Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hello everybody.

Last night I experienced something that I didn't even know was possible, and I'm still really excited about it.

I have a Dumeril's boa, which sometimes does not shed in one whole piece (let's not get into the details of this). When this happens, I manually take off a few small pieces of skin that may be left on its body.

Yesterday, he shed. When I decided to check up on him he was all coiled up in his cave so I picked him up to check whether anything was left on his body. I noticed that he shed almost in one piece except from a small piece about 3 cm (1.2 inches) long under his throat area. To my amazement, a few seconds after I picked him up, he immediately started to rub his head and throat on my hands. It was just like what a cat does when they want you to scratch them. I was shocked. I was not aware that a snake was capable of such behavior. It was as if he was trying to tell me: "Dude, come on, take it off of me, what are you waiting for".

I immediately run to my wife and we both just stood there watching him rub his throat in my hands and fingers. He just wouldn't stop. And it was funny too. Of course I obliged and took it off at which time he relaxed. Now I'm just beating my head with a stick for not grabbing the camera and recording this. I was too amazed to think of that at the time.

I don't think it's just coincidental that he behaved like this because before I picked him up he was all coiled up in his cave and not trying to get it off. It's as if he knew that when I picked him up I would help him get it off.

Has anybody had this happen to them before?
-----
1.0.0 Dumerils Boa
1.0.0 Royal Python
1.0.0 Boa Constrictor Imperator

That's just a shedding instinct behavior! You just happened to catch him while still in it!

It sounds like a ball python showing its version of appreciation. People often tell me that snakes are not capable of any higher thinking above a strong feeding response, behavior like this makes me disagree. Did he rub his hand on you because he literally "appreciates" what you do? Probably not. What has happened is he has learned that when he has shedding discomfort you are the one to relieve it. Which is close enough to "love" or "affection" or "appreciation" to me Because it means you are doing something right.
-----
Lincoln, NE
0.1 Pastel, 1.0 Pastel het Pied, 0.1 Pied, 0.1 Cinn, 1.0 Black Pewter, 1.1 Normals, 1.0 Thayeri, 0.1 Thayeri X Alterna, 0.1 crazy cat, 1.0 husband

I have 10 balls,....5 morphs, 3 hets, and 2 100% normals. The very first ball that I got was a male normal. He was the prettiest normal at Tinley 4 years ago. I raised him and cared for him with uri issues, mite issues, shedding issues, and feeding issues. I have gone through ALL of these things with him, and he is my favorite ball out of ALL!!!!!! the morphs out there believe it or not. He lets me do anything....if he has a bad shed, he knows that I am there to help him, and he helps me help him..lol..I can hold his head and he doesn't try to pull away or nothing...I can look at his teeth and gums with no problems...I really feel like he knows I am not going to hurt him. I think your durmils feels the same way. I truly believe that they get to know rutiene. If you mostly only handle him to help him shed, then he KNOWS that you are there for him. I really like stories like these because of my special normal ball python.

sorry for the long post...lol

Ok then, I may need your help since I don't have any animal psychology training. Then why is it, I have a normal female that everytime I open the container she wants to tear me apart? Am I a bad caretaker and need to be subjected to some disciplinary action? Maybe she just suffers from some undiagnosed form of emotional detachment, I have only had her a month now. Please, I'm open to any counseling that may be necessary. This whole time I thought I just bought a mean snake, what a relief.
-----

Nope, she's just hungry.....and not handled enough. I don't know if this is a myth or not, but I heard that females are typically more aggressive. Good luck, and I hope you get the counseling you need.

I got in to breeding after finding out what "morphs" were all about when I noticed my nephews ball was A LOT different than other ball pythons. My nephew had his pet ball python for around 5 or 6 years till I started breeding him, this snake and kid were inseperable like your best dog!! He would sit with it for hours on end watching TV plain video games even just walking around the house.... you can litterally pet this ball pythons head poke it what ever you want he is always chill.... that's not the amazing part the amazing part is that this ball resides in my snake room happ as hell to hang in his tub and eat rats. Except for saturdays when my nephew comes over to help me with the weekly cleaning, weighing feeding and all that stuff (hey he is 13 and great FREE labor) well this snake goes nuts like a puppy at the door trying to push his tub out, running his nose back and forth circling the tub. Say waht you want but this snake knows his owner and wants to say "hi" every time he comes over and its imediate we counted last time it only took 48 seconds till he was up and looking for nephew. Here is a pic of "sid"

And you say snakes aren't intelligent......lol

-----
Brian Hettinger
480 Pythons
Contact us

n/p

Wow! Great to hear all these stories from people with snakes. I think we might be experiencing things that some people don't even think are possible with snakes (and reptiles in general). Who knows, maybe snakes are indeed more intelligent than what we make them and can indeed "connect" with their owners at a higher level.
-----
1.0.0 Dumerils Boa
1.0.0 Royal Python
1.0.0 Boa Constrictor Imperator

That's a great story. I actually have a male ball python who just happens to be overly friendly. I also have one who is not. The really friendly one does almost the same thing but instead of the shedding he wraps himself around my neck and rubs himself like a cat on my face as if to say I Love You. It's the only snake I've ever known to show this kind of behavior. Considering my other ball(sketch) tends to be anti-social Sampson really likes attention and makes sure that I know it. I'm glad to hear that other people are having this kind of experience with there snakes.