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Upset Snake

L

LittlePrince

New member
My snake was the perfect, gentle snake for the first week or so that I had it. Then I accidentally made it throw up a meal. (I waited two days to handle it but for some reason it wasn't done digesting. Oops.) It seems like my snake has been more defensive since that happened.

I added some sticks and vines to the tank (10 gal) so it would have more places to be out and about and hide if it wants. My snake spends 90% of the time hanging out in the vines, which was a bit unexpected since I heard that corn snakes aren't really climbers.

Anyway, my snake has still not even once tried to nip at me but it gets really frightened any time I come into the tank to handle it. It calms down once it is out but it takes about ten-fifteen minutes before it stops racing through my fingers.

I don't want it to get to the point where it does start to get so defensive as to try to bite. Is there anything that I can do to make it less stressful to pick my snake up out of the tank? My snake is super fast so I don't think a snake hook would be of much help.
 
I would just keep picking him up. Little snakes are fast movers, but that slows with age. Just be as gentle as possible, and don't put him down until he has sat calmly in your hand without any attempt to bite. That way you are teaching him that sitting calmly gets im back to his viv sooner than acting spazzy.
 
Thank you for the suggestion! My snake likes to cling onto the branches in the tank when I go to pick it up so I kinda have to tug a bit. :(
 
Start with trying to get him when he is not on a branch, i.e. when slithering across the loose aspen. If he is on a branch, see if you can pick the whole thing up and then let him come off it onto you.
 
My snake is 90% of the time hanging out on a branch and the branches are not easily removed because they are tied together with a bunch of silk vines. I'll see what I can do, though. Thanks for the suggestions.
 
The reason is that they shouldn't be handled for 3 days after feeding. Just checking but how long ago was this, have you followed regurge protocol or do you need advice with that? This site is full of great advice anyway which I'm sure you've found.

Snake behaviour is very much influenced by learnt experience. Something very bad happened one time you handled him, perhaps he has learnt that being handled results in something very unpleasant? That would explain the sudden change in behaviour anyway. Unless he was already pretty crazy and you just didn't notice so much before :)

Anyway, in theory, he (or she?) can be recondited to learn that being handled does not mean that something bad is going to happen. You'll need to be very patient and gentle. Tugging is not good, as already suggested, so if it is impossible to remove the snake without a struggle, then you should look at ways to correct this.

There are lots of tips on how to handle aggressive or nervous snakes on the site which will also help. Good luck :)
 
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