Reptile & Amphibian Forums

my baby jaya is 4 months old and is really nippy he/she snaps at my hands even if im just misting. I always heard jayas were usually quite tame?

please help

thanks

hmmmmmmmm...

well... It's a snake...

In my experience some calm with age and some get aggressive with age...

Have you tried scratching it behind the ear??? Or rubbing it's belly???

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Shiloh Hawkesworth
kansas
(Midwest Serpents)

That picture is AWESOME! I mist mine with a spray bottle. I mist the cage and the snake and do it twice a day. Might surprise the gtp when it first hits but ten seconds later s/he drinks it off of herself. I also see her taking it from the water bowl on several occasions. I still want to get one of the better misters mentioned above so it will spray more gently. The water bottle kinda sucks.

Don't be concerned at this point. At 4 months of age, you want it to be very aggressive - makes for a better feeding response. Every individual snake is just that - an individual. There is no telling whether you are going to get a docile or aggressive animal as it grows up, regardless of its reported locality.

When are you misting and what are you using? Do not mist after lights out. In fact, do not do anything with it after lights out other than feed it. You should mist it in the morning a couple hours after sunrise. If the animal is that sensitive to the water then do not mist the animal and only mist the cage. I know some breeders say to mist the animal because some animals drink from there coils; however, many other breeders only mist the cage and they have had no problems to date. Considering the reaction your animal is having, I'd say misting the animal directly is doing more harm than good when you consider the amount of stress you are putting it through.

If you are using a spray bottle to mist, throw it out. Get one of those pressure sprayers from a hardware store. They are usually found in the gardening section and used for pesticide. These produce an ultra fine mist that will not disturb the animal as much as the larger droplets produced by the spray bottle.

Good luck,
Bart