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Snake Manners & Psychology
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by MojaveGreen on April 27, 2006
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This is kind of a snake psychology question, but bear with me a little here...
I've kept a little red corn snake for oh, about 4 years now. I acquired him from my uncle who got him from a family whose lighting he fixed. My uncle only had him for a week before he gave the snake to me. I'd never had a snake before, but I like them and wanted to give it a good home. So I read up on cornsnakes, and got him situated in my room. I made sure he had water, a place to hide, clean terrain, and heating on one side of his glass container. All was going well and the snake proved to be the docile creature most reading material said he'd be....until he bit me!
I'm wondering if there was a single act I committed that could've sent Harley (that's his name) over the edge? When I first got him I had kept him up high on my dresser, but my dresser is now used for my work supplies and for needed lighting in my room. He has sinced moved to the floor, and for a short period before, he'd been kept in the upstairs hallway floor while I was painting my room, and perhaps the foot traffic and little kids poking the glass stressed him out, too. He's been alot easier to spook lately, like for the past year or so, and I'm a little worried about him.
Any constructive commentary and/or advice would be much appreciated, especially from anyone who knows anything about this kind of snake. :)
Thanking you in advance,
Marie
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RE: Snake Manners & Psychology
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by toddg on April 27, 2006
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It’s been my experience that snakes tend to bite mostly out of fear. Occasionally, a feeding response may trigger such an attack but constrictors tend to hold on and wrap up during this kind of attack and since you didn’t mention any holding and wrapping, it was probably out of fear that you got bit. And yes, being at floor level and being poked at would definitely stress out an animal thus causing the animal to feel threatened and more inclined to bite defensively.
You have to understand, these animals typically don’t see very well. They don’t have any arms or legs so they can’t just run away or shield their heads defensively to ward off any potential attack. Basically what they can do is hopefully “not be seen” and as a last resort (as well as in your case) bite. Try to imagine having poor vision, no limbs and belonging to an elephant! Every time this 8-ton thing goes to remove you from your cage and pick you up, you might feel just a little intimidated and act defensively! This is probably how your corn snake feels.
Since most of my snakes aren’t what you call “people friendly”, what I do when I need to handle them or remove them from their cage is: 1. Make sure they’re not in a corner or at one end of the cage. Snakes tend to behave more defensively when cornered. 2. I always try to handle them very gently at the mid-body first. NEVER approach the head first as this is the end that contains the teeth not to mention, from the snakes point of view, it’s a little disconcerting to see this giant hand reaching for you. 3. Snakes like people, have bad days and may tend to be a little grouchy during these times. Just after feeding and pre and post shedding are times when your snake may not be in the best of moods. During such times it’s best to just leave them alone.
Now in the chance that it was a feeding response that triggered the bite: 1. Feed ‘em. 2. Do your best not to smell like a mouse.
Hope this helps.
toddg
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RE: Snake Manners & Psychology
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by earthguy on April 28, 2006
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Handling time has a lot to do with it too. There is a perfect formula of handling lenght and frequency that helps maintain a snake on good behavior. Too little handling, and the fear in the snake comes out (really all you're doing by handling a snake - or any animal for that matter - is habituating them to your presence). Too long or too frequent handling can cause the snake stress and (in my opinion) cause them to be sore (especially if you are letting children handle them). You just have to experiment to find what that formula is for that snake.
As mentioned, other stresses can be causing this behavior. I get pretty grouchy myself if I don't get dinner on time, if I'm too hot or too cold, if the kids keep me up all night, or any number of things.
Good luck with it.
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RE: Snake Manners & Psychology
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by MojaveGreen on May 17, 2006
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Sorry for the late response, but I wanted to thank you both very much. Your insight was a great help to me! :)
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