how to handling a costal python

[raregold]

Hi All,

Hoping someone could help us with a few question. We have just purchased our first Snake = a costal python. He is 4yrs old, 6 foot long and we purchased him for a guy that had him from a hatchling. We properly don't know enough about handling snakes yet, we are trying to get up to scratch quick. We moved him yesterday and cleaned his enclosure before putting him into the house. He seemed unsettled yesterday, but today seem ok. We then went to handle him today and he bit twice and wrapped himself around my arm pretty tight. He isn't due to eat for around 4 days (eats weekly), the last owner said he was pretty docile and like to be out of the enclosure, but hadn't been handle as often as he use to (too busy, really hardly handled at all lately). Enclosure temp is set at 28 and today we used a snake hook to get him out of the enclosure (the last owner set the temp at that, although he just used his hand to get him out).

Is the problem that we didn't let him settle long enough (we were just worried that the longer we left him the harder it would be to handle him)?

Could it be that we used the hook?

Is there a particular way we should be handling him?

Was it a bad move cleaning the enclosure?

I think a lot of these factors come into it - but like i said i really have no idea and need some guidance?

 

[J-A-X]

his basking spot should be 32c
leave him alone for 4 days or so, then offer food, clean as required, once he is eating regularly then worry about handling him, , his entire world has been turned upside down, you don't smell 'normal' to him, everything around him smells odd, new vibrations etc etc,

he will settle down, just allow him the time to do so with minimal disruptions

 

[Norm]

I dont mean to be a party pooper, but why get a 6 foot python that hasn`t had much handling of late, when you admit "we ... dont enough about handling snakes yet" as a first snake?

Have you had a bit to do with friends snakes?

 

[Bec137]

Yeah i agree, a 6footer wasn't the smartest starter snake. I would not be a happy chappy either if I was taken from my home and dumped in a completely new one. Even if its the same cage, you cleaned all his regular smells out of it. When I bought my hatchie Murray Darling, the store told me to leave him be for at least 10 days, even though he was due to be fed the day I bought him.

At 6 foot hes not going to die if you skip a few feeds. I would think leaving him for a week or two would be helpful to get him to relax a bit. Then maybe only pull him out for 5mins, and don't pass him around like show and tell. Just let him do his own thing and get used to his new surroundings. You can gradually increase the time he is out for until he doesn't care about being handled.

Use a hook if your freaking out, but he is a snake, they bite. You get used to it in this hobby.

 

[TigerCoastal]

When i bought my first snake (5ft coastal) i had next to no experience handling snakes, as the last time that i handled a snake was about 8 years previously, and only 3-4 times. My girl was extremely jumpy, would strike at us, and i found that alot of that came from my confidence level. Put on a jumper and a pair of pig skin gloves, i felt "comfortable and preotected" which helped me relax and she settled easily. Once i felt comfortable handling her like that, i took the gloves off, and then the jumper. I only had to do that with my first, currently have 3 coastals and will be adding another to my collection in 4-6 weeks.