Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I have an albino bull (not clear on the type - maybe bananna?)

Question I have is this : He's a heck of a posturer. LOL Having dealt almost exclusively with pythons thus far (Royal, Af. Rock, Burm) I've yet to run across this particular behaviour. With my pythons, if they posture it's a clear warning sign to leave them alone, they never posture unless they want to be left be or are feeding. (Mine, anyhow)

But with this little guy, he postures just if something or someone walks past his tank. He's got quite the chip on the scale so to speak, I love him to pieces, but I'm concerned about him coming out to be a snapper. Is there a way to avoid that? I do handle him roughly 10-20 minutes daily. (And he promptly defecates all over me every single time I pick him up, too - is that normal for a Bull ?)

He postures if something goes past his tank, sometimes he actually will strike against the glass at whatever or whoever is walking past it. Now, once I pick him up, he doesn't strike, but he will continue to posture for about two minutes or so, then he just becomes a bundle of difficulty, as he darts all over the place trying to escape your fingers. ^.^

So ... is handling him daily sufficient ? Or are all bullsnakes this temperamental ?

I know this isn't a bullsnake forum... but somehow I thought it a little better placed here than the Corn forum, and I didn't see a Bull forum...

Thanks in advance.
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1 Ball Python
1 Rock Python
1 Burmese Python
1 Bullsnake
4 Cats

Love 'em all ...

Actually, there is a pine/bull/gopher forum. Go here http://forums.kingsnake.com/forum.php?catid=69 They should be able to answer your questions. For what it's worth though, I believe most of the pits are like this, at least as youngsters. The one thing that concerns me from a general husbandry standpoint is that it seems you don't have sufficient (any?) hides in his cage. The way you describe it, he's always out and always postures when anything goes by his field of view. That indicates to me he has no option to go and hide somewhere where he CAN'T see what is passing in front of his cage. That will lead to strees and stress will cause any young snake to be defensive as they are prey for just about every other predator in the wild until they reach 3 or 4 feet long. Anyway, good luck with him! Billy

>>I have an albino bull (not clear on the type - maybe bananna?)
>>
>>Question I have is this : He's a heck of a posturer. LOL Having dealt almost exclusively with pythons thus far (Royal, Af. Rock, Burm) I've yet to run across this particular behaviour. With my pythons, if they posture it's a clear warning sign to leave them alone, they never posture unless they want to be left be or are feeding. (Mine, anyhow)
>>
>>But with this little guy, he postures just if something or someone walks past his tank. He's got quite the chip on the scale so to speak, I love him to pieces, but I'm concerned about him coming out to be a snapper. Is there a way to avoid that? I do handle him roughly 10-20 minutes daily. (And he promptly defecates all over me every single time I pick him up, too - is that normal for a Bull ?)
>>
>>He postures if something goes past his tank, sometimes he actually will strike against the glass at whatever or whoever is walking past it. Now, once I pick him up, he doesn't strike, but he will continue to posture for about two minutes or so, then he just becomes a bundle of difficulty, as he darts all over the place trying to escape your fingers. ^.^
>>
>>So ... is handling him daily sufficient ? Or are all bullsnakes this temperamental ?
>>
>>I know this isn't a bullsnake forum... but somehow I thought it a little better placed here than the Corn forum, and I didn't see a Bull forum...
>>
>>Thanks in advance.
>>-----
>>1 Ball Python
>>1 Rock Python
>>1 Burmese Python
>>1 Bullsnake
>>4 Cats
>>
>>Love 'em all ...

Hi,

Thanks for the input. I do have two separat hides for him. One on the warm end of the tank and one in the ambient area. Both are angled slightly so he can go in without 'anything seeing him'. He does make extensive use of those, but he also likes to bask on TOP OF the one hide a lot. I've checked the size, and it's not too big for him (or small) so I think he just likes to sit up there.

I didn't find the right forum last night, thanks for the link, and the input, I appreciate it a lot.

Your setup sounds good then. Like I said, I think most of those youngsters are just plain hyper! Good luck with him.

>>Hi,
>>
>>Thanks for the input. I do have two separat hides for him. One on the warm end of the tank and one in the ambient area. Both are angled slightly so he can go in without 'anything seeing him'. He does make extensive use of those, but he also likes to bask on TOP OF the one hide a lot. I've checked the size, and it's not too big for him (or small) so I think he just likes to sit up there.
>>
>>I didn't find the right forum last night, thanks for the link, and the input, I appreciate it a lot.

I was going to answer this question in the bull/pine/gopher forum, but I didn't see it there, so I'll answer it here. In my experience, CB bulls tend to be very tame, docile snakes. Wild bulls on the other hand can be rather feisty. Of course, there are exceptions to every case, and this appears to be the case with yours. Both of my pituophis are docile snakes, but the gopher is rather nervous and zippy. My bull is much calmer, but she was much more zippy as a baby, and even as an adult she can really take off if something spooks her enough. But she calms down after a short while, unlike my gopher who never stops going and going and going until I put him away. Sounds like yours is a rather young one. Remember, the baby stage is a rather stressful time for many snakes. So yours should grow out of this behavior with age and careful handling. Best of luck and enjoy your bull. They are awesome snakes.