Can I touch the snake?

[Madmick149]

Hi everyone
I'm still new to keeping snakes I have a 10 month old Stimson and a 9 month our albino Darwin both amazing snakes. unfortunately the albino had been neglected by the previous owner. My Stimson is the most placid snake and handles so well tonight a friend was over who is scared stiff of snakes but she decided to face her fear and asked to touch a snake. While she was attempting to touch him the little guy just cruised over on the her hand and up her arm. Never looked like striking or biting.
My friend has fallen in love with the little guy and is now very keen on getting a snake of her own.
If I can only get the albino to settle down it will be great she is a little hit and miss one day quite as the next its I want to kill you type of thing. Iv only had her a little over a month she will settle down and be sweet as
how cool are your snakes let us know what makes your snake/snakes so awesome?

 

[MrVic]

My Bredli is happy to be left alone and not handled. He's 15 and was never handled by the previous owner.
Sapphire on the other hand gets ready to strike the moment you unlock her viv. Puts on a show until I pick her up and then she's fine.

Although the other day, after holding her for 5 minutes she opened wide and hit me between the index finger and thumb and then went back to her calm self. Both my daughter and I giggled at her actions.

It was a case of "oh, he's nice, wait, let's be sure, BITE, no, hang on, it's ok, this is the nice man"

She's a pretty little love, she gets away with anything

Most times I walk past, put my hand in so she can have a smell and then take my hand out after about a minute without picking her up or touching he.
I think she likes the idea and is warming to being handled pretty quickly.

 

[Tiffany]

we have just picked up 2 neglected snakes within 2 weeks of each other. One a jungle and one a Murray Darling.
The jungle is getting along fine now but when we first got him we couldn't even go near the tank without him striking at us. Now he has calmed down a lot, he is still a little cage defensive but with regular handling and feeding he has calmed a lot.
The Murray Darling is just over 5 foot when we got him and he weighed under 1kg. Now he is starting to look healthy with regular feeds.
Neglected snakes are just like neglected cats or dogs you need to give them extra time to start settling them and even if it is weekly feeds so they understand they are going to be getting food on a regular basis.
Good luck with your albino and hope it starts settling soon.

 

[critterguy]

I pat mine when she is pushed up against the mesh in top of the tank or pushing her nose against the mesh wanting to get out for a hunt or explore (through the mesh), keeps her familiar with my smell so I'm not so foreign to her if I do need to handle her and she doesn't just associate me with feeding time/tank cleaning time.

Things are a bit tense when she hasn't been handled in ages like just recently (had bruminated for the last 5 months) despite her great track record when it comes to not trying to bite or strike.
The often endearing woma feature of wriggling their tail when excited (also when hunting though) can put me off trying to handle her when it's been ages since last held and she is sniffing my fingers/hand for longer than normal and acting cautious.

 

[Madmick149]

My albino Darwin who was neglected is a little snappy well can be a lot snappy but with feeds every 4 to 5 days and the last being a big fat hopper rat she is starting to settle down. Iv had her about 5 weeks now and she is growing and putting on weight has shed she had not shed in over 4 months. She is cage defensive but she will come around just need to give her time to learn that we mean her no harm and that food will come she had not been feed for months and is about half the size she should be.
She just needs time and TLC but I can see from the progress she has made she will be a awesome snake given time