Anybody else do this when you go to pick up your snake?

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Experiment397

Experiment397

Redtail Catfish
MFK Member
Feb 26, 2010
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Probably the Poly section
i was talking with a friend about snakes and he kept complaining that he keeps getting bit when he goes to pick up his snakes. when i told him i have only been bit once and it was when we got my snake back from his mia excursion ovr the summer, he wouldnt believe me. so we started trying to come up with why he always gets bit. i told him i have 2 ways i open the cage, and i think the snake now knows which means food, the other means handling/cleaning. if i reach in with the feeding tongs to lift up the hide it means food. but if i use the snake stick it means handling. but if the snake is out of the hide allready i wave the tongs in the tank so he sees them if its feeding. and if its handling i stroke his back then pick him up.
just wondering if anyone else uses techniques similar to this so they dont get bit when they go to pick up their snakes.
 
i will have to tell my friend that. i currently only have top open cages. but his boa/pythons are all in front opens. he has
1x 5ft red tail boa
1x 6.5ft ball python
1x 2ft ball python
his 2ft ball and the red tail keep biting him
 
all i can say is snakebytes.tv on youtube...
 
Alot of the time all it takes me is a tap on the head from a snake pole and I can reach right in a grab whoever without getting bit. Only snake it doesnt work on is my female LTC s.d. retic but she just likes to strike and its not a food response kind of issue. Hope this helps you and your friend
 
Your friend has a 6 1/2 foot long ball python?

I hate being skeptical, but honestly I am a bit skeptical.
 
If he would feed the snake in another container the snake would no longer bite. This behavior is called tank aggresive. This happens if the snake is always fed in the tank that it lives in and assoicates the opening of the tank with being fed. After two or three feedings in a different container the snake will not longer strike when its cage is opened. This snake will also enjoy getting out of its cage. I have seen a few female balls reach right close to six feet long on a strong feeding regime. Hope this helps
 
I do not necessarily agree with the above about feeding... all of my snakes are fed in their cage (save for the kings in the summer because they are on sand) and the only one that is nippy at all is the carpet python..but it is not cage aggression in his cage it is perch aggression...much like a chondro...he gets happily curled up somewhere and he does not want to move, simple as that.

the problem of cage aggression comes when the ONLY time you go into the cage is for feeding. If you never handle them or do anything else except open the cage to feed then yes, every time the cage door opens.. it means food to them, however if you handle regularly or clean or whatever else as well as feeding, the opening of the door does not always mean food so they will not react that way.


the hook training previously mentioned is a great method that can be applied to many snakes but is most often used with larger constrictors.
 
I am waiting for some jerk to come in and preach on how Snakes wouldn't be able to figure that out because they are living robots or whatever :ROFL:
 
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