Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I hate when this happens. I need to change my het albino male,s tub because it is soak and wet and a large deposit of feces. He seems to be in blue going into shed, He is usually calm but and it can be a month or so before I open the tub. Well I open the tub and get the crow bar to lift him out like I usually do instead of just opening the tub and then sticking my hands in. When I try to get him out he is making sudden moves and hissing and scares me to get him out. Now also my female who is usually shy, she wont even seem to eat in front of me has also deposited a large one and as soon as I come in front of the cage she is on alert and has me worried that if I open the cage she is going to take me for dinner. What do you guys do in situations like this? This is both a few years ago. Male is like 5ft. and female is 6.5 to 7ft.

Use a hook and either push them away or pull them out of the cage, place them in a holding cage/tub/container of some sort and clean the cage. If you're concerned have someone help you out.

thats one of the reasons I wanted to go to NY show was to get a hook but hung out satuday night and had a hang over. lol. So no hook and the crow bar doesnt give enough distance for me to feel sucure. I thought of holding head down softly with something and grabing by the head but if that pisses them off i dont know

You cant be afraid of these animals,your lack of interaction has you in this scenario NO ?
Its up to you to establish a working relationship so GET IN THERE and INTERACT!!
Please send progress pics when ya can .....

>>thats one of the reasons I wanted to go to NY show was to get a hook but hung out satuday night and had a hang over. lol. So no hook and the crow bar doesnt give enough distance for me to feel sucure. I thought of holding head down softly with something and grabing by the head but if that pisses them off i dont know
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TnK

LMAO...progress pics would be great!!! As for the crowbar, I'd ditch it, way too heavy to manipulate properly and you could probably do damage to either you, the snake, or the cage pretty easily. Anything can be turned into a hook in a pinch...a golf club is about the simplest that comes to mind. You really do have to get in there though, if you get their mind off food by giving them a nudge they'll usually just leave you alone. If you let them buffalo you, there's a high chance they'll just get worse. If you have a tub large enough to place over top of them, you can go that route too. I would definitely get some tools though...hook, tongs, hemostats, etc. Makes life so much simpler! Oh, buy a hook made to support the animals you work with also. Good luck, can't wait to see those pics!!!!

Opening the tub once a month if I read correctly is prolly one of the culprits. If you opened the door to feed me once a month I would be ready to eat too but I may have misread it so sorry if I did
Bob

Those thick, glossy sales pamphlet things that come in the mail
or in the Sunday paper are good for that. Something with thick,
heavy paper, that you can hold in one hand slightly folded.

Put it right over their head, tilt it downward so if it strikes
its head will go down. Go right at its head, don't hesitate.

I agree about the whole setup being far from ideal. You need to
interact with them at least to some degree, more than just once
a month...

How do you change the water?

Well changing water is easy I dont have much problem just pulling out the bowl and for the most part no problems taking the snakes out. Even when I feed my female she just sits there and act like she's not interested and never eats when I put the rat in but when I come back later the rats gone, but times like today she just gets alert and active when I come near the cage even taking a strike and hitting the cage. My male always seems easy to handle and yesterday was the only time he ever hissed and he doesnt seem to want to bite but more like not wanting to be bothered, he was hiding his head under his coils and I think its because he couldnt see because of the blue over his eyes from going into shed. Im going to try tomorrow

Rain coat, rubber gloves(insulatrd type) and saftey glasses. Just go in with the added protection but don't hesitate I belive they can sense your fear. And by the way it only hurts for a little while...
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