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Strange Behavior

metaldad904 Dec 12, 2005 03:08 PM

Hey all,

My yellow has been doing great, seems to be adjusting to his new home pretty well. I was wondering about something he's been doing lately. So, i'll get him out of his cage and set him on the floor. I'll sit indian style about a foot in front of him and watch. Usually he'll crawl around and just do his own thing. Usually he'll get curious and investigate me. Well, latley i've been putting my hand on the floor in front of him and for some reason he homes in on it. He doesn't bite me or anything. He'll slither up to my hand until he's resting his bottom jaw on my palm. Then, he'll start pushing down until i push up and we play this game where we see how far he lets my hand lift him up into the air. He usually will go up about a 1 1/2-2 feet. It's like he wants 2 lift himself up vertically, but needs assistance lol. Then, on sunday, we were doing that, and he out of nowhere decided to curl around my arm. He wrapped himself up on my wrist, didn't squeeze me or show any aggression at all. It was as if he was just curious as to how i'd react. To be honest, i was a little nervous, he's a bitey one and i still haven't gotten 2 the point where i trust him. He never shows any aggression towards me unless i've done something 2 piss him off. Usually that means don't get near his head when picking him up. I can pick him up with no problems as long as i lift his midsection and support his tail, but he hates it when my hand gets within a foot of his head while holding. He'll usually immediatly turn around and nip me a couple times and once i let go, he goes right back to whatever he was doing. I don't know if his behavior is strange or typical, but i thought someone might be able to give an opinion or whatever. He's a really good snake, a great eater and his disposition has been improving a lot since i got him.

Quick funny story i thought ya'll would like. So my exwife came over my house on saturday and she wanted 2 hold the snake. So i told her how to do it and warned her about his nipiness and about holding his head and so on. So i got him out and made her wear gloves and a sweatshirt just to make sure. She touched him with no problem, but then her hand got close to the back of his head.....and he freaked! He turned around and lunged at her 3 times! She backed up about 2 feet in order to get out of his range. I thought it was hysterical to be honest lol. I was like "i warned you." So he sat there looking intent on killing her after that. So i sat down next to him and put my barehand in front of his face and he immediately mellowed out. If was as if he knew it was me. He lowered his head and turned his curiousity onto me and climbed onto my arm. I just found this to be kind of a funny story and thought it was kinda cool to see how a snake can recognize the one who takes care of him and differentiate between me and someone he's never seen before. Alright, i'll stop rambling...thanks for reading and any responses

Replies (5)

Kelly_Haller Dec 12, 2005 08:14 PM

I don't have any clues on this behavior, but I do know that Eunectes in general are notoriously head shy unless they are very calm individuals. We have a few greens, including Jud's male, that will let you gently grab their heads without any problem, but most greens will usually show some type of reaction to this.

Kelly

jjpython Dec 13, 2005 07:01 AM

i know my green is fine when i grab her near the head but my green will do the same thing, i put her on my bed and sit next to her and she will approch me and lift her head towards my hand then climb opn like she wants to be held also she loves to crawl up my arm to my neck then rests her head on the top of my head and will chill there until i move her. wierd

less

metaldad904 Dec 13, 2005 10:43 AM

Hmmm.....he does seem to really want go towards my shoulders and neck, i just don't know if i trust him enough yet. I'm not afraid of getting bit, that's no big deal, i just don't wanna get bit in the face lol. I think this weekend i'm going to let him climb up and see what he does. I imagine they are drawn to our bodyheat if anything and just wanna find a comfortable spot to chill. thanks for the responses

jjpython Dec 14, 2005 12:09 PM

i think they like to be at the highest point of the body, ive noticed that from my freinds green and yellow, and my green

gatorhunter Dec 14, 2005 10:24 PM

I have three anacondas. Two are sisters from nerd cb(a couple of years old) and my youngest one wc(little over a year). My largest anaconda 9ft (I would guess) and my wc (little over 5) will crawl to me when I take them outside to stretch out and get some sun(summertime). My smallest snake (the sister to the big one) wants nothing to do with me and crawls all over the place. My snakes tend to only crawl to me (even when several people are outside)
-Dustin-

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