Reptile & Amphibian Forums

...I hear a lot of people talk about how nasty a temper their ratsnakes have (usually texas & yellow ratsnakes)...but I think it maybe a handling issue,over the years ive had hundreds (and i do mean hundreds both w/c and c/b) of Everglades-Yellow Ratsnakes and only two that i can remember stayed so nasty tempered that they had to be handled with snake hooks (both were over 7' and i was worried about them damaging their mouths) . Even the adult w/c ones i caught usually tamed down with some gentle and confiedent (e.i. dont hold it by the head) handling...
...I could be wrong though...

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0.1 c.b.97' 9'6" 62 lb. Colombian Boa "Scarlet"
1.0 c.b.02' 6' Pastel Colombian Boa(thanks Bill!)"Maverick"
0.1 c.b.06' 17" Firebelly x Pastel boa "Betty Boa"
1.0 wc 3' Savannah Monitor "Ozzy"
0.0.1 wc 1'Savannah Monitor "Uggy"
1.0 c.b. 04' 4' Everglades x Yellow Ratsnake "Pooh"
1.0 c.b. 05'2' Snow Corn "Zero"
1.0 Oscar 10" "Jaws"
"...does it bite?"

I have one relatively orangey yellow that is a nippy little snot, but his previous owner amused himself by tormenting the poor snake into striking. Apparently, this is supposed to be funny. When I adopted the snake, he was a nervous wreck. He's still jumpy, but he's become a lot more trusting. It took a LOT of nips and patience to get him to this point, though, and out of respect for his mental state, I try to move slowly and gently when cleaning his cage and handling him.

I have a yellow that was sold on here (remember the "anery" yellow rat that "needed to find someone else to bite"? Most amusing ad ever), and he's actually a very calm snake. He was nice the moment I pulled him out of the shipping box, and doesn't bite at all. He gets nervous and jumpy, though, if he can't see what's going on. Former owner kept him in a sweater box, and he was nippy. He's behind glass now, and watches *everything* that happens in the room. He just likes to know what's going on.

Sometimes it's just a matter of finding out what makes them scared and upset, or making sure they get enough handling so they remain trusting. And sometimes, they're just too wild, or have had too many bad human experiences to get over their fear.

Most folks, especially newbies, get freightened by the aggressive baby attitudes and give up and dont's stay consistent with the handling. Or, as you stated aren't confident or gentle enough to calm the snake. Heck, I've worn gloves with a few animals I had until they could be trusted. It was less stressful for me not worrying about bites, and that made it a more calm and confident session. Most become fine once out of the cage and in hand supported well. Also, with the internet, explosion of captive born animals, and shows coming along, many newbies probably don't know what its like to catch their own animals like I did back in the 70s and 80s. Back then if I wanted a snake to hold and observe, I had to tame it myself. Usually shied away from the texas and gray rats in the area, but had many a speckled king and ribbon snakes. Even a few water snakes.

I get people calling me up to help "tame" their snake. I go over to find a neonate corn snake that is "mean". I observe the person handling the little worm, to see that when the snake does ANYthing defensive, the person flinches, pulls back their hand, and gets all dramatic about it. Which of course makes the snake even more nervous, and it just escalates. I will calmly pick it up, usually with no bite, but sometimes a little nip, and they ask, "Oh my god, what if it bites you?!?!?!?!" I tell them to grow a pair and stop being such babies about it.

I have to remind them that these are tiny, vulnerable creatures that have only recently come into the world, and don't have enough positive experiences with big, clumsy apes to trust us. It's something we have to earn from them, with calm demeanor and patience. Imagine these types with a human infant: "It can't talk, walk, or even feed itself! It's stupid! I give up!" Good lord

These people would have soiled their drawers if they'd seen me at age 10 catching 6' blue racers in my front yard, getting bitten and musked like crazy. And loving every second of it.

>>Most folks, especially newbies, get freightened by the aggressive baby attitudes and give up and dont's stay consistent with the handling. Or, as you stated aren't confident or gentle enough to calm the snake. Heck, I've worn gloves with a few animals I had until they could be trusted. It was less stressful for me not worrying about bites, and that made it a more calm and confident session. Most become fine once out of the cage and in hand supported well. Also, with the internet, explosion of captive born animals, and shows coming along, many newbies probably don't know what its like to catch their own animals like I did back in the 70s and 80s. Back then if I wanted a snake to hold and observe, I had to tame it myself. Usually shied away from the texas and gray rats in the area, but had many a speckled king and ribbon snakes. Even a few water snakes.

>>...I hear a lot of people talk about how nasty a temper their ratsnakes have (usually texas & yellow ratsnakes)...but I think it maybe a handling issue,over the years ive had hundreds (and i do mean hundreds both w/c and c/b) of Everglades-Yellow Ratsnakes and only two that i can remember stayed so nasty tempered that they had to be handled with snake hooks (both were over 7' and i was worried about them damaging their mouths) . Even the adult w/c ones i caught usually tamed down with some gentle and confiedent (e.i. dont hold it by the head) handling...
>>...I could be wrong though...
>>
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>>0.1 c.b.97' 9'6" 62 lb. Colombian Boa "Scarlet"
>>1.0 c.b.02' 6' Pastel Colombian Boa(thanks Bill!)"Maverick"
>>0.1 c.b.06' 17" Firebelly x Pastel boa "Betty Boa"
>>1.0 wc 3' Savannah Monitor "Ozzy"
>>0.0.1 wc 1'Savannah Monitor "Uggy"
>>1.0 c.b. 04' 4' Everglades x Yellow Ratsnake "Pooh"
>>1.0 c.b. 05'2' Snow Corn "Zero"
>>1.0 Oscar 10" "Jaws"
>>"...does it bite?"

All snakes are truly different. I have an everglade rat that is mean as hell. I have tried every tactic known to man but he just does not enjoy being held. I have a Texas rat who is pretty docile for his type. She is much more at ease when being held.

My prize is a cross between a yellow and an everglades. Got her last Aug. and this snake seems to almost enjoy being held. No sign of being nervous at all. She does not attempt to take right off. No nervous twiches, she simply and alertly looks around while crawling along my hands arms etc.. I will on occasion put her down in the bedroom and allowed her to crawl along the base broad of the wall in order to get an accurate size measurement and she has shown no signs of being nervous at all when I go to pick her up. She is without question the most docile snake I have ever own and I will be 50 years old this Aug.

This snake has also never refused her once a week meal in the about 24 weeks that I have own her.
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Like I said; I`m Gonna Getcha Good!

I have to agree with you.I've picked up numerous black ratsnakes without pinning them,just handling real gently without incident. jeff

I think it is always good to remind ourselves that we are asking our snakes to do something that is very unnatural. A snake in the wild should think that any animal that is much bigger and more powerful, and grabs it, is trying to eat it. It should strike, bite, constrict and musk. Those are the things that help to keep them alive in the wild. A snake that bites is a healthy snake.

I keep Blacks, Grays, Yellows, Gulf Hammocks, Emorys, Corns, Bairds, Everglades, and Texans. All of mine, I have been able to tame. I am sure that there are American Rat Snakes that just never adjust to big animals grabbing them, but is that really something to worry about? Maybe those snakes that never tame are the ones that do the best is the wild. Maybe those are the best examples of what a fit Rat Snake should be.

Most of us tell people who are thinking about getting a Rat Snake for the first time, to pick the snake up to see how it reacts. If they start out tame, for the most part, they stay tame. Most of us seem to put up with the biters, but maybe we should be celebrating those wonderful snakes that have the strongest instincts to survive.

That is my 2 cents worth.

BTW, I start warming up my pairs in three weeks. I hope this turns out to be a good year for breeding snakes. Wish me luck.

Rick

I'm going to agree with everything but the "touch of blood" part. My adult female yellow (little thing at only around 3-4 feet) is the nastiest snake I have ever owned in 30 years of keeping snakes. When she bites, there is no touch of blood, it's a damn flood and she bites over and over, unlike most other snakes that will bit once, twice, maybe three times and then just try and escape. I tried and tried with her when she was a young'un, but she never lost her aggressiveness. So now, I do everything in my power to cater to her attitude and keep any necessary handling as quick and stress-free as possible. You gotta love em for what they are!

Billy

>>Like I've tried to explain to people. Having a baby corn,king or ratsnake bite you is about the same has having your finger, placed at the surface of a fish bowl, and having a gold fish come up and nibble on your finger tip.
>>And as far as getting bit by adults, and how if feels. I'll take a small section of velcro, (the rough part) and do a quick, gentle swipe on a persons arm or hand, and then tell them, it feels something like that. The only difference is with the snake bite, you may have a touch of blood from the bite area from the very small, needle like teeth. I think the best cure of getting over your fear of being bit, is to experience it a few times. The hardest part for a new owner to learn, is not flinch or jerk your hand everytime that snake makes a lunge at you.
>>Steve
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>>"Little girl? Don't touch that squirrel's nuts. It'll make him crazy" - Willy Wonka

I had a garter snake that was the most aggressive snake I've ever handled. Its the only snake to ever leave a scar on me from biting, lol leave it to the most easily found often tame snake to leave a scar. Its only very small but its still the only directly snake related scar I have. (I have plenty of indirect ones like tripping scraping while running after something as simple as a small water snake.)
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-J.Hill

You are soooo right, when you said that it is a handling issue!!!......over the course of decades of working with snakes, I hear over, and over again people say how mean, or "jumpy" and nervous some snakes are. I was just posting about this very subject on another forum!!!. Just recently I gave a hatchling anery. Honduran Milksnake to a buddy of mine, and he was complaining that it was biting, and musking all over him!!. I reached over and took the snake from him,..............within about 30 seconds the little guy was fine!!!.......As a matter of fact, I have rarely EVER had any serious handling problems with ANY snakes in my posession. There is a certain "finesse" to handling snakes that seems to work well. Very slow,deliberate movements, making sure not to let the snake see your free hand going for it(avoiding reaching for head) ,....but rather moving the snake toward your free hand and very gently and slowly grasping it all in one very slow motion.When the snake wants to crawl away,....symply reach around from underneath to let the snake continue as if he thinks he's on a "never-ending branch"(LOL) resembling a kind of "escalator" like in an airport, or dept. store.....Also, it usually works well if...when the snake stops moving,.....you stop moving,...when he starts moving again, you can move slowly again. When a snake is in motion, it is almost impossible for it to detect motion, unless it is sudden movement!!, then it will usually startle the snake........anyway,it seems that I can pretty much "read" how a snake is going to react to most situations as they happen. This has been a great help to me in many situations in the past.....I hope maybe some other readers will learn to use some of these techniques as they most CERTAINLY WORK!!!!!...best regards,Doug
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Better to be silent and thought a fool, than to open mouth and remove any doubt!

Another issue in handling is having too many snakes to handle all the time. Back in the day when I was lucky to have one snake, I could sit for hours holding it, letting it sit on my lap/shoulders while I read or watched TV. When you get into breeding or amassing a large collection, and you have a job, kids, and other responsiblities, sometimes all you have time for is the basic husbandry with little or no time to handle them much except for the few really tame ones.

I couldn't agree with you more on that one!!!!(LOL)....................................................Doug

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Better to be silent and thought a fool, than to open mouth and remove any doubt!

Most ratsnakes I've encountered in the wild have been relatively docile, then again, I'm from Missouri, and all we have up here are black rats and great plains rats. I've never been bitten by a great plains rat, and I've only been bitten by a black rat once. Honestly, any time I've ever been snakebit, it was my fault. I even own a coachwhip that's only bitten me once, and that was without a doubt my fault, I was cleaning his cage and he was backed up into his hidebox, didn't see him back there, reached in, and he did what any normal snake would do, he let me have it.

I'm always wary of anyone with a snake that's known for a nasty disposition that they claim is "tame." Nine times out of ten it isn't tame, it's sick. I'll give you an example, close to my home is a pet store owned by a guy that I can't say enough bad things about, this guy literally makes me sick, sells retics, african rocks, burms, etc. to people who don't have a clue what they're doing. Anyway, at one point he had a white lipped python in there that he claimed was "tame." Recently, the store came over new management, and the white lip was still there. The people who took the store over took the poor little guy home for several months, nursing him back to health and fattening him up. I was just in there the other day to see what improvements they'd made on the place, and the little guy was in there. He'll gladly take a piece out of you now. And that's how a white lip should be. It's the same kind of thing with a "tame" tokay gecko, or a "tame" nile monitor, how many of these animals are truly "tame" and how many of them are just sick? It makes you wonder.

As far as yellow rats or texas rats go, all I can go on is what I've heard, and that's that they're nasty. Then again, I heard the exact same thing about coachwhips, and they've turned into some of my favorite snakes ever, very inquisitive, active, and not at all what I'd call "aggressive."

The only snake I've ever had that was downright nasty was a gopher snake. This snake was an absolute demon, and the only snake who ever went out of his way to bite me. I literally did everything I could for this snake, put him in a bigger tank, multiple hide spots, held him every day. Nothing, you could put your hand in this snake's cage and he would literally come flying out there ready to take your face off.

Then again, I've got another gopher snake now that's an angel, completely hand tame. Gotta love pituophis, they've got such personality from snake to snake.

I've had tame water snakes too, they're generally not too tough. Even had a tame blue racer once.

Kevin

Every wild Texas ratsnake I've come across will be more than happy to take your face off LOL!! Even wild cornsnakes I have come across. But I agree that certain snakes being overly docile in captive conditions may be exhibiting sickness. Sure, they dont bite, but then again they probably wont feed either, etc.

And another case in point, one of the tamest snakes I ever had was a red bellied water snake I bought at a local pet shop way back when. This snake would plow through a water dish of minnows, but never ever showed aggression when taken out of his cage.

I've had water snakes that were easily handled right after capture also. I think when it comes to tame nile monitors/tokay geckos etc. it is either only a very tolerable individual or sick. You'll usually know if you look at who your dealing with, the appearance of the animal and the set up it is in.
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-J.Hill