What is the best way to go about "training" (i.e. conditioning?) a snake, particularly a large boa or python, to be a trustable, handleable animal?
I'd love detailed information beyond the classic "five minutes a day" bit. This strategy seems to be a good jump off point but is far too simplistic and catch-all...
How about once your snake begins calming down after several days to weeks of the 5 mins/day technique? Do you begin to increase the duration of handling? For how long? At what point should others begin handling the snake too?
And how should one respond when that otherwise well-tempered python DOES bite? Should you stand your ground like you might to a dog until the snake "submits" and chills out? Or should you put the snake back as it's apparently too stressed to be comfortably handled? (For the record, I'm pretty sure I conditioned a ball python to be the meanest snake on the planet by employing this last method -- it seems now that every time he's ready to go back to his hide box he knows to just tag me on the arm til he tastes blood, at which point his chauffeur -- me -- returns him to his throne!)
I recently inherited a gorgeous and seemingly very docile Hog Island Boa from a friend who had to move. I was nailed by a large BCI as a kid though, so she and others like her make me a little uneasy handling-wise even though I keep and work with a lot of snakes, many of whom are chronic biters (the hondos, par example). This new boa seems super tame though and I'd love to be able to trust her enough to take her to educational programs with kids. If you have any pointers, stories, or other secrets to your success PLEASE share them here.
Thanks! And happy herping.
Brad
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1.0 ball python (Python regius)
1.1 hypo apricot pueblan milksnake (Lampropeltis triangulum campbelli)
1.0 hypo tangerine honduran milksnake (Lampropeltis triangulum hondurensis)
0.1 montane egg eater (Dasypeltis atra)
0.1 woma (Aspidites ramsayi)
1.1 calabar python (Charina reinhardtii)
0.1 hog island boa (Boa constrictor imperator)
