Interacting with our herps

[instar]

Not many people consider reptiles an interactive pet, They dont "do" alot.
yet many folk cannot fathom the attraction to reptiles. I would love to hear what you do with your scaley buddy's. for example, does your beardy sit on the arm of your loungechair while you watch tv? does your
snake have the run of the house at any time? if so, what does it get up to? does it dissappear under bed, or climb furniture?
How do you "interact" with them. Has anyone tried to "teach" say, a beardy, to climb up your arm to your shoulder for a juicy cricket?
Please share with us your herp's secrets.

 

[Stevo]

My pythons are very good at keeping me company when the missus has the ****s with me. I go out to the garage grab a beer and turn on the telly. Then i get em out 1 at a time and have a beer with them. Three of the smaller ones dont seem to like this tho as everytime i lift my beer to my mouth they bite my hand ,but its a good way of getting them tame and better than the missus biting my head off. So i suppose i interact with them like i do with my mates. Have a beer and whinge about wife.

 

[Shadow]

oh yea......... well my python is good at biting me!
wait a second.......... :? :?:

 

[Guest]

As i live in a innercity apartment, i take my coastal to the park and sit in the sun while handling and talking to it. (i know i know, they cant hear me, but it makes me feel good) And strangely enough, i dont get any weird looks or comments. Other times i just let the snake sit on my arm or couch while i watch tv or cruise the net. And i take my blue tongues and let them sit on the grass.

 

[jimmy_the_kid]

i have monty out every night wacthing tv with me not that his 2 intrested though he usally ends up curled up in my hair or down the back of my shirt

 

[lutzd]

None of my snakes are content to sit still when I take them out of their enclosures. They are always on the move.

Their behaviour differs though, and they seem to have distinct personalities.

The two spotted pythons are basically the same. They'll just keep on wriggling, and go straight to their hide as soon as I put them back. I guess they don't like it very much! They have always been pretty placid, once they reached adolescence, but were very snappy as youngsters. The only time one of them has bitten me was when I was reaching into their enclosure to get a thermometer one day. One hand was on their log, with my little finger just over the top. The male saw this little, moving, warm pink thing, and said, "Aha! Food!", and promptly took a mouthful and proceeded to attempt to choke my arm to death! Don't know what it was thinking! There was NO way he was going to swallow THAT lot!

When I take them out to get some sun on the balcony, they will not stay put for a bask in the sun; they're constantly on the move. I've seen them climb a brick wall by expanding their muscles in the cracks between the bricks and moving up that way. Fascinating to watch!


The diamond is a little on the hesitant side, and I usually just open the door and wait until she comes out by herself. If I grab her, no matter how gently, she always curls her tail around a piece of wood, saying, "nahhuh! I ain't going anywhere!". However, once she's out, she's fine, and always explores my face and ears. When I put her on the clothes rack on the balcony, she lazes in the sun for ages. Eventually though, she starts exploring, always looking for something higher to climb.

My olive (my favourite) is great! He's never bitten me, even as a hatchling, and has always been active and curious. Now that he's approaching 2 metres, I'm a bit more wary of him than I was, as he's lightning quick when there's food around; or even thinks there's food around. I've always got to be a bit careful when I feed him, as he lunges for anything that moves when he smells a rat! However, when there's no food around, he's always eager to come out and have a look around. If I open his door and put my hand out he will always slither up my arm and start exploring. I quite often put him down my shirt when I watch TV, and he seems to like the warmth, but he is almost always on the go, exploring everywhere - most interesting sensation.

I once had visitors, and he wrapped himself around a guys waist, under his shirt and stayed put! Looked like some sort of belt (remember that, Bryony?). Never seen him stay so still for so long.

Since I moved all of their enclosures into the lounge room, they seem to be most interested in what's going on, and quite often will be staring out of the glass doors, following movement in the room. It certainly gives us something much more interesting to look at when the ads come on TV!

Despite being able to view them easily, now that they are in the lounge room, I STILL haven't seen any of them shed! :-( I think I'll set up the webcam in their enclosure again! :wink:

Anyway, that's a brief rundown on my snakes. Hope I didn't bore too many of you to death!

 

[phantom]

well my carpet has the run of the house at all times ,and duering the day he mainly just stays in the corner or up his tree where the sun hits untill about 1pm then he's on the move, its funny he only ever goes around the walls wont go across the middle.last week i got drunk and fell asleep on the lounge with him ,not a good move as he is a 7footer.
My diamonds are a totaly diffrent snake when i take them out just like your's lutzd the rape around the first thing they can ,but once they are out they are always on the move ,i got to watch the male climb up the sliding door wedging him self between the frame (amazing to watch) when i take them all out for some sun its only the carpet that will bask the diamonds are forever on the move which makes it hard to keep an eye on all of them (and the birds)
when i just have my diamonds watching tv with me they seem to rape around my wrists and tie me up.well thats me and my freinds

 

[moosenoose]

Funny that you bring up this topic. I had my Father-in-law around the other night and was looking at the snake, which incidently resides in the study. I was printing out some stuff on the computer when he asked me straight out "what does it do?". I responded to saying "About as much as a pet fish! With the added benefit of you being able to pick it up without suffocating it! LOL". I said I find it very relaxing to go and look at it because it's generally always relaxed. He then said "but can you train it to do anything?" and with that I said" You go and try and pick up a wild python & see how you go, then you can answer your own question LOL" Ahhh.. I admire the laziness of the carpet snake, what beautiful creatures! :wink:

 

[Slateman]

I love my snakes. When ewer I feel to talk somebody who is willing to listen, I pick up one of them and they are good to heer my winging.
They can keep the secret too.

 

[spottedpython]

my spotted python seems to be always on the move when shes out and always seems to want to go up my top she seems to be a 2 person python she only likes me and my neigbour holding her if anyone else trys to hold her she flys back to me and i think its cute when i go into her cage to pick her up and shes laying belly up she rolls over once she feels the paper come up.

my diamond i haven't held yet caise shes still settling down and shes shedding

 

[sxereturn]

I don't really interact with any of my animals. The thrill of handling kinda wears off. I'd much rather sit and watch them cruise around.

 

[Fuscus]

I think my new girl coastal will interact with me, she seems to like the taste of man flesh.

 

[instar]

My carpet will usually stretch out full length across the back of the lounge, almost perfectly straight [note to self~ take advantage and measure him idiot] i think he likes to do that ,he stays there for ages, maybe because he cant inside his enclosure. he is always facing the same way too, head next to the doorway, sometimes surprises me with a nice strike pose as i come thru the door.
Soon as hes on the floor though, he heads unerringly for the most difficult places, under the tv, pc whatever, whereever there are cords and stuff to tangle up in.
he will occasionally wrap around my neck while i watch the box and tongueflick my ear.
he likes a tickle under the chin too. :wink:

 

[howard]

I have never understood why people think snakes are cold or slimy or uninteresting. I grew up having reptiles as pets and in fact was forbidden to have a cat or dog - so I've got a different viewpoint to many I guess.

Just like Stevo, I go to my snake room with a drink and check them all out, it's a great excuse to get out of the house and have some quiet time. I usually handle at least one each day.

I find pythons to be very relaxing - I never tire of looking at them, whether I'm holding them or they are on the move in their enclosure. I do sometimes take one of the smaller ones to a park if we are going for a family walk, and I usually take them outside for a bit of sun on the weekends.

I don't know how much they interact, but each one certainly is different, and learning their differences and habits is a form of interaction. They may be 'just a reptile' but I like to kid myself that they do recognise me and like me ;-)

 

[zoe]

my young diamond seems to be the only one who will find a nice place to sit and watch telly with me (yes he sits there with his head in the air staring at the tv lol). he used to always curl up under the cup of my hand on my lap but now hes a little too big so he's found the best place is between my legs if i sit and cross them.

the coastal, new diamond and 2 childreni are always exploring. since i got used to jules curling up with me and not having to worry where he was every second, its kinda annoying sometimes when all they want to do is explore somewhere else! nymph has a funny and interesting habit of wagging her tail across the ground or whatever she has it touching for that matter...i think she's looking for something to anchor on but it looks mighty tarty! hence the name nymph :wink:

 

[earthmother]

I am fascinated with my MDs behaviour. She is sweetness and light.
She feeds, then she goes to her cool end hide for 1 day, she then moves to her warm cave and is completely hidden for 3 days at least - then she comes out of a night basking still under her light for 2 or 3 nights.
The next change I notice is that she is out from hiding and roaming the tank. She finds a high branch position and lies with her head down. I let her do that for a night or 2 and it's feed time again.

lol One thing that amuses me about her is that anytime she has bitten me -accidently of course - when I replace her she will hide her head, and her body is still out very visible.

If she thinks, she's thinking "I'm so embarassed I bit the hand that feeds me! I can't see her so she can't see me". Bright spark! :idea:

The signs of time to shed are interesting too. She will roam the tank rubbing her face on the glass, rocks, logs. I've seen her burying her head in the substrata. lol
It's a sure sign she's shedding and I watch until I see that skin lift and watch the way she rubs against the rocks, goes between forks in her branch, tries to fit between the smallest crevices to pull the shed off.
Fascinating.
Em
I'll let Shadow tell you about the Beardies. They're as much fun as a barrel of - - well beardies lol.

 

[Guest]

I only handle my snakes when cleaning enclosures, or with my snappier specimens i take them out when i change water etc. so they dont latch onto my hands. If i have visitors I usually get out my bredli and let people have a hold. Everything else tries to eat me when i grab them!

 

[Magpie]

Interacting with our herps

You wanna WHAT with ya herps?

 

[hugsta]

My male and female diamonds are as placid as you can ask. they are quite happy to just hand around your neck while walking around the back yard in the sun.
The maccies curl up around my wrists and just hang on. they used to bite all the time but are older now and don't bite at all. :roll: :mrgreen:
I have an adult ridge tail that will, when cleaning out the enclosure, climb up my left arm and sit on my shoulder till i'm finished. i then put my right arm back in the enclosure and he happily climbs back in. :lol:
My waters and carpets like to go to tag with my hands. First one to bite gets a second go. Ends up quite bloody on my behalf though after a night of tank cleaning. Luckily they are only youngens. :evil:
My beardies love to have a romp around the reptile room when i clean their enclosure. the adult male normally resides on my shoulder while doing this. very happy to just sit there.
i normally take at least one out per night, especially the cranky carpets or the wild waters, to hopefully settle them down before they get huge. :lol:

 

[Bryony]

right now my little MD boy is cuddled up in the crease of my jacket
the female is still being a bit worked up