks out and refuses to be handled whatsoever.
When he does refuse to be handled he either burrows before I can pick him up, or lets me pick him up and then jolts out of my hand and burrows to run away from me. I have never taken him out of a burrow for any reason as I believe it would be really stressful, but he has also never been aggressive. Even though this is my first snake so I'm not very experienced, this seems to be more of a younger snake behavior or perhaps that of a newly obtained snake who is getting used to things.
After saying all that I must say that he has never bit me, attempted to strike, or done anything more than slight rearing which resulted in nothing. Once he rattled his tail, but I later found out that he was entering a shed cycle so it wasn't a big deal. So I know I don't have an aggressive snake, and I really do enjoy my snake a lot when he behaves well, but how can I stop, or at the very least reduce this anxious behavior? Please, I'm at a loss and any help is greatly appreciated.
Oh and just for some background information: He's in a 10 gallon tank, he's on a weekly feeding schedule and has just recently been bumped up to fuzzies. He is roughly 20 inches, although I've found it difficult to get an accurate measurement. He's on aspen and has 3 hides, one on the warm and cool side, as well as one in the middle. He has a water dish on the cool side and some bendibranches to climb on. Temperatures are around 80 on the warm side, occasionally being 75 or 85, and around 70 on the cool. He's never had mites, scale rot, or anything like parasites or anything. Oh and just for your information, I never had it sexed so I just refer to it as male based on the tail, sex was never important to me because I never plan to breed. Thanks for your time and you opinions.
