Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I purchased a male JCP on April 10th and he is a great snake and has already locked up with my female,but for some reason he hates my wife. I am not sure why but if she walks into the room while I am holding him or even in his enclosure he starts to hiss and coil back as if to strike.(he hasn't yet) The picture I have attached is my 2 JCP's and my wife, and it was the first and last time she has held him. Zeus is his name and he is great with me but not her. Has anyone ever heard of this?? Any comments or info are appreciated.

Chris
CJinNH

I have a JCP. Female I think. How long is the big one your wife is holding? Is that the male that doesn't like her? My JCP is only @4 foot long, about 2 inches around and about a year and a half old. I always wondered how big a JCP can get. He/she is BEAUTIFUL!!!

I was originally told that JCP's only got 4-6 feet and I think this guy has proven that wrong. He is a male and should be the smaller one...LOL. He is currently about 7 and 1/2 feet and weighs in at about 18 pounds. I have recently read elsewhere that JCP's can grow 6-9 feet, which is closer to this guys size. I will keep you updated if I see anything else involving JCP size.

Chris
CJinNH

1.1 JCP
1.1 ball pythons

Not sure if this is accurate but my trusted guy at my local reptile store told me something that may be the cause. When i bought my little JCP he told me that once i got him tamed down a tad i should make sure that I had other people hold him as well so that the snake did not have the idea that just my smell was safe. So possably you smell very similar to whoever tamed it and your wife does not, or the flip side is your wife smells of something that befor you got it the snake needed to fear.
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1.1.0 Amazon tree boa
1.0.0 Jungle carpet python
0.1.0 Argentene boa
1.1.0 Florida king
1.1.3 Leopard Gecko
2.1.0 Tokay Gecko
0.1.0 Spotted Gecko
African flower mantis
Pink toe tarantula

My thought is it is an issue of attitude. How does you wife react to Zeus? Does he make her nervious? Obviously he does now with his reaction to her, but what was her first feelings tward him?

Snakes in general do notice pharamons that we give off. So when your scared, nervious, mad, excited, ect...they can smell it. Carpets seem to be very aware of emotions around them.

Also I'm not sure if Zeus is reacting aggressively tward your wife. Defensively...obviusly, but it could be that she scares him or makes him feel nervious because she's nervious and he doesn't understand why. All he knows is another animal is nervious near him which means there is a threat near by or he's the threat(being a preditor). Which means he is possibly in danger...So he's just reacting accordingly.

Darci
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Takes all kinds to make a World...

Both my JCP's hate the smell of my dog. If you have any mammal pets, I'd suggest telling your wife to wash her hands before handling them.

What Darci said is also right, snakes can sense virtually everything about our actions.
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Currently have:
0.1 Antherystic Elaphe guttata
1.0 Elaphe vulpina gloydi
1.1 Morelia Spilota Cheyni
0.1 Leucistic Elaphe obsoleta linheimeri

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