# worried about snake longevity



## bleak (Oct 16, 2021)

Hello, to begin I would like to say thanks for taking the time to read this and possibly offer any advice, this forum has been extremely helpful so far for any python related questions I've had and the stuff some of you guys are doing for this community is amazing; as for my actual question, I'm interested in a medium sized snake (specifically a jungle, darwin or bhp) as my first personal snake however I'm worried that later on once they are around 3~ years old or 4-6ft that they will maintain their defensive behavior that they would most likely have as a hatchling/yearling, is this a reasonable thing to worry about or is there practically no chance that they won't relax with consistent handling from a young age, even with more aggressive species like a jungle or gtp? I understand it's extremely dependent on the snake and has many variables but I would prefer for both me and my snakes sake that I'm not going to have to either pass them off (very unlikely) or even be unable to maintain a proper enclosure for them because of an extremely aggressive temperament way later down the track


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## Wolfgang5 (Nov 11, 2021)

I can't comment on jungles but I own both a bhp and a Darwin both of whom are gentle and calm, no defensive behaviour of any kind save for the occasional bluff head butt from the bhp, but only if she is startled. A very wise member once gave me some great advice, he said that if you have an overly defensive or snappy python, leave it alone and in time it will settle on its own. This I can assure you is 100% correct. At one stage my coastal was not happy with me opening his door, but as advised, I've left him alone and whilst he doesn't like being handled, I can now comfortably and safely put my hands around him to clean etc. 
Not all pythons like being handled, this is something we do for our own selfish enjoyment, the snake will tolerate it, but they don't enjoy it. 
I wouldn't exactly call a bhp a medium snake, they can and do grow quite large and quite quickly. 

Other members may have different opinions but personally I believe that the majority of times, your own behaviour and actions determine the behaviour of the snake, not always, but treat them with respect and you should be fine.


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## ElapidHooks (Nov 11, 2021)

Yeah you should be perfectly fine with either of those choices, jungles are awesome so long as you handle often when young and I've never heard of any bad tempered Darwins, so really just go with what you want and so long as you put in the time and research you will be fine


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