Reptile & Amphibian Forums

i have worked with retics for the last five years and i actually fell in love with the hypo bulls. Any way i ended up with a pair. The female is all i could of asked for, she is calm, takes prey nice and easy, i can handle her, no biting, no crapping, and NO HISSING! But my male is like a bite size satan! since i am new to them do you guys have any tipe to help him chill out? I guess handling him should do it but i figured would ask.

Usually my males are the nice ones and the females are grumpy.

that does not help much...

All I can say is handling. I've had 1.2 Kankakee County Bulls since June. There is no bluff for them. I go to pick them up and they bite. They are ok once I pick them up. Picking them up is the problem.
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1.2 Black Pines
2.2 Northern Pines
1.2 Kankakee County Bullsnakes
1.1 Albino Northern x Southern Pinesnakes
1.1 Deppei Deppei

1.1 Cornsnakes

Show him who's boss! What I mean by that is get him out of that defenceive posture. Grab and pick him up fast and show him that your not scared. If your scared of getting bit, then through a cloth over him or use a snake hook. Alot of pits use intimadation to scare off people and animals away, when that doesn't work they try and get away. Most pits are good to handle once you accually got them in hand. My seven year old son tames all my smaller pits. He get bit all most every day but he love taming them "He shows them whos boss" I have a couple adult Bulls that are aggressive. I just grab my snake hook and pick them up. Once they relize I am not scared of them they claim down a bunch.

I hope this helps.

Jason

Thanks Jason! I will show him what up as soon as he digests his meal. The female is awsome i just hope the male chills real soon. like i said im use to retics so the whole "show him whos boss" is not the best approach.

i agree with jason. imo i find that i try to hold them a couple times a week. enough to get them used to me but not enough to stress them out. i agree with not backing down when they hiss or strike. if they do either i make a point of picking them up holding them for a few more minutes. gets them used to the idea that all that doesn't stop me from holding them and is useless. usually though, when i try this method they end up embarisingly tame in a couple months so much for having fiesty pits. i have a fiesty hypo deppei that i picked up in daytona a couple months ago. can't even get a hiss or strike out of her any more. kinda sad :0) take care....

jonathan

Here's the method that I've used for my two gophers and numerous Texas Rats and it's been working great for me. On feeding day, thaw out the food, germex your hands and handle you Pit for 15-20 minutes. If he bites, hisses, rattles or strikes, IGNORE it. Do not give a reaction. If you get scared, then the bluffing worked and your snake will know that you'll leave him alone. Ignore the bluffs (and pain). After you've held the snake for 20 minutes, put him back in his enclosure and feed him. Soon, he'll learn that he gets handled and then fed. They'll still hiss, but I now have gophers that climb into my hand when I open the cage, because they know that once the handling is over, they get feast.
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1.0.0 Great Plains Ratsnake
1.0.0 Corn, Lavender Aztec het for Amel
0.1.0 Black Ratsnake
0.0.1 Texas Rat (tame)
1.0.0 Broad Banded Water Snake, Hypo
1.0.0 Black Bassador Retriever
2.1.0 Godchildren, 1 Evil, 2 possible hets

thanks guys! Im going to try Jason's method for a few months and see what happens. judgeing by what you guys said it might not even take that long. I cant get a hiss or a rattle out of me female at all! she barely strikes her food. she is a big softy!