Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Am reading a book on breeding and keeping snakes. The author makes the statement to only handle your snake when necessary. I am a new fox snake owner. I assumed that the more a snake is handled the more it will "tame" or not be stressed by handling. Which philosophy do most of the rat snake owners out there subscribe to? I enjoy handling my snake but will reduce the pleasure to mostly viewing if it will reduce stress. To anthropomorphise, when I handle "vulpy" he doesn't frown or act stressed. Seriously, thanks for any feedback on the handling issue. Maybe it varies with diff. species/individuals?
Tim

Other than giving your snake 2 or 3 days of peace and quiet after every meal so that it does not become stressed and regurge, I handle whenever I want, and feel that the more my snakes are handled, the tamer they are. After you have had them awhile, they handle just fine most of the time, and don't seem stressed by it. I make it a point to handle each of my snakes at least a couple of times a week just to keep them used to it.
Enjoy!

I totally agree. Unless you have a snake that is obviously nervous and high strung and excessively resents handling by thrashing, defecating and continues to bite, handle it as often as possible.

My experience with most Lampropeltis and Elaphe is they calm down with constant and gentle handling and actually come to enjoy it.

Some species of snakes like Coluber constrictor and Nerodia species never appear to calm down and remain vicious and unhandlable.

Others, like Garter Snakes, seems to vary considerably from one individual to another in this respect.

Check out the literature and the net on others experoences with any species and respond accordingly.