Reptile & Amphibian Forums

ive had my milksnake for a couple months now...and lately the pet stores havent had live pinkie mice, theyve only had frozen, so yesterday i finally got live and put it in my snakes cage....and he just striked at it, and threw it across the cage, but didnt eat it...and everytime my hand went near the OUTSIDE of the cage he would strike at my hand...well he was doing fine after i took the mouse out, i was told to put it in the freezer and try again in a couple days...but now tonight, with no mouse even...hes striking at my hand and i dont know what to do...usually i can pick him up and the worst he would do is squirt that gross stuff on me...but only at first...now im too scared to try and pick him up because hes being a jerk...what do i do???

DON'T let the snake intimidate you. At the very worse the snake will connect with your hand. It is not at all painful. You'll just have to brave it out in order to get it used to being handled. How old is your snake? And what sub-species is it? The olny way to get the snake used to being handled is by handling it at least 20 min. a day. I think the reason it is acting like this is because it is most likely hungry and trying to get your attention.

milksnake73
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1.0 '04 Andean Milksnake (Malichi)
0.1 '04 Andean Milksnake (Satain)

My guess would be my snake is probably maybe 6-9 months...not quite sure...and i was TOLD it was a nelsons milksnake...but i havent found one that has the colorings mine has....in my "Whew!" post it has a couple pictures of him

first of all, don't take it personally, your frustration is apparent when you call the snake a jerk. it's just responding to natural impulses.

First, what you described would be typical of a snake that's in shed: it's not feeding, it strikes at the mouse but doesn't pursue it (can't see) and strikes at your hand (can't see, just senses motion=threat).

Maybe that's not the case, maybe it's not in shed. Regardless, every time the snake strikes at you and hits the glass it's hurting itself/in danger of injuring itself, so let's think about hte snake for a moment: how about putting some ocnstruction paper on the side of the glass so it can't injure itself that way?

Second, to get it used to handling (don't handle it if it IS in shed) buy a pair of cheap cotton work gloves at a nursery/garden center, and wear them for a while to handle it: you won't have to worry about being beitten, your confidence will increase, and the snake will have more of a chance of getting used to being handled.

Lastly, i'm assuming the food item you offered live was a pinky, and not something larger? We can't hurt our snakes feeding too small an item, but our snakes can be hurt if we feed to large a live item.

Good luck, and let us know when you see a shed, that would tell whether or not the snake was "blue" or in shed, causing some of the behavior.

peace
terry

>>ive had my milksnake for a couple months now...and lately the pet stores havent had live pinkie mice, theyve only had frozen, so yesterday i finally got live and put it in my snakes cage....and he just striked at it, and threw it across the cage, but didnt eat it...and everytime my hand went near the OUTSIDE of the cage he would strike at my hand...well he was doing fine after i took the mouse out, i was told to put it in the freezer and try again in a couple days...but now tonight, with no mouse even...hes striking at my hand and i dont know what to do...usually i can pick him up and the worst he would do is squirt that gross stuff on me...but only at first...now im too scared to try and pick him up because hes being a jerk...what do i do???