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New woma python... settling in quite nicely. What they say about feeding response sure is true! Awesome snake, I couldn't be happier with him.

On that note, I went to hold him earlier tonight, and he immediately coiled around my hand and constricted. He didn't bite, just a tight constriction. Normally he is very placid when handling and doesn't even bother to wrap his tail around my arm (pretty much everyone else describes). I just put him down gently and worked my fingers out of his coil, fully expecting to be tagged at some point. Not real disappointed that I didn't get to experience it.

Defensive move? Feeding response? My hands were freshly washed, but I don't think I've held him at night before. Could be he thought my hand was a candidate for dinner. I read up quite a bit on these guys before I got him and I don't remember ever hearing about one constricting someone's hand. Anyone have any thoughts?

How big is your woma right now?

I suppose it could be a feeding response, but I don't know that a woma would ever be be big enough to handle prey as big as an adult hand or arm.

Interesting.

Mine is only about two years old, but he's only been fed F/T, so he's never constricted anything. Just checks it out to find the head and starts swallowing...but he doesn't waste ANY time doing that.

They really are awesome snakes, aren't they? I'm convinced my woma is smarter than the rest of my snakes. He's always on the move, checking things out.

Good luck with yours!

Don't read to much into it - womas are funny creatures and sometimes do things for no rhyme or reason...

>How big is your woma right now?
Almost 4'

>Mine is only about two years old, but he's only been fed F/T, so he's never constricted anything. Just checks it out to find the head and starts swallowing...but he doesn't waste ANY time doing that.

Mine starts eating the same way, but as he eats he moves the rat into a position that allows him to curl around it. He doesn't really constrict it though.

He is a really awesome snake, so inquisitive and alert, but without being jumpy.

>Don't read to much into it - womas are funny creatures and sometimes do things for no rhyme or reason...

Yeah I guess I'll never know for sure. The funniest part was how he wrapped around my hand, squeezed the bejesus out of it, and just stared up at me... Very odd. I had him out yesterday and he was back to being a noodle. Doesn't bother to even anchor himself to my arm.

They are basically burrowing snakes and react to touch by pushing against it. It's easy to get them to feed by pushing a rat against them and watching them push higher and harder against it, then grabbing it. Fingers will do get the same result

They also practice multiple constriction.

I noticed he does react very strongly to touch. Since the original post, he has constricted my hand a second time, and this time I let him, because I wanted to see what he would do. Sure enough, he eventually grabbed onto the top of my hand. He isn't very big so the bite was laughable... Those teeth seem to be hooked, because i had to maneuver him to get him off. I'm pretty convinced he thought my nice warm hand was a nice warm meal, because he treats his f/t rats the same way.

I may feed him an extra rat this week to see if that makes him a little less eager. He is dining on two small rats currently.

They're always eager for food I have one female that hatched last July and is now at 1500 grams.