Reptile & Amphibian Forums

If you're wondering what's on her head, it's our highly technical techniqie to avoid being bitten: a sock on the head tied with electrical tape. Works like a charm, and the snakes can breathe fine (as long as the sock stays dry).

Renee

can the snake sense where it is with the sock on? or do they just bump into things. could you post some pics of the anacondas you worked with when you were in South AMerica?
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0.1 Albino Leopard gecko (Lex)
0.0.1 ball python (felix)
1.1 feral cats (Fuzzy, and Bear; it used to be fuzzy, wuzzy, bear)

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I'd love to see more of your pics. Do you have more posted
anywhere? Were you anyway involved in the Anaconda video that
National Geographic made?

Very interesting, a sock huh, a lot cheaper than body armor and
a stun gun...

Thanks,
tc

` For a wild snake, a super idea. Simplicity, is usually the best. I'm sure Renee and Jesus came up with that by necessity, and on the spot invention. Much like hooding a bird, the sock would force them to calm, although not for the same reasons.
` For a pet, or a difficult but potential pet, the sock doesn't seem to me to be a good idea. The idea is not to force them, or cause any trauma, at all, when trying to create a good pet Boid.
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hehehe, it was just a little joke. I think it's hilarious that
anyone would even consider body armor or a stun gun.

I wouldn't consider any animal that causes that much fear in its
owner an appropriate pet, or vice a versa. Vice a versa - as in
any owner that causes that much fear in his or her pet an
appropriate keeper or owner. To me that seems more like a
ward and warden relationship.......tc

Although the writers of the TV shows that filmed us love to say how the head sock calms the animal, snakes aren't like mammals in that respect. It may calm then a little because they can't see, but not necessarily, and definitely not as a rule: The sock has a very simple purpose: we can handle the animal - or drive a couple miles back to the house without something big enough in the car to put the snake into, like an oil drum - without getting bit.

I guess you could say that USE of the sock results in a calmer snake, because it means we can let them slither around on the ground, somewhat (instead of being immobilized, and held by the "neck" for half an hour) while we take measurements, get blood samples, etc.

We always handled them as gently as we could, regardless, but that goes with a grain of salt when catching up to 220 pounds of mostly muscle (from snakes who actually use their muscle a lot, unlike their couch potato cousins you have as pets) :>

No doubt the anacondas we found were sufficiently different, in behavior, than your average anaconda pet. I can't imagine any one of those as a pet - too snappy, too ornery, too wild. The sock was a necessity. Oh, and someone asked, can they sense anything with the sock on? Very much so. They still tongue flick with it on, and they are dead on - I've had "socked" snakes strike me various times (usually younger, and thus smaller, more jittery males, who have more predators than the big females), and they nailed me, albeit harmlessly with a sock on head, on target, obviously without hearing where I was.

For those who asked, I have posted a handful of photos from the field over time on the Reptile and Amphibian photo gallery, under snakes:boas. Most of my good pictures are slides, however, and I don't have a slide scanner - yet.

I'll try and round up some more photos. Anyone interested in crocs? I have a few more photos of them...and they aren't even pets I let one month old babies play with.

Renee