As both my BPs are new to me and young I am only handling them twice a week for a very limited amount of time. I work in the service industry in a tourist town. Hand sanitizer, hand soap, bleach and Dawn dish detergent has become an constant part of my routine. Is a mild organic hand soap with no fragrance and a really good rinse and dry the right routine prior to handling my BPs? Should I stop my Tuesday 2 minute handling sessions to get them acclimated to me until this passes? Or am I over thinking this?
How new are the animals to you? I only handle when necessary (cleaning & water changes) for the first 1-4 weeks. In my opinion this gives the animals time to get acclimated to their new environment, reduce stress, and encourages a strong feeding response. What is the bleach for?
My lesser has been with me a month. My albino for a week.
The bleach is because I manage a bar in a tourist town and we are stripping it down every night for public safety.
My worry is will these products overwhelm my snakes senses? Cause chem burns? I am only handling the lesser a few minutes a week. I have not begun to handle my albino. I was going to start this week
I personally would give the albino a few weeks before handling just because it’s so new. I don’t think you’re in any danger of the chemicals you work with causing any harm to the snakes as long as your hands are clean.
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They are so young Im worried second hand smells will repulse them. Im just going to be overly cautious and avoid any contact for now. We closed our bars yesterday. The state shut all bars today. Going in today to secure them for a month long closure. I will just stare longingly at my BPs and daydream of days to come.
Don’t worry to much. As long as you rinse your hands of well with clean water so there are no chemicals on your hands it will not effect them. The hand cleaning lotion( the one you can use without soap) is also safe. In expo’s their are commonly used when you want to hold the snake. But most of the time I wait a minute to let the alcohol smell evaporate. Never noticed any different reaction from them on the smell. Also not on smell of washing powder or perfumes or something like that.
Handling after a week is oke but wait till the snake ate at least one time at your place. Some will promote waiting longer, but that’s up for different opinions. I personally handled my snakes always first some days after their first meal. I don’t like to wait to long because I have the feeling I can not check them enough, see how they behave, extra check for mites or signs of respiratory disease if I don’t handle them. But that’s my own personal opinion and worked for me till now.
Good luck with your snakes
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