Reptile & Amphibian Forums

hey im trying to tame my baby blood but he is always burrowing into his bedding. i dont want to pull him out but he hardly ever comes out (when im at home). is it best to leave him alone and handle him only when he comes out on his own or pull him out?

Mine is a "burrower" as well. I gave her some 8" clay saucers (the ones that go under pots) for hide boxes, and this makes it much easier. You just lift off the saucer, and there she is underneath. Then I just slowly lift up her midsection and she seldom does more than puff once or twice when I first touch her. Once she's resting in my hands she's fine.

She has burrows between the saucers on the hot and cold sides. Once in a while she has her head in one of the burrows, and then I just pull her out. The saucers seem to make her more secure, and 9 times out of 10 she is completely under the saucer, all curled up and cute....

thats cool but what i was meaning is does pulling the snake out from its hide or substrate affect the snake or should it be left alone until it comes out (even if it rarely comes out)?

I would imagine to answer your question we would need to look further into what the snake persieves to be.......Ok kidding aside......I don't think anyone can really answer that definitivly. I think the first thing to look at though is does your snake feel secure? Is it burrowing due to a lack of suffieciant hides? or hide located in the "wrong" place within the gradiant?

I would personally guess that if the snake feels secure that it would not matter psychologically speaking to the snake however if there are security issues (maybe it needs a binky)I would guess that it would not help matters.

How long it has been acclimated and if it is used to the smell/sight of you. Is it eating well. how big an enclosure? how many hides ect. these are all factors I would guess effect the mental well being of a captive snake.

my unprofessional opinions
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Kevin
I am lost w/o spell check
"Learn from the mistakes of others. You can't live long enough to make them all yourself."-unknown

a woobie maybe...but not a binky. i went ahead and took him out a few minutes ago and set him in my lap for about 30 minutes. i even offered him some live bait (my hand) to chomp down on if so inclined but he refused. as far as his tank size i have a feeling that in about 3-4 weeks i will have to buy another one as he is growing speedily. but for some reason he always burrows into the substrate (repti-bark) on the warm side of the tank (using undertank heater). does this mean he is too cold and i need to turn the temp up?

I guess it depends on what your temps are. My suggestions were just ideas so you wouldn't have to scare him digging him out of the substrate. I would hate to have my snake decide I was a predator digging around looking for her and get bit. Its much easier when I can just slide her out of her burrow gently and slowly. I can judge her mood and level of fear by how tense her muscles are. If she were completely buried in the woodchips I'd be worried she'd nail me before I even figured out where she was. I don't want to do anything to EVER make her think I'm a predator, since baby snakes have so many insecurity issues as it is.

Seriously though... spend 83 cents or whatever for another hide box for the warm side, and you won't have to dig her out anymore....

i did but he wouldnt go into it. he would just brrow into the woodchips nearby it so i took the hide out and it doesnt seem to make any diff. he burrows whether there is a hide in the tank or not.

Hey, sometimes they just love the feeling of being tucked in nice warm bedding. If you know the temps are good, no health problems and the snake isn't biting you when you pull it out of the bedding, then you both should be happy campers. I take my bloods outside in the spring and summer and they love to hide in the mulch in my flower beds. I even cut on the water sprinkler and let them enjoy the "rain". I hold my new snakes just a little at first and work into the trust thing. I have a new female blood that is a handful right now, but I know it may take even six months before she knows I am the best thing that ever happen to her . At first I would just touch her, and now I can pick her up to move her so I can clean her cage. When the time is right I will start taking her out just to look at her and put her back before any real stress happens, then work into more and more handling until our first kiss... People always talk about how mean bloods are, they really are not as mean as they are just scared of you. They bite out of fear or hunger, so feed them and respect their fears and in time you should have a great pet. Sorry for the long post, hope this helped you........... peace out.... greenman

its okay to love your pet....just dont "LOVE" your pet.

Not sure what you mean by "love" & "LOVE". I have kissed a lot of horses on the nose in my life, a bunch of dogs, and yes even a few snakes, but I can safely say I felt okay with it...... greenman

All velvety & whuffly. Ranks right up there with "puppy breaf"!!!!

K

>>Not sure what you mean by "love" & "LOVE". I have kissed a lot of horses on the nose in my life, a bunch of dogs, and yes even a few snakes, but I can safely say I felt okay with it...... greenman

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Just because I have a short attention span doesn't mean

I can just Jody out there with an armful of bloods trying to get the sprinkler set up. Thats gotta be a site, take some pics next time bro!

From what I've seen the burrowing tends to be a phase. Even with paper towels younger ones sometimes dip under them. But I would keep the hide there so they get used to it none the less, its always available for some extra security.

You might also want to get an acurate reading of what the temp on top of the heat pad is, if your snake is sitting directly on top of a hot pad with no insulation between it could get pretty hot and inevitably cook your snake.

You seem to be having alot of questions and problems, but not giving us very much info on your setup and the like. Maybee if you clued us in we could help you out a bit more.
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"It's my snake, I trained it, so I'm going to eat it!" - Mad Max, The Road Warrior

well ya know it gets rather tiring repeating the setup of my tank everytime i post something. and of course im gonna have some questions...this is my first blood (hmmmm maybe i should call him "Rambo".

I m going to tell you what my friend Gerald Marzec told me!! B/C I asked him the same stuff when I got into Bloods!! "It is natural for baby bloods to hide!!They are going to get comfortable and sit and wait for food to pass buy!! They are sit and wait predators even as adults they hide!!" If you want your bloods to use a hide and stop burroing use a form fitting hide and change your bedding to newspaper Personally I think newspaper is the safest!!Its all I use!! I include a bowl of moist moss for humidity.Your Baby blood is terrified of the giant(you)if you notice when you open cage your blood starts breathing hard all of mine did the same thing too!! But they grow to you!! Gerald also told me if you plan to keep and breeding bloods plan on getting bit every once and a while!! I noticed with babies is they get to know you EX: I recently got a pair of baby reds and they where nasty!!But after a few months of handaling they are angels!!I had to hold then every day for 30 mins for them to get used to me!! Its ok to pick them up when under bedding just be cautious!! I have over 20 bloods and 12 are babies and everyone of them are "BLOOD TAME" even my imported adults!! It takes time and effort!! They are rewarding captives and my favorite pythons!!!oh, the best hides I think are the All black ones that ungerground reptiles sells!!Look them up!! Good Luck and welcome to the fever

Hey,
I was initially reluctant to get involved in this one, however, there is much to be added in a word or two. Don't worry so much about whether it is burrowing or not: Is it eating, behaving normally, including burrowing? These simple things are what I look for when assessing whether there is some parameter or two, off kilter. To me, and IMHO, there is nothing wrong with burrowing what so ever. In fact, I love it when they burrow; regardless of whether they're nippy or not. I've raised dog tame bloods to some that start out nippy, and then tame down while burrowing or not (Including some of my adults). They just do what comes natural to them, and some matter of factly, have personality traits and idiosyncrasies, all their own, which make them quite unique, IMO (some litter mates, burrow, while others just don't).

My concern would be whether the animal or animals are eating or not, are they defecating. Are they developing peculiar behaviors indicating that there is something awry with the temperature or some other parameter, but burrowing is not one of them, and I would let it be and just enjoy it. I've seen many a blood in my days and whilst working at the zoo and with my personal collection, have seen many babies do exactly this and are quite the marvels that are bloods.

-Angel
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"Until we lose our self, there is no way of finding our self."
-Henry Miller.

yes he has eaten. he had 2 ratpups last week but i dont believe he has defecated yet. sorry we have almost 20 snakes and its rather difficult to recall the crapping patterns of them all. however im not sure if taking this long to defecate is normal or not.

I've had mine since late september, and to the best of my knowledge, she hasn't defecated yet, but then, I don't check every woodchip when I clean either. From everything else I've read on the forum, it seems perfectly normal for bloods...

Well I read everyones posting seems like such a simple question, so here's my 2 cents.When I used bark mine would burrow into the bark.When I reached in to grab him sometimes he would strike, I just went in with confidence and picked him up securely.He eventually got used to it.Most of my babies burrowed into the bark under their hides and around the water bowl.No big deal.If you want switch over to newspaper, thats all I use now.This way it will be easier to take him out and also to detect any fecal matters.Also it helps to keep a log on every snake so you know who did what when.Best of luck to you.