Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I was cleaning cages and snapped a few pics[wish this one came out better]. This is my 04 male from Terry D. He is way bigger than his future mate, I hope she catches up but nevertheless this snake always makes people gasp when they stop by my snake room. Thanks Terry he is AWESOME!

Wow great looking snake. I read as a whole high strung nervous snakes but must say I love their colors.
I own two corns but looking into milk or a king.

Out of my 8 Hondos only one is a complete spazz. I find that with Milks if you leave them alone for the first few months of thier lives and let them get some size on them they tend to mellow with out you having to work with them too much. I am sure it is not always the case but think of it this way. If you have a tiny 10 inch snake in your hand wriggling like crazy and its fast as hell you will not enjoy holding it much anyways, especially if it is biting and pooping on you. It is much easier to manage a larger snake, because you can give it more freedom and won't have to restrain it so much. Therefor in my opinion it can make the snake calm down faster with less effort on your behalf. That snake I posted is not bad at all to handle, 5 months ago was another story. Tom Stevens

Hey Tom,

I am not sure if it is 100% effective that if you leave the hatchling totally alone or close to 100% untouched for the first few months (as in your example 5 months) that it would be easy to handle after 5 months of not handling at all...if this theory would work for all snakes...I would think that most would still be trying as hard as they can to quirm away from you since they are not used to them being handling or human contact or scent. What I usually do with hatchlings and have been so far been effective is: I only pick the hatchling up if it were resting from the cool side of the terrarium...by doing so, the metabolism at that point of the day isn't as active as when its body ahs been heated up if it were resting on the warmer side of the terrarium...of course when as you handle it, it warms itself with your own body heat and then it will start to wiggle and get away from you. Of course, when you handle a hatchling, your movements should be done very slowly ... and handling should really last for about 5 minutes (no more than that)... if one does that almost every day, it makes a lot of difference. Plus, never handle them within 24-36 hours after a good size meal. I have gone through about 25 hathlings through my own collection and production and about 20 hatchlings through my volunteer work with local orgs here and have been successful this way.

I'm sure your suggestion of leaving them totally alone the first few months work in some snakes...but am just concerned making this a norm .. a novice out there might find himself/herself having an unfriendly or irritating 5 or 6 month old hatchling when it was very seldom handled while it was growing up.

Well, that's just my 2 cents for what its worth.

Great looking tangerine albino you got there!

Thanks...

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RAY

I did mention that my way may not be the case for all snakes. I said " I find that with Milks if you leave them alone for the first few months of thier lives and let them get some size on them they tend to mellow with out you having to work with them too much. I am sure it is not always the case"
It works for me with Milks. Pituophis are the opposite.If you do not handle a nervous baby they sometimes never outgrow it and are not the best as far as pets go. I have had Nelsoni and still have Black Milks and Hondos and letting them get some size on them before I start handleing them seems to work for me. I never suggested this should be "the norm". Your idea is also certainly worth mention, but even if my spazz of a Hondo is as cool as he can be...he still hates being held. My guess is some snakes of any type just don't tolerate handling no matter how much you want them too. I just get the impression some people who have never kept Milks are afraid they will not enjoy them because many people say they're squirmier than other snakes. This can be the case but my 3 adults are a joy to handle, and I would hate to think others would miss out on these great snakes fearing they never calm down.... Tom Stevens

Hey Tom,

Yes, I know that you never said that your suggestion was "the norm" and I certainly and most agree with you that there is NO just one and only one way way of handling a snake" and be considered the norm by any means since milksnake species differ from one another and snakes of the same species also differ from each other in terms of personality and such. I guess my objective of responding to your thread was definitely stated in your last statement "and I would hate to think others would miss out on these great snakes fearing they never calm down" ... and I totally agree with you that a lot of people have this bad impression that milksnakes are harder to have as pets than let's say kingsnakes. I was chatting with a novice last Fall and her concern was that she will not enjoy handling milksnakes (especially hondurans) because she thinks that they never calm down...and she ended up getting an Arizona kingsnake (which is not a bad looking snake anyway but her fears were unfounded). So, at least whoever is reading our threads will see 2 ways of handling hatchlings and they can adopt accordingly what suits them best, based on the snake itself.

Have a great weekend Tom,

And thanks...

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RAY

I hear ya Ray, I personally think Corns are very over rated in the aspect of them being tame and easy to handle. Some babies are lightning fast and squirm in that annoying manner that makes them no fun. Yet many people will recomend beginners get a baby Corn for thier first snake. Sure, they probably bite and musk less, but I still find the bad rep that Milks have exagerated. Hondurans are great snakes in every aspect. The looks of the normals and morphs can rival any snake as far as beauty is concerned. I actually brought 3 adults to a herp meeting and all were well behaved during my little talk about them,no bites, no musking, and not much in the spazzing though my Anery went inside my sleeve and into my shirt 3 times which was a little uncomfortable to say the least LOL. The Hondos just grow so fast that in no time they're more manageable. I HATE getting bit by any snake, yet I have 8 Hondurans.....therefor how bad can they be? C YA Tom Stevens

Thanks for this info I enjoyed reading it. I keep 2 corns they are calm . I do like the hondos might read up on them some more.
You cant beat their colors

n/p

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>>I was cleaning cages and snapped a few pics[wish this one came out better]. This is my 04 male from Terry D. He is way bigger than his future mate, I hope she catches up but nevertheless this snake always makes people gasp when they stop by my snake room. Thanks Terry he is AWESOME!
>>

Gotta love those Tangerines! I was going to disagree about the spastic-ness of the tangerine albinos untill I grabbed ahold of mine and it laid into me (as evidenced by the "gotcha" stains on the paper, lol). Then he tried to eat not only myself, but the camera as well. He ended up giving me the "why I aughta" stance and then tried to take my arm off as he bolted out of the container. I grabbed him as he left, and he kindly thanked me for restraining him by emptying his lower half all over me yet again. Beautiful snakes, but lots of personality to go with it.

His "why I aughta" closeup:

I tried to get a good shot without the musk and other expelled "stuff" on the paper, but he really wanted to be cranky. Of course it didn't help that he was nice and warm after basking over the heat pad.

Dan.

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"Colubrid-aphilia", adj; An inordinate love of Colubrids.

Couple of shots of his "bride" to be, soon as I pay for her and she gets here, lol.

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"Colubrid-aphilia", adj; An inordinate love of Colubrids.

How could anyone not like these???? This year I am working on the Ghost, Hypos and Amerys. By 06 Hopefully the Snows, Hybinos and Tangerine Albinos. Wish me luck Tom Stevens

>>How could anyone not like these???? This year I am working on the Ghost, Hypos and Amerys. By 06 Hopefully the Snows, Hybinos and Tangerine Albinos. Wish me luck Tom Stevens

Thanks Tom! I've started with the tangerine albinos and a trio of tri color hypos (well 1.1 with .1 het as well). I can't wait to move on to Ghost and Snow, hope to get some ghosts this season, especially pinstriped ones with little or no tipping. Just takes time and money. All I had to do to start this collection was get rid of my wife, ha ha ha. Best of luck with your Herps!

Dan.
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"Colubrid-aphilia", adj; An inordinate love of Colubrids.