Commonly, stress affects eating habits, temperament, and shed cycles in BP's. It can make them grouchy and prone to bite or ball up, they can go off feed, or they can have problems shedding, or have more frequent than normal sheds. All of these characteristics are seen in wild caught snakes, before they acclimate to captivity.
Being wild animals, anything that is not programmed into their brains by nature will cause stress. For instance, handling by humans is stressful. As far as they know, we are a potential predator. They will learn that we are not a predator, and to accept being handled, but will never actually enjoy it. Bad temps are also a frequent cause of stress, but those are easily monitored. In captivity, we control everything that affects them, so I guess to sum it up, our husbandry skills, or lack thereof, cause the stress in their captive lives.
>>I have a two questions in reference to stress. First, how the heck can you tell if a snake is stressed or not. It's not that mine is stressed...its just that I'm wondering how can you tell. My second question is what causes stress and what can I do to improve on those? Thanx!
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