Reptile & Amphibian Forums

i know most kings calm down after they get out of the baby bluff hiss phase. how are the general temperments of brooks. i've never owned one but may look into it. don't wanna get something that'll shell shock a 7yr old girl or a girlfriend (although my daughter shows no fear of any animal, cept spiders hahahah)

thanks in advance.

They can be very tame, and then they can be a handfull. I think a lot has to do with how much time is spent with the animal, and what your feeding habits are also. What I mean by feeding habits is that we often condition snakes into feeding responses even if we don't realize it. If you take your snake out regularly even when you don't intend to feed it it gets used to being handled frequently. If after mant months you kinda get bored with it and only open it's cage to clean or feed then he begins to associate the opening of his cage with food. I feed all my snakes in paper bags which eliminates the possibility of eating substrate but also conditions the animal to associate the bag with food and not my hand. Having said this, There are also gonna be differences between individuals. I have a small group of 09 Brooks right now and 80% are very calm and seem to enjoy being held. The others are nervous and rattle their tails and coil back. Though they haven't even tried to bite, they look like they might. A couple even go as far as to poop on me quite frequently. But even these nervous ones will calm down if you spend the time with them. So get a baby and bond with it. You won't be sorry, they are awesome!

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King Snakes! Who can make a better mouse trap?
J Sierra

I've had the best luck with MBK's and Florida/brooks as far as temper goes. Mine took a bit (4-5 months) to start calming down but they're going pretty well so far. I have...3 from blue rosy, 2 from john cherry, 1 rescue. The biggest thing was that they kept trying to eat my hands for the first 3-4 months no matter how much I was feeding them.

Speckled's OTOH...all three I have are just schizo. pretty, but crazy.
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We wouldn't have 6 and a half billion people if you had to be beautiful to get laid.
6.6 African House snakes
3.2 reticulated pythons
.1 corn snake
4.2 Florida Kings
1.2 speckled kings
1.2 ball pythons
0.0.1 Argentine boa

Most Florida kings calm down once they get big enough to eat hoppers. So some calm down earlier than others and some lines just plain stay nervous.

Bad temper gets passed down. So do the relaxed ones. Mix the two and you get something inbetween and on either end of the spectrum from a given clutch. Just like you would get from dark to light in color.

in other words it is a line bred trait. If you want relaxed . Ask the breeder what the parents are like. Ask if they calmed down when they were on fuzzies?.. or hoppers..? or if they still thrash and poop when handled.

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www.Bluerosy.com

That is a FACT!

I have produced many offspring from EXTREMELY nervous freaky parent Honduran stock, and the entire clutches were absolutely BONKERS!!, while other bloodlines from much mellower parents were FAR more well-mannered and easy-going. Some even being absolute sweethearts right from the egg(although still rare for Hondos..LOL!). Of course we both know they are pretty damn nervous as a general rule anyway though, the point is inheritable genetics is still the same no matter what type of snake it is.

I always find that alot of this can also greatly depend on the way you present yourself to the snake too. Mainly the giant "MONSTER HAND" from hell..LOL!, and the way it is held after initially being picked up too. all this combined can really affect the way a hatchling percieves things.

~Doug
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"a snake in the grass is a GOOD thing"

my website -serpentinespecialties.webs.com

>>That is a FACT!
>>
>>I have produced many offspring from EXTREMELY nervous freaky parent Honduran stock, and the entire clutches were absolutely BONKERS!!, while other bloodlines from much mellower parents were FAR more well-mannered and easy-going. Some even being absolute sweethearts right from the egg(although still rare for Hondos..LOL!). Of course we both know they are pretty damn nervous as a general rule anyway though, the point is inheritable genetics is still the same no matter what type of snake it is.
>>
>> I always find that alot of this can also greatly depend on the way you present yourself to the snake too. Mainly the giant "MONSTER HAND" from hell..LOL!, and the way it is held after initially being picked up too. all this combined can really affect the way a hatchling percieves things.
>>
>>
>> ~Doug
>>-----
>>"a snake in the grass is a GOOD thing"
>>
>>my website -serpentinespecialties.webs.com

Yeah, I avoid the monster hand thing by distracting them with what I like to call the "snakespatula", and then I go for the grab. Will prevent you from getting bitten 99% of the time, even if they're in a feeding frenzy mode. They've associated the spatula with handling time. I do this because I feed them in their tanks, and they have an aggressive feeding response.