Reptile & Amphibian Forums

hi i just bought a baby biak 4 days ago and shes my first gtp and i did my research and know they are aggressive but was wondering if anyone has ever tamed one of them i was thinking its possible since shes a baby and if anyone has how ? thnx

it's quite impossible to "tame" a snake. After all its a snake and in this case one with a well known angry disposition. Your best bet is to leave it alone, baby gtp's should not be held due to possible spinal kinks anyway. Most gtp's of any locality will calm down as they age and yet there are plenty that do not.

good luck
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1.0 cb pastel bp
0.1 cb normal bp
0.1 cb BRB
0.1 cb Cyclops Mt./jaya GTP
1.0 cb aru GTP
1.0 cb blue bar ambilobe panther cham.
0.1 cb bosc's monitor
2.0 wc scottish terrirers

I agree. While some species of snakes will calm down with regular handling, like my cornsnakes, I've found that chondros aren't like that. While there's a few that have learned to tolerate handling to the extent that you can take care of them without getting chewed on, most just are what they are. My sorong type is very tame...my Biak, nasty. While I can clean her cage, holding her is not something I do. Picture taking on her perch outside is about as far as it goes. She occasionally will climb on her own onto my arm, but I don't trust her at all and figure she's just trying to find a way to go up and chew on my nose instead of my wrist! My other Biak is fine though...so you never know...As stated before though, most babies are defensive and will strike even if they mellow out later.
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4.5~Cornsnakes
1.2.2~Green tree python
1.0~ATB
Dogs, cats, horses....
www.franclycac.com

How is your biak once you get it out of the enclosure?I have a Biak-outcross which I got as a neo last august/06 and it's never bit me once.But I also just got a 5 month old Jaya type about a month ago and it will bite me every time I try to take it from it's enclosure.but he's fine once I remove him from his cage.It really just depends on the snake itself..hang in there!!!

I’ve had only 1.3 biaks. All of them were acquired as imported neonates, I grew them all up to adulthood, none of them were ever consideed "tame" here and I always have to be careful. I can take out the perch and let them crawl off it and onto me, but they never settle down and "relax".

The biak imports are cheap and plentiful though and is what a lot of first time owners wind up with. I think the biak locale has singlehandedly ruined the reputation of this whole species in general.

thnx alot for the info guys this girl is my first gtp iam only 18 and have my own collection because i love them and want to persue a degree in zoology/herpetology but i guess you guys are right it just depends on the snake hes crazy in his enclosure but calm outside most likely out of fear and he most likely is not a cb or cbb the guy i purchased from already sexed her and she looks only a few months old he had aru's that were harmless though which surprised me anyways thnx for all the help i never knew forums were this helpful iam gonna keep on trying

It all depends on the animal some calm down some don't. I have had 2.3 Biaks all except one ended up not minding being handled but I did not work with him much. All of them were not so nice when I got them. Same goes for Emeralds and Bloods most of the animals people refer to are wild caught that are nasty so they base this info on all of them. Even threw all the hair No Blood........Maybe it protects me>>>>>=)






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Tim Rash
www.nocturnal-creations.com

Tame...here she is snoozing on my hand...Sorong type

not tame...nasty Biak girl...note evil red eyes

tame....biak/png kid...no problem there...even with the red eyes..

And to show you that even those Amazons with the bad reps are fine too...

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4.5~Cornsnakes
1.2.2~Green tree python
1.0~ATB
Dogs, cats, horses....
www.franclycac.com

meg where did you pick up that atb its beautiful i love the patternless solid orange.
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1.0 cb pastel bp
0.1 cb normal bp
0.1 cb BRB
0.1 cb Cyclops Mt./jaya GTP
1.0 cb aru GTP
1.0 cb blue bar ambilobe panther cham.
0.1 cb bosc's monitor
2.0 wc scottish terrirers

Got it from Rolf Kern at Serpentes Pacifica. He had a bunch of awesome animals just like him. Mother is a nearly patternless red and father a patternless yellow. It will be interesting to see how dark he gets in the end. He'll be a year old in August.
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4.5~Cornsnakes
1.2.2~Green tree python
1.0~ATB
Dogs, cats, horses....
www.franclycac.com

I've had a Biak male for three years and its the tamest of of my chondro pythons, you just have too keep at and take your time when you go into the cage.

Was he nasty to begin with and then tamed down? Or was he always tame?
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4.5~Cornsnakes
1.2.2~Green tree python
1.0~ATB
Dogs, cats, horses....
www.franclycac.com

If it is not tame it will never be tame, that goes for all snakes. It just depends on each snake. They are just like people some are nice and some are nasty!

i couldent disagree more. There are allot of snakes that start out agressive and turn out to be extreamly tame animals. my biak is no diferent. when i got him (about two years ago) he was verry agressive and would try to bite any time i went into his cage. with persistant handling in only a few months he tamed down quite nicely and i havent been bit by him in over a year. The same can be said with my macklots python and nile monitor.. all started out agressive and now all of them are very well behaved.

Brandon, I agree with most of what you said. Macklots are a bit different though. It seems with Macklots pythons, they keep their aggressive tendencies until they reach a certain age/size. Of all the Macklots I've kept, which over the years has been quite a number, they seem to make a transformation seemingly overnight. Most are VERY quick to bite, wrap, and keep biting. lol. Once they hit the 2-2.5 year old mark and around 4-5', they literally go from demon to angel overnight. In my opinion they are also one of the best captive pythons to own as far as being a pet. They reach a large but not too large size. They feed great. And in my personal opinion are very beautiful and underrated. Rotti Macks are true beauties. Now you've done it.....I'm starting to really miss mine and I haven't worked with them in 10 years. lol.

Thanks
Brandon Osborne

Brandon Osborne

I didnt mean to sound like macks were the meanest snakes ever i was more getting the point across that just because something starts out agro it dosent mean it will stay that way..
(im bummed my macks didnt breed for me this year but thats another topic)

theyre was a 3 year old biak at the store i work at who came in mean as all hell. so i made it my personal mission to try to tame him down.. I had him out for 10 minnuts a day for 5 days a week and took at least 40 to 50 bites from him over the span of 2 months. He now belongs to a very good friend of mine and i havent been tagged by him in over 2 months and he is handled by me at least weekly.. so if that dosent prove a point that it can be done then i dont know what dose.. (i never said you wouldent have to get tagged a few times in the prosses)

(i never said you wouldent have to get tagged a few times in the prosses)

Couldn't have said it better! My first Mack bite was a bloody mess. I probably took 50 bite with the cleaning of that first sub-adult. I guess he just liked the way I tasted. lol.

BTW, I didn't mean to sound like a know-it-all. Sorry if I came across that way.

Brandon Osborne

If I took out my Biak girl everyday, she'd stop eating and might quite possible stress herself into illness. I can clean a cage and take pictures of her. She can be handled with limited success. If you mess with her too much though, she will ground herself for days and go off food. Why would I want to stress an animal that way? I have so many other snakes that I can handle that don't stress out, there's no point in doing that to her so that I can make her give in to being held.
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4.5~Cornsnakes
1.2.2~Green tree python
1.0~ATB
Dogs, cats, horses....
www.franclycac.com

Great points Meg.....and I totally agree. My biak girl would just eat me. lol. She's too proud to get stressed enough to ground. She'd rather just bite me as many times as possible. But I still love her.

Brandon Osborne

Isn't it funny how the nastiest ones grow on you like a bad fungus!! It sucks that she's one of the prettiest animals in my collection, but what can you do! She is also the most easily stressed unfortunately.

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4.5~Cornsnakes
1.2.2~Green tree python
1.0~ATB
Dogs, cats, horses....
www.franclycac.com

Don't listen to anyone saying you can't tame a biak. It's a load of crap. Spray them with water then take them out. Let them bite the crap out of you and just keep taking them out. Eventually they will learn that biting you isn't working anymore and you aren't going to hurt them and they will stop it. Always remember, a biting snake is an eating snake, so make sure your biak is eating all the time everytime before you "tame" it.

ive only had her for a week but shes been mildly aggresive the guy i bought hr from was surprised at her mildness aswell lol but shes already struck me 2 times and am as delicate as can be shes very nervous as well i bought her with the intentions of taming her and knew i was gonna get bite several times but i was gonna pull threw it thnx for all the support i didnt think she was gonna stay aggresive all her life but just wanted to ask around with people that have had alot of experince with them (am thinking about getting an atp sooner or later) but shes beautiful and worth the pain lol

Make sure you don't overhandle them though. A bitey baby snake will always eat.