Things are continuing to go well with Mina. She’s still a little nervous when I reach in her tub to get her out, and she managed to tag me on Saturday…but it was honestly the lightest, gentlest snake bite I’ve ever experienced. Didn’t even break the skin. It was like a tap on my hand with her open mouth, haha. And once she’s out, she’s an absolute dream. She now relaxes almost instantly and is VERY inquisitive and curious. She seems fascinated by my face and glasses, it’s adorable.
I may try hooking her out next time I take her out, and see if the hook makes her less nervous than my hands. I can see how a small snake hook might look less intimidating from her perspective.
She ate her second meal for me last night (yay!), so I’ll give her a day to digest before I give the hook a try. I’ll also try to get some new pictures now that she’s more relaxed with me. I got a new phone that’s supposed to have a better camera, so I’m anxious to try it out.
I’m so glad I disregarded all the people on the internet who still seem to think that bloods are aggressive and “mean.” Honestly, I’ve known ball pythons who were way more defensive and strikey than Mina at her most nervous. She’s already so much more relaxed (once she’s out) after just a few short handling sessions.
They tend to mellow out with consistent positive interactions. They just need a bit of confidence. You’ll never get rid of the hissing, that’s just them being dramatic.
The general consensus among those who actually keep them seems to be that they usually have nice temperaments so long as they’re captive bred and well-socialised (and have proper husbandry, of course). But there are still a lot of people who buy into the negative hype about them, unfortunately.
Oh! I’ve also finally caught her drinking a few times. I was starting to get a little concerned that I never saw her drink. I wasn’t THAT worried, because she didn’t look dehydrated or anything, but the paranoid parent in me was still slightly concerned. I feel better now that I’ve actually seen it happen a few times.
Now I just need her to poop so I can verify that everything looks normal and I can move her off the paper towels and give her some real substrate…though from what I’ve heard about bloods, I may be waiting on that for a while, haha.
Picking names is sometimes the hardest part. Some folks dont even name their snakes! (Gasp) My ball pythons are all named for ol school wrestlers. My Kings Snakes for gunfighters. My two blood pythons are Fox Mulder and Dana Sculley.
You chose a beautiful animal. Welcome to the shorttail family
Yeah, it took me a few weeks to name my last snake.
I’m pretty sure I’ve settled on Mina for my new baby…but I still might decide to change it as I get to know her better. The upside to snakes not answering to their name like a dog (or even a cat) is that they won’t get confused if you change it, haha.
I tend to over-think naming my pets. I always want it to have some sort of meaning or cleverness (though it also can’t be too obvious), but it also needs to suit them and be something I like the sound of. And I usually prefer to use human names, but not super common or modern human names. And they can’t be names of people I actually know. Yeah, as I said, I over-think it.
Just had my best handling session yet with Mina. I used a hook to get her out this time, and I think it made a positive difference. I think a lot of it had to do with the fact that I’m able to get the hook under her body to lift her out faster than I can get my hand under her, so the most stressful part of the process for her just went a lot faster. The hook may also seem less threatening than my hand, and/or she may be picking up on the fact that me opening her tub and looming over her doesn’t mean she’s about to get eaten. Whatever the reason, there was no hissing, striking, or really any defensive behaviour. And once out, she was a relaxed, curious, gorgeous little angel like always. It’s so much fun seeing her become more relaxed and confident with every session.
…though once I sat down with her on the sofa, I realised that I left my phone upstairs (because of course I did), so new pictures will have to wait until tomorrow.
That is so awesome to hear! I believe that this a start of a life long relationship that you and her will get to enjoy. Definitely keep us posted for sure.
It’s such an amazing feeling, firstly just to finally have this amazing animal that I’ve been dreaming about for so long, and then to be building trust and confidence with her even faster and more easily than I dared to hope.
Well, I tried to get some new photos, but Mina objected. Everything was going great until I pulled out my phone and aimed it at her. She tensed up, started hissing at it, and even took a couple lunges/bluff strikes at it. Freaking drama queen. I didn’t want to stress her out any further, so I put it away, and she quickly relaxed and carried on exploring like nothing had happened. I’ll give it a couple days/handling sessions before trying again.
I don’t have a case yet for the new phone, so I’m wondering if it was something about the glossy/reflective surface on the back of the phone that set her off.
In more positive news, I’m continuing to have great results with hooking her out of her tub. Ever since I started using the hook, getting her out has been quick and easy, and aside from needing to show my phone who’s boss, she’s been an absolute puppy dog these past few days.
My mbk doesnt like my phone either. I do have a case on it that is not shiny. I honestly think its the camera lenses, cuz they look like big round eyes.
That’s really interesting! I just assumed it was the reflective surface, but maybe it was the actual camera lense that set her off. My new phone case should be arriving any day now, so I’ll have to see if she reacts any differently with or without the case.
I’m glad you enjoy the updates, as I certainly enjoy writing them! As I said earlier, there aren’t many people in my life who I can talk to about my snakes, so it’s nice that I can at least excitedly blather on about my new baby to people on the internet. At least most of you get why it’s so exciting for me when she eats, or lets me get her out without tensing into a strike pose. Non-reptile people usually take that kind of stuff for granted and think it’s super weird that I get so excited about it, haha.
We got poop! It looked good (being the paranoid parent I am, I googled pictures to compare…anyone looking through my search history is going to think I have some weird fetish for python poop ), so I revamped her enclosure with some coconut substrate, cork bark, and fake foliage. At first she seemed kind of confused and just sort of sat on top of it flicking her tongue, but after a minute or two she figured out how to burrow beneath the foliage and started checking things out.
I didn’t want to set her off by pointing my phone at her while I was handling her, but I did take a (bad) picture through the side of the tub of her starting to check out her condo remodel. Sorry it’s not the best quality, being through the side of the tub and all.
She seems to like the remodel! This morning I found her nestled under her fake pot leaves (I saw them on Amazon and couldn’t resist, haha), and she’d sort of dug herself a little bed in the substrate and was partially buried. I know that blood pythons will often burrow a bit to hide themselves in soil and leaf litter in the wild, so I’m sure it feels good to her to be able to engage in that natural behaviour. Plus I really enjoy seeing her in a more natural-looking enclosure that doesn’t look so sterile. She looks so pretty against the greenery and brown substrate!
I can’t wait until she’s ready for a bigger enclosure that I can really deck out! I bought waaaaaaay more fake plants than I can use/fit in her baby tub.
I had the cutest experience with Mina last night. It started with a screw-up of mine. When I got home from a concert last night, I noticed her humidity was too high. I must have over-moistened the substrate. In my slight defense, the glass enclosures where I’ve managed humidity in the past dried out super quickly (it’s usually quite dry where I live). You’d soak the substrate in the morning, and then by evening, it would have dried out and ambient humidity would have dropped to the low 40s. I only spritzed Mina’s substrate 2-3 times, but apparently once I put on the lid and the water bowl starts evaporating and she starts exhaling, that was too much. So I had to change her substrate.
I got her out and popped her into her holding tub (which she’s not a fan of…I get it, it’s small) and swapped out her too-moist substrate for dry substrate, then opened up her holding tub, and she immediately popped her head out and slithered right into my hands. I decided to handle and hang out with her for a bit since she seemed to enjoy being out. We had a nice little session for about 20 minutes, but it was getting late and I needed to get to bed, so I went to put her back in her house…but she didn’t want to go back. She kept popping her head back up, and when I tried to aim her towards her hide or into the foliage, she just used my hands as a perch to climb back out, haha. Finally I managed to snap the lid back on, and she kept peering out at me with what I can only describe as the snake equivalent of a sad puppy face (I know, I’m anthropomorphising, but I can’t help it, she’s just so darn cute).
As much as it broke my heart to put her away and walk away from her adorable begging, I’m also taking it as a good sign that she’s finding me and being out as non-threatening, as this is really the first time she’s tried to choose being out with me over the security of her tub.
I can’t help anthropomorphising my pets sometimes. I try to at least be aware of when I’m doing it, but sometimes I just can’t help myself. I’m a better animal-lover than I am a scientist, what can I say.
Words can’t express how thrilled I am about the relationship I’m building with Mina. Not only is she a gorgeous specimen of my dream species, but she’s also the first snake I’ve gotten as a baby to raise up myself. I’ve interacted with plenty of neonates and juveniles of various species, but she’s the first baby snake I’ve been solely responsible for raising and socialising.
I honestly expected her to give me a little more trouble. Not because I bought into the negative hype about blood pythons, but just because baby snakes of any species tend to be pretty nervous and defensive (which is understandable, because in the wild they’re near the bottom of the food chain and pretty much everything is a potential threat to their survival). But Mina has settled in and become so sweet and curious and bold so much faster and more easily than I expected. She’s such a doll. She’s everything I hoped she would be and more.
So, I’d been considering getting her larger water bowl, because I was concerned she couldn’t fit inside the one she had. I’d read that bloods enjoyed the occasional soak, but I’d never seen her do so. Well, this morning I came downstairs to this:
(I straightened it out, after I took this picture I noticed how it was sloped at an angle and was worried she’d flip it over when she got out. She stayed nestled inside it while I adjusted it, haha.)
Mind you, I’ll have to get her a larger dish soon, because as you can see, she barely fits in this one. But she does fit for now!
I think she might be entering a shed. Her eyes haven’t gone blue yet, but last night when I had her out, I noticed that her colours seemed a little duller than usual. I hope it’s a good shed that comes off in one piece, because I’d love to be able to have her first complete shed to save. Then when she’s big I can hold it up to her and say, “Look, you used to fit inside this!”
I used a hook to get her out this time, and I think it made a positive difference. I think a lot of it had to do with the fact that I’m able to get the hook under her body to lift her out faster than I can get my hand under her, so the most stressful part of the process for her just went a lot faster. The hook may also seem less threatening than my hand, and/or she may be picking up on the fact that me opening her tub and looming over her doesn’t mean she’s about to get eaten. Whatever the reason, there was no hissing, striking, or really any defensive behaviour. And once out, she was a relaxed, curious, gorgeous little angel like always. It’s so much fun seeing her become more relaxed and confident with every session.
I didn’t want to stress her out any further, so I put it away, and she quickly relaxed and carried on exploring like nothing had happened. I’ll give it a couple days/handling sessions before trying again.
), so I revamped her enclosure with some coconut substrate, cork bark, and fake foliage. At first she seemed kind of confused and just sort of sat on top of it flicking her tongue, but after a minute or two she figured out how to burrow beneath the foliage and started checking things out.
