Reptile & Amphibian Forums

hey everyone,
I've heard it suggested that handlers use snake hooks to take their bloods out of their enclosures. My question is how big of a hook would one need for a sumatran(sp?) blood? My girl is still fairly small, so i won't need one for awhile, but i was curious. Oh, i wanted to see what everyone thought of routine vet visits? Do you think taking your snakes in once or twice a year is a good idea, or unnecessary stress? Thanks for taking the time to read this, and keep it up with posting pics! I get my digital in a week, can't wait!

carole

Everytime i close the door on reality, it comes through the window

Personally, I have never used snake hooks and probably never will. Seems so... impersonal. Of course if I had a snake that bites I might reconsider. For a little Sumatran i wouldn't think it is neccessary....
As far as the vet and regular visits I don't know why it would be neccessary to take them every year unless there was a problem. You can a fecal float to the vet every 6 months or so to see if the animal has any type of internal parasites, not even neccessary to take the animal.
Now if you can't recognize the signs of illness then maybe you should take the animal in until you become more familiar.

I, on the other hand use hooks constantly, but I get bitten a lot. But I don't hook my blood, because he doesn't mind being picked by my hand. The one catch is, while you can hook them while they're small, but even with two hooks I don't think you'd be able to lift an adult blood safely. It might be useful to have one on hand if you need get an angry blood out of a front-opening cage.

Snake hooks are not necessarily used to pick the animal up. It is always good to have a standard sized hook for adults especially if they are moody and you need to perform maintenance on the cage. You use the hook to introduce yourself confortably to the snake since you are entering their territory/home. None of my bloods/stp strike out at me; however, if they think food is coming that is a different story. An adult blood has a lot of striking force. THe hook allows you to move the head in an opposite direction while you use the other hand to get a grip on the mid-section to move them. I recommend all keepers of all snakes to have appropiate sized hooks just in case. Plus it helps reduce the stress on the snake. You never know when they are resting and not aware of your presence, the hook helps avoid startling them.

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