Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hello I have had large burms in past but all have been gentle giants up to about 14ft. I have found a 7 to 8 foot albino burm at a local fleamarket its not in the best shape pretty thin and dirty no visible scaring. nose rub. No parasites supprisingly or bad shed.. Otherwise he is very active tryin to escape the dirty vision cage they have him in to get all the rats less then 3 ft in front of his cage.. I have more then adequete enclosure for him at home a 8x3x3 ft custom cage for him and am thinking about RESCUEING him tommorrow.. My questions are I was told by the workers that he is aggressive and bites but then he pays u no attnetion when u walk by him in the cage. I'm thinkin he is real skinny and just hungry and being teased with all the rats infron of him. How should I go about handleing him and figureing out his real temperment I'm 22 yrs old and 240lbs so I'm sure that I could pin him down if neccesary but I don't want to traumatize him I'm looking to doctor him up and keep him as a person pet.. Any advice on technique or handleing would be a great help.. As I said all my large burms are tame and show me no agression ever. Thanks in advance.
Jason

My first suggestion would be to get a snake hook if you don't already have one. I don't really use mine to pick the snake up (my 14ft female won't fit in the hook and if she did she would break it). I use the hook more as a training device. If we are feeding I don't use the hook at all, but if I'm going to handle them I reach in with the hook and let them know I'm there by rubbing it on their body.

If I'm dealing with an aggressive snake, I use the hook to manipulate them into a position to be able to grab them behind the head with just enough pressure to restrain them but not choke them. An aggressive snake will usually try to turn and bite your hand, this is were a good pair of gloves come in handy. HaHa If they don't try to bite, I will slowly release the pressure and see how they are going to act. If they show no signs of aggression I will allow them to crawl through my hands, but I watch their posture to make sure they aren't going into "strike mode".

We have several dwarf burms, they have a reputation of being "chainsaws". When we first got them they were sub adults and one male was a wild caught adult. They had all been in the country for at least a year and they were all mean. I have owned them for about 1 1/2 years. When we first got them I used the techniques I descibed above. When I would pick them up, they would turn and bite my hand. Now I pick them up and let them crawl through my hands and haven't been bit in over a year.

Hope this helps,
Randy
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Randy and Michelle
Art In Scales
(719) 439-4199
info@artinscales.com

Yep that's basically what I did. I picked the albino burm up this mornin. I went and bought a $2 pair of welding gloves and I already had a medium sized snake hook.
So I got him out the vision with the hook and he was a lil flighty but never realy struck and put him into a rubbermaid.. Took him home filled another large rubbermaid with water and pulled him out no problem he loved the water instantly submerged and cruised around for about 20 minutes. After that I used the hook to lift him out of the water with the gloves on HEHE and then grabbed him and held him near his head and he was realy just trying to get away so I did a quick dry off and into a large rubbermaid where he devoured 3 jumbo rats like no ones business. After his bath and feeding I put him into his new home for the night he was still in feed mode when I was removing him from the rubbermaid but soon as I touched him a couple of times with the hook he saw the hook wasn't alive so relaxed and let me scoop him out and into his new home.. In 3 hours time he has become a different snake he has no scarring and is very bright for his size almost like high white and still has a little orange still on him.. With pink blushings near the face and on sides.. I'm working on getting a camera.
Also I learned some more information on him he was a mans pet as a baby and the man went into the service and left the snake with his wife and she had just been throwin live rats in his cage on occasion and never gettin near him to clean. So basically he's use to the only time the cage open is food. The next day he's soakin in his water dish a jumbo kitty litter box.. I call him he because it just sounds right.. Any tips on figureing out the sex of a 8ft burm without probing? Also, out of curiousity home many of you feed your burms in their cage and how many switch into a large rubbermaid or another enclosure? Thanks for the reply FANG thanks you 2!
Jbugg

One way to tell the sex of your snake is by the size of the claws/spurs on either side of the vent. It would be easier if you had a male and female to compare the two, but basically males are very large and noticeable and females are pretty small.

We feed in the cage and the snake hook isn't used during feeding. If we are going to handle them, we use the hook. This way if they see or feel the hook it usually gets them out of feed mode right away.

Later,
Randy
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Randy and Michelle
Art In Scales
(719) 439-4199
info@artinscales.com

I feed in the cage because I found out that it isn't fun to pick up a 12 ft python after feeding to put him back in his cage. I think in the cage with hook training is safer.