Reptile & Amphibian Forums

i just got my baby rat snake a little bit ago and she was fine the first day i got her. she is feeding wonderfully, 2 pinkies once a week but she continuously bites me. whenever i try to pick her up she strikes at me shakes her tail and keeps her neck in permanent striking position. should i keep trying to handle her and keep getting bit or should i wait till she gets a little older and try to handle her and calm her down. thanks for all the help.
~icy
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1.1.0 bearded dragon
0.0.1 green iguana
0.0.1 emperor scorpion
1.0.0 knight anole
2.1.0 green anole
0.0.1 golden gecko
0.0.1 skink
1.0.0 american toad
0.0.5 oriental firebellied toad
0.0.1 green treefrog
0.0.1 asian longtail grass lizard
0.1.0 rat snake
0.1.0 eastern kingsnake

My girl was the same when I first got her. Quick ain't they?

When u feed her, do u take her out of her viv, coz if you feed her in her viv every time you go to handle her she'll associate the opening of her viv with getting fed.

Rats feel very vulnerable when they're young so she'll probs grow out of it. Keep handling her between feeds tho (obviously allowing a couple of days after feeding for digestion) it worked for me. My girl's 2 now and rarely if ever bites me.
She used to get cranky whan she was a kid tho, bless her.

Hope u manage to get on the right side of the little one.

Kat.

Do two basic things. Handle the snake every day except for the 48 hours after feeding and when her eyes are cloudy because she is about to shed.

Secondly: when you put your hand in the cage to pick her up, put your hand near her so that she can smell you. Don’t move your hand for about a minute. As she starts to calm down, move your hand slowly towards her. If she starts to shake her tail, stop moving towards her, but don’t move away. Eventually she should let you touch her. Then put your hand under her while keeping it flat on the bottom of the cage with your palm up. Do not grab her. Try to slide your fingers under her belly. You may have to try this for a week or two before you can pink her up, but she will calm down in time.

Once you are able to pick her up without her trying to bite you, keep handling her regularly or she may start biting again. Keep in mind that the initial biting response is a sign of a healthy snake. A snake that isn’t afraid of you at first has something wrong with it.

Good luck with your snake.

Rick

What kind of snake do you have?

What rick said is a good idea, unless you have a snake like my blue beauty. I ended up just having to reach in and grab her - wouldn't stay still long enough for me to hold my hand by her, lol. She bit me for a full month with daily handling. But she's a lot better now. (had her a little over 2 months.) Anyway, don't put her back in her tank just because she bites you, and do not put her back in because she musks you. If you do this, you will be teaching that snake "hey if i bite her she'll let me go home!" You want to keep holding onto her, if she gets tryin to run out of your hands then hold her tighter, when she relaxes you relax. Start out with 5 minutes at a time, then after a month or two you can increase the handling.

Your snake will not just get "nice" as it grows up. It gets tolerant of you because it gets use to you being around, your scent, etc. You grab a 4 foot everglades or yellow rat in the wild, you probably will get bitten - it doesnt know who/what you are... and if you treat your baby like that it will grow into an agressive adult.
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-Chris

The reason mainstream thought is thought of as a stream is because it's so shallow. -George Carlin

A fool doesn't learn. A smart man learns from his mistakes. A wise man learns from the mistakes of others. Which one are you?

My Website
Rat/Corn snake care sheet I wrote

Current snakes:
0.1 Licorice Stick Black Rat (Lola)
1.0 Black Rat (Frankie)
1.1 Texas Bairds (Jose and Rosa)
0.1 Blue Beauty (Brunhilde)
1.0 Green Tree Python (Claudius)... coming soon

I have 2 female hypo corns that will be three years old this spring.Both of them musk,bite,squirm and tail rattle still.Once in a great while I can get them out and they will act nice.It's just how they are.But like the above posts say just keep trying maybe the will calm down...Paul

Not if you are handling all the lizards you have before trying to pick her up. LOL. She'll be all over you if you have been handling lizards. Can't say she will ever stop biting, but she probably will for the most part. It is normal for baby rat snakes to be flighty and nippy. They get stressed when someone as big as we are open their enclosure and reach in to pick them up. They don't know that we aren't going to eat them. Keep something in mind. If you have decided to handle her, then make sure you handle her. Don't put her down or stop because she bites or is about to. It won't take long before she figures you will stop bothering her or put her down if she bites you. If you go to handle her, keep handling her even if she starts biting you. Put her down when you are ready to, not when she wants to. Since she is a baby, her bites aren't bad so let her bite you and she will stop when she realizes it isn't working. Snakes bite or strike to grab prey or get something to let go. Since you aren't prey and won't let go, she will begin slowing down her bites. I have a couple snakes that still will bite me once and then they are O.K. the rest of the time I hold them. I don't put a snake down because it bites me. I put it down when I am done doing what I was doing to get the snake out.

Terry Parks

You might already know this but another tip I heard is when ever you hold your snake, you should hold it for a long period of time rather than many quick holds. When I hold my snakes, I hold them for at least half an hour each time I pick them up. I don't know if this actually affect the snake but when I hold my cave beauty hatchling, I keep in mind that he will bite and not to be afraid of it, it doesn't hurt anyway. Then I just hold him with more confidence. I don't know if the attitude somehow affects how I handle him but he seems to bite less when I keep that thought in my mind. I hope that helps along with all the other tips! Good luck!
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Belle

1 Blue beauty
1 Taiwan beauty
1 Cave beauty