Reptile & Amphibian Forums

my milk snake is a little over a year old, and very squirmy, he is about 2 1/2 to 3 ft. long and when i try to handle him, he just freaks out (not to the point of hurting himself) my corn used to do this (not to this extent). but after i picked him up, he was fine. so is there any tecnuiqe to make him less squirmy? are there cecumstances that would make him more squirmy?

thanks for your help

Hi. Just a pet owner here..I have a tangerine honduran milk and he is still a bit squirmy.(I posted a photo of him a few post down) He is 10 months old now. When he was littler he was very squirmy. I have found that if I hold him for a while he calms down and will move through out my fingers without 'zipping' away. I don't let him back into his cage till I've held him for a good while...like at least 1/2 hour to hour. Some times he freaks out when I first grab hold of him but if I keep a good grip on him he calms down. I've heard milks are all like that. Pueblans are the worst from what I've read. I've also found that it doesn't matter what time of day I hold him. My corns are much more calmer. :0)

The only way to make a snake accept you holding it is to handle it daily. With daily handlings (15 minutes should do it), he probably will calm down. Will take some time though. You may want to warm your hands first before picking him up as well (if you tend to have cold hands). Good luck!
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1.0.0 Sinaloan Milksnake - Widdershins
1.0.0 Western Hognose - Moqui
1.0.0 Shepherd Mix - Loki
0.1.0 Pug - Quasi
0.0.3 Goldfish - 1, 2, and 3
1.0.0 Husband - Greg