Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Greetings to the forum! My daughter has a beautiful Sonoran Gopher snake that hisses like a broken steam pipe and strikes like a mamba every time she picks him up. He's only about three feet long but she would like to tame him before he reaches 6 feet and therefore has an even nastier bite. Would using heavy work gloves and insisting on him being picked up every day do the trick? Is this his species' normal behavior and can be altered or should she just let him be himself?

Marilyn

It is possible to change this behavior sometimes but not all the time. If it's a new snake let it get settled in but otherwise it's just going to take alot of work. Snakes tire easily due to their slow metabolism. Therefore there will come a time while you are handleing that it will settle down. "reward" it by letting it go home and leave it alone. Wait for it to settle down before putting it back. I would say it's a lot easier to just buy a second snake that is "tame". It seems to be an individual thing. Some are tame naturally and some aren't. There is a chance that it will calm down on it's own as it gets bigger. Whenever I have a snake like that I just let it be and deal with it. I just don't have the time to work with a mean snake trying to get it hand tame. A more realistic goal, I usually work on them letting me clean their cage, etc. without freaking out.
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Hi there. I'm the farthest thing from an expert, but since no one else has answered yet, I'll give it a shot. I hope someone points out if I am wrong. We're just getting our first snake tomorrow (cape gopher), so I am not yet speaking from any direct personal experience. But I've been doing a lot of studying, trying to learn as much as possible about this new pet.

As a general rule, gophers tend to be much more easily excited and agitated when young. They mellow out some as they mature...but will always need consistent, gentle handling to remain tame and accustomed to human contact.

My first instinct is to say that heavy gloves and forced handling every day is not the way to go. I think that would stress the snake out even more.

Here's what I would do if I were in your shoes:

Check the snake's environment. Is it stressful? Are there lots of kids or noisy things going on around it? Lots of lights flashing on and off? (Like being too close to a TV?) I think it may do better in a calm, quiet environment.

Is the tank too warm? Sometimes if they are too hot they will be much more agitated than if they were comfortable.

Once I'm sure the environment is more soothing, I would leave the animal completely alone for a week or two, except for feeding...to allow some of that excess stress to bleed off. Then start very slowly allowing it to get used to me. (Or my daughter.) Three or four times a week with brief, gentle handling. Not every day. Only increasing the duration of handling as the snake accepts.

And one more tip that sounds very useful and I will employ with our own snake. Feed it in a separate container from its usual home. They are creatures of habit, and if it knows that your hand entering the cage means food is coming, then it will go into "hunting" mode every time it sees your hand. But if it is first moved into an entirely different place to find its food, it is much less likely to strike out at the "hand that feeds it."

Hopefully with time and much gentle patience, you'll have a somewhat more sociable pet.

Hope this helps some...
Judy

Ok...someone else answered while I was typing.
Hope it helps anyhow! Good luck.

I have a 4ft adult sonoran that was the exact same way. I am not a breeder, my snake is a pet so I was fustrated with not being able to handle it but was not brave enough to risk a bite, so I did not attempt to handle it for several months after I got him except to care for his cage. Then the Chicago winter came and I notced he was much calmer in the mornings before his heat source came on each day. I began to pick him up in the mornings before work/school. If I was slow with picking him up, he become aroused and mean, but if I just swooped him up quickly, he was pretty calm. He would still his (very little), but would not strike at all. He seemed to like the warmth of my hands and arms. It has been a few months now and he can still get a little testy when someone walks by his cage, but is getting very used to being handled. He no longer hisses once picked up at all. Heavy gloves and long sleeves will make you more confident so you can practice the quick swooping of the snake, but remove the goves once he is in your hands, so he will not hurt his teeth by getting caught in the material. Also he can't feel or smell you with goves on, which might play a role in his habituation to being held. Hope this helps and good luck.

Lots of good information, it will put to use. You're all special!

Marilyn

i also have a 3 ft. sonoran gophersnake that is wc. he is very docile actually but in you case handle him as much as possible but when he looks like he needs to be left alone leave him alone. let him stay in his hidebox for a few days with no distractions.

ps how often do you feed him and what do you feed him and how many?