Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I have a year old trans pecos, bites like a son of a gun.

I handle her every day but she continues the biting. although

she is only one year old and about 12" long,does anyone know

if she will stop biting.

I've had two Trans-Pecos, one wild caught, one C.B, so my sample-size for reference is pretty small. Neither ever bit any human, and generally, Trans-Pecos are calm & laid-back guys. But if you've had this one for a year and it still clamps down on you, you have an excessively nervous animal that might never calm down. IMHO, breeders should cull such animals from breeding stock since handling is part of the herp-experience. I had a FL blue garter from birth that was so nervous that simply restraining him from biting would so upset the snake that it would auto-hemmorhage a vein in its mouth and spit blood all over you. After 3 yrs of this, in spite of its beauty I decided to trade it off to a breeder for the animal's own good. I've also had gorgeous c.b. boa constrictors that were nervous biters & are no longer part of my collection. As a last resort in your case, try handling him while wearing thin surgical gloves, from Costco or a hardware store (usually a pkg of 25 or so). Snakes seem to absolutely hate the taste of this rubber and besides, their teeth get stuck in it. A few such lessons might cure him.... if you're lucky. If not, consider trading for a more calm speciman; then both of you will be happier.

I would leave her be and feed her what she will eat. As she gets bigger she will either stop seeing you as a threat or she won't. If handleing her everyday or two isn't working then try not bothering her. She may never calm down and feel safe between visits. Also I believe setup is very important in the attitude of the snakes we keep. I am usually going for feed response and not attitude but try a differant setup (more hides, differant substrate, bigger cage, more branches, whatever). As she grows she will change in attitude but there is no telling if it will be for better or worse. Also nothing personal but I have notice some people have a bad way of holding a snake. The way you pick them up is important as well. Strangely the guys who just pick them up like a piece of rope never seem to get bit. I am not saying be ruff, I am saying don't be to hesitant when picking up a snake. Just pick them up. And when they are in your hand let them do their thing, just allow the tail to wrap around something. If you are already doing this than I don't know what to say. I am just giving you ideas.
Good Luck
Jason

im positive that its not the way i pick her up.She only bites when i accedentally wave my hand in front of her face or when I put her back in her aquaruim she tries to get a quick one off.

Then don't wave your hand in fornt of her. Don't put her in the cage. Let her crawl into it.

Another trick is to handle aggressive reptiles when they are cooler.

I had a large Nile Monitor once. Whne he was warmed up, he would actually rush me when I opened the door to his cage. So I always turned off the heat for an hour or so before handling him. It made his reaction time MUCH slower.

I will try doing that because all I have for her is a five gallon tank one rock, one water dish,and aspen for substrate ever since she was two months old.thanks for the advice

Trans-pecos Rats are almost always docile, but I have seen a few TPRs that were biters. Most of those were cb offspring curiously.
To be honest, I know of some Bogeys that hatched as biters and stayed that way for years!
There are two types of biters amongst Trans-pecos rats in my experience. There are the coil-and-strike individuals which almost always tame down. Then there are the bite-you-while-you-hold-them types - these snakes seem to hang on to this trait longer. Of course, Trans-pecos Ratsnake bites are really trivial. Even a big individual hardly breaks the skin.

Rarely you get a wild one with attitude as well - this big male in the photo was really P'O'ed and wasn't bluffing when I found him on the road one night. Took a few pics and then let the surly beast go along his way.

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Chris Harrison
San Antonio, TX

thats interesting. my trans pecos isnt even a year old so I guess the bitings normal.thats also great to hear because my trans p. is definetly a coil and strike.thanks for the advice

The way you described it it sounds like a nervous trait and not a mean streak. You don't want the mean animals that do as the other poster said, the ones that turns and looks at your arm and thinks about it for a second and then bites and naws on you. Compared to that type the nervous ones are nice even when they bite. That said, go bigger and offer more hides. Try differant setups until you find something that works. Remember though, every time you change something it will stress the snake a little. In other words if you think your setup is good, just change one thing and then give it a week or so. and as I said before less handleing can be more for the snake. For some reason a lot of keepers try to out will their snake. That is keep holding it until it doesn't strike anymore. I used to do that but as my collection grew I found I didn't have the time to "break my snakes in" but at six months to a year they where fine with out being handled all the time.
later Jason

Beautiful critter.

Might have tamed down with time.

I definitely think snakes:

a) may respond to being picked up by fearful people negatively - the scent of fear disturbs and frightens most animals

b) Snakes should never be firmly grasped unless they are serious biters and can do damage - I just scoop them up - not too fast, not too slow.

c) In the case of nervous snakes, when handling them and letting them move from hand to hand, always move the snake towards the hand that is empty, don't move the empty hand towards the snake.

Having said all that, I guess as others have noted, snakes like all animals are individuals and it is possible to find nervous or aggressive snakes among normally tranquil species and docile ones among normally aggressive species.

I had a problem with a transpecos ratsnake once, and someone said that sometimes if they are housed with another snake, they can get more aggressive. Don't know if it is true, but just thought I would ask.
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phflame