Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I have a male black and white phase Mangrove. I know that snakes are all individuals and that you cannot judge bahavior based on one specimen. But, I have to say that my Mangrove, which is about five feet long now, doesn't seem to have an aggressive bone in his body. He hides in different places all the time, normally in the base of one of the potted plants I have in his cage. Lately, he's been coiling around his water bowl, right under his basking light. I went to go change his water the other day and he kind of rolled into the area his water bowl goes. I have him in a 55 gallon long now and just had one side open. I picked him up to move him about ten times and he wouldn't get out of the way, just kept going back to the same spot. I had my hands in his face, trying to push him over just a little to get his water bowl back. Not once did he hiss or strike. Finally on the tenth pick up, he pooped all over me. It reminded me of a garter snake's defensive musking. I have always treated this snake with a lot of respect as they can be unpredictable but I have to say that he is one of my most docile snakes. Am I lucky, or do they just get a bad name. Most of my snakes have reputations for being aggressive and not one of them is, although they do have their moments. Anyway, long post, slow forum, sorry, Eric-

Mine isnt aggresive really...but its spastic and hates handling..i rarely handle it..only when i absolutlet need to which is very rare..even for cage cleaning. I can just cover the hole to its elevated hide and clean away. I imagine it would bite me if i gave it a chance

I find them to be like chondros. Keep them all wraped up and they are fine. If they unwrap their bodies and start moving around they can become interesting (watch for bites).
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John Light
JL Exotics
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Very nice explanation.