Hello,
My name is Pedro, and if I may say so, I’m a very handsome apricot phase Pueblan Milksnake. I’m only a baby, and at 35 cm long I think I am a pretty big boy for my age, nearly three months old.
My new owner is a very nice chap and I’ve been with him for only a week. He handles me frequently, every day in fact for at least half an hour, and I think I’m very happy. However, there is a slight problem – every time he does handle me, I cannot help smearing him with excrement! Although he knew this would happen, he would like me not to do it. So what can he do to try to stop me being so anti-social?
Please help!
Pedro.
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Anti Social Behaviour
Peppino
Sep 27, 2004 10:37 PM
Replies (4)
phflame
Sep 28, 2004 11:32 AM
If you can manage to handle a pueblan about 5 minutes or more every day (except for two days after you feed it), they will usually calm down. So keep handling him as much as you can, and DO NOT put him back in his house after he musks you. Clean up as much as you can, but do not put him down until after the minimum five minutes is over.
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phflame
buddygrout
Sep 28, 2004 05:16 PM
To show who is the boss.
janome
Sep 29, 2004 07:16 AM
I have a tangerine honduran that musked me once or twice when I first got him. I just kept hold of him for a few minutes then put him back when he calmed down. He is now much better after a YEAR and a half.
I was going to get a pueblan (before getting my honduran) but the one I held at a show was so high strung I changed my mind.
Just keep handling him like other post said and hopefully when he is older he'll out grow that nasty behavior.
markg
Sep 29, 2004 12:45 PM
All this sweet talk "he'll calm down after some handling" is sugar-coated hopeful rhetoric. Are there baby Pueblans that don't musk? Well, maybe. But most musk. In fact, most ssp of milksnakes are known for being high-strung when held. It is their nature. And Pueblans are among the most nervous (yet they do great in captivity and breed easily. They just don't like being held.)
The snake might stop this behavior after a few years, or it might never totally stop. Handling might help for an adult, or might not. Get a cornsnake if you want no musk, otherwise, you'll need to get used to it if milksnakes are your captives of choice. Adult milks are better behaved compared to babies though.
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Mark 
