Has someone experience with how to get a shy young African house snake into handling? Since I got it, I’ve been treating it based on choice based patterns (waiting for it to come, etc.). However, provided a hide, it will always keep in there if someone is around the enclosure. The most she comes to do is put her tongue on my hand for maybe 20 seconds at most (I put my hand inside, from the side, to get her used to it - but without forcing touch. There is no issue with the enclosure itself - good temperatures and humidity, etc.
I’m also considering if I don’t get her used to being touched when younger, she will have issues with it later on; so I’m asking myself about how to break the patterns of pure choice-based handling. Considering snakes wouldn’t come to a person by nature, it seems some kind of soft but forced interaction would need to happen?
Any directions would be appreciated!
So far in my limited experience with my own boy, I didn’t handle him much if at all for several months. I got him used to the smell of my hands and we started handling like this-
He had a seed pod I gave him a few of for hides, and I’d gently pick one of those up and hold that. He had the option to come out and explore on my hands, or to stay in his pod. if he seemed pretty determined to hide his head and duck inside the pod, I put him back in his enclosure. If he tongueflicked and seemed curious, I’d hold still and let him choose how far he wanted to emerge from the pod.
The idea here is that all his early interaction with me was at least partly under his control. He got to take his time. Often I’d sit there for like half an hour while he stuck his head out, then drew back, then did that again a few minutes later. I wanted to give him the chance to build confidence in What Hands Are and why they are safe, but also to feel he could just stay in his hide and nothing bad would happen then either.
As an adult he seems to be fine with me scooping him up now that we started with that much of a foundation of trust, I think. Generally house snakes will let you do whatever with them but like you, I appreciate and prefer the Trust approach to at least start them out knowing that human hands aren’t dangerous.
I think this approach kinda helps take advantage of how CURIOUS these little noodles are, when they also know they’re a single udon on the plate of everything in Africa that eats meat. Mine will probably always be shy and secretive, but he is okay with being handled and doesn’t show any sign of stress when i do handle him.
To be quite honest I don’t see any problem with gently but firmly lifting the snake out of the enclosure any time a keeper wants to interact with the snake, with the exception of not handling the snake for at least 48 hours after a meal and the shedding period.
I have been handling mine since he was a baby using the gentle scoop. He wiggles a bit and then literally wraps himself around my fingers sometimes almost cutting off my circulation! To me the handling process is very simple. We as keepers have the “upper hand” and the sooner the snake realizes we are not going to eat it, it will settle down quickly. I just don’t see what the big deal is tbqh. Pic tx
I haven’t had the pleasure of having a house snake, but I think you’ve hit upon a couple of major points for many snake species.
This is absolutely valid. I’ll add that very young snakes are at their most skittish since they frankly need to be very wary to survive in nature.
There’s nothing wrong with this in my book. There are individuals and species with highly developed inquisitive streaks who will approach a human voluntarily, especially once the sight and scent of that human becomes familiar. There are also species and individuals who will not. These more reserved or nervous animals also do need to be socialized at least enough to be handled for necessary housekeeping and veterinary care without them reacting in such a manner as to endanger themselves (or others, for larger species). It isn’t cruelty to gently scoop an animal up for interaction. Most of them, once they learn that they are safe, become willing participants. Some few never do choose to interact, but they at least learn that human interaction isn’t necessarily dangerous.