Reptile & Amphibian Forums

So I've been leaving King alone, since....Tuesday. I know, I know, it hasn't even been a week yet. When should I expect him to be accustomed to his new home? How will I know?
Will he start exploring more? Or will he always hang out under his water bowl? Eventually, he'll get too big to do that.

When should I try to start handling him? Should I give it another week, two weeks? Should I wait till he can eat without me having to brain them? Would that be a sign he's getting accustomed?

I put my hand in there earlier today, not near him, but just so he could see I didn't mean any harm. He jerked back when he saw my hand so I took it out slowly and put the cover back on.

I saw your post below and you had a similar question. Personally I like to try and handle all my snakes every other day. It doesn't always work out that way considering the number of animals I have, but the babies definitely get handled every other day, and right now I still have about 50 hatchlings. As someone else pointed out hatchling milksnakes tend to be very nervous and try to bite, defecate, and flee.

Just about every hatchling milksnake I ever handled has calmed down with in a few minutes of being handled. When you handle a nervous hatchling, never try and grasp it and contain it. Allow it to move about, it's movements will be jerky and flighty, but you should be able to move your hands under it as it tries to crawl forward. As it is trying to move get your fingers so that the snake is twisting through them, and do not let it get so that it dangling in the air.

Typically after about 3 or 4 minutes of this the snake will settle down and you will be pretty much able to hold it in you hand comfortably. I normally do this with all my hatchlings and within 2 or 3 months this behavior lasts only a few seconds before they settle down.

Even though the snake is only really stressed for about the first 3 or 4 minutes it is still stressful, and doing it daily might be too much for the little fellow. Stick to ever second day, handle the Cal king one day, and the Hondo the next.

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"The band is just fantastic, that is really what I think. Oh by the way, which ones pink?"

Thanks for the reply. I'll try once every other day and see how that goes. I did notice that after a few minuteas he would eventually stop trying to bite me.

I've been holding him behind his head, so he can't whip his head around and bite me, and then threading him twice through my fingers if he lets me. Queenie os easier, I never really have to hold her behind the neck, just let her go where she will on my hands.

Well, I held him today, for about 10 minutes. It sorta went like this: King whips his body in a frenzy, bites me. I put my opposite hand cupped over his head gently and told him it was unacceptable behavior. Eventually he lets go of his grasp, I take my opposite hand away. He calms down for a few seconds, then the cycle repeats a few times. Finally, he gets the clue and calms down for a few minutes, explores a little, calms down, lets me hold him, then BOOM! Cycle repeats. Once I had him calmed down again, I put him back in his home.

Now, I noticed that he's on the opposite end of his usual hiding place, and curled up asleep on the warm end of his home. I'm really hoping that he eats easier this week than last.