BHP Help

[chickensnake]

I have had my BHP for 3 or 4 months (she is 11 mnths old) and she has been fine to handle but a few weeks ago one day it was like someone flicked a switch and she started to get very flighty and when i handle her she is puffing her throat out, Also whenever i touch her she quickly moves an trys to escape either from her enclosure of my hands whichever she is in at the time. It is getting really frustrating and difficult for me does anyone know why she is doing this and does anyone have any solutions to fix the problem?? I handle her every day.

 

[Jasspa]

Curious about the puffing out of the throat - tell us more about that?

Have you made any changes to her environment recently?
Can you tell us about her enclosure?

 

[chickensnake]

nah havent made any changes to her enclosure. The puffing of the throat... mmm... dunno there isnt much more that i can tell you its just when i pick her up she starts puffing her throat like mad and hissing/whisteling

 

[beeman]

You are over handling the little bugger an stressing it out, leave it be for a few days
and see how it goes with less handling

 

[chickensnake]

Im not over handeling her i only handle her for 20 or so mins sometimes longer but i tryed leaving her for a few days then it got worse lol so i put this thread up

 

[wranga]

im thinking with beeman and thinking your snake is stressed. cover its enclosure and leave it alone for a week to settle. then try hooking it out of the enclosure so it dosent have abig hand comming at it and freaking it out

 

[chickensnake]

oki il try leaving it for a week and then gettin her out if it doesnt improve what should i do??

 

[solar 17]

Bhp handling

like you she's becoming a teenager [full of attitude] it will pass like beeman said just back-off a whisker...solar 17 [baden]

 

[chickensnake]

lol sorry beeman i thought you said 'are you over handleing her' not 'you are'. thanks for the help ill see how it goes but if she is still like it in a couple of weeks what should i do?? Will she just get over it like solar 17 said or will it take time?

 

[JAS101]

lol sorry beeman i thought you said 'are you over handleing her' not 'you are'. thanks for the help ill see how it goes but if she is still like it in a couple of weeks what should i do?? Will she just get over it like solar 17 said or will it take time?

if its still like that in a couple of weeks then give it more time . the last thing u want is a pissed off snake when it gets bigger

 

[Pythons Rule]

maybe only handle it a couple days a week instead of every day and keep each handling shorter then 20 minutes. how big is she and what are you feeding her? maybe she requires an upgrade in food. I have found they can get rather grumpy when there hungry or not getting fed anough. and how big is her enclosure? you just got to remember snakes also get bad days and even weeks, but they will adventurally calm down

 

[snakecharma]

i had a customer get back in contact with me just recently with pretty much the same question. But she had moved to a new town and after the move she found her BHP rather cagey. What i said to her was to basicly give it no human contact for 2-3 weeks to settle down (apart from feeding of course) but that i ment complete blackout of enclosure, so a sheet was put over it and after that period she was to start handling it every second day, starting off with just a few minutes then graduly increasing time after time.

After 4 weeks she rang me again to tell me she had calmed right back down again and was sitting on the couch next to her lol

hope that helps you

 

[chickensnake]

oki the BHP is 1.5mtr and she is eating large weanling rats the enclosure is 4 foot. and the same thing happened with my BHP as What snakechama said

 

[JasonL]

Sounds like a typical BHP to me....

 

[pythons73]

From the start of April when i got my male until now,he still hasnt changed.The typical headbutting and hissing hasnt stoped,once hes out of cage he isnt to bad,nearly every time i walked past him he would smash into the glass.I actually thought he would calmed down a bit by now,but at close to 5feet at 12months old,im hoping he does soon rather than later.......MARK

 

[chickensnake]

well pythons73 she does do those things too but she very rarely does them. when i first got her she did it non stop as soon as she saw movement or something like that but il wait and see how she is in a few weeks thanks all

 

[Pythons Rule]

I've owned 2 so far and one of my males that I used to have was abit agro but he wasn't always like that its only when he hit 3 years old he changed, I thought it was maturing which changed him and I don't handle much and had him since he was 4 months old, I tried food too but he wouldn't settle in the end it came down to me selling him. but he had it coming instead of have a pair which I thought I bought I found out last breeding season they where both males.

but try the icelation method and put her in a room with not much noice or distractions for 2 weeks or so and cover the enclosure or tub with a sheet, then do what snakecharmer said. how often do you feed her?

 

[Jdsixtyone]

By any chance is she from snake ranch? My female BHP is on weaner rats and starting to puff up. But she seems to settle down. The male on the other hand is like a puppy dog.

 

[tomcat88]

maybe up a food size? my jungles are on large weaner rats and they are abit smaller than that, one doesnt even leave much of a lump but id rather feed them once a week than give em two every fortnight

 

[chickensnake]

To pythons rule she eats once a week the rat is usually inbetween 60 and 80 grams. And to snakemadness na i didnt get her from snakeranch she has been covered up for a while so i decided to try and get her out today but she is even more agro(took her out to feed her and clean the enclosure) she struck at my face twice lol only just missed