Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hey all,

First off, I hope everyone had a joyful holiday and hopefully got a new snake or at minimum something to better care for the existing ones you have. I hope everyone has a great new year!

Now for my question. I have seen some photos of people and the handling appears to be a bit laxed. Of course, due to my inexperience I am not qualified to make an appropriate judgement other than "No freehandling!". Some of these photos include people just allowing the snake to sort of "rest" on the ground as opposed to be fully controlled by the hook. This to me, seems like it would be easy for the snake to make a quick "turn and strike" where the handler may not be completely prepared to react? Am I wrong in this assumption?

Next question..

When hooking and tailing a snake, would it be better to keep the snakes head elevated above your hand on the tail or is keeping the head lower still ok, provided that you are simply using the hook to support it? Granted I understand that the answers to these questions will vary according to the snake that you are working with. Furthermore, it is also yet another reason to make 100% positive that you are using the appropriate tool for the job.

I appreciate everyone's responses or thoughts on the subject.

Best Wishes and happy holidays to all!

Chris
-----
U.A.P.P.E.A.L.
Uniting A Proactive Primate and Exotic Animal League

"Some of these photos include people just allowing the snake to sort of "rest" on the ground as opposed to be fully controlled by the hook."

For some of you who may or may not understand what I am meaning by this, I am not talking about just allowing the snake to be loose on the ground. I am meaning that they have ahold of the animals tail at the given moment, but the hook isn't controlling the snakes head but more of just underneath the snake in a quite relaxed manner that the snake could possibly catch them off guard if they aren't paying 100% attention.

Thanks again!

Chris

>>Hey all,
>>
>> First off, I hope everyone had a joyful holiday and hopefully got a new snake or at minimum something to better care for the existing ones you have. I hope everyone has a great new year!
>>
>>Now for my question. I have seen some photos of people and the handling appears to be a bit laxed. Of course, due to my inexperience I am not qualified to make an appropriate judgement other than "No freehandling!". Some of these photos include people just allowing the snake to sort of "rest" on the ground as opposed to be fully controlled by the hook. This to me, seems like it would be easy for the snake to make a quick "turn and strike" where the handler may not be completely prepared to react? Am I wrong in this assumption?
>>
>>Next question..
>>
>>When hooking and tailing a snake, would it be better to keep the snakes head elevated above your hand on the tail or is keeping the head lower still ok, provided that you are simply using the hook to support it? Granted I understand that the answers to these questions will vary according to the snake that you are working with. Furthermore, it is also yet another reason to make 100% positive that you are using the appropriate tool for the job.
>>
>>I appreciate everyone's responses or thoughts on the subject.
>>
>>Best Wishes and happy holidays to all!
>>
>>Chris
>>-----
>>U.A.P.P.E.A.L.
>>Uniting A Proactive Primate and Exotic Animal League
-----
U.A.P.P.E.A.L.
Uniting A Proactive Primate and Exotic Animal League

>>"Some of these photos include people just allowing the snake to sort of "rest" on the ground as opposed to be fully controlled by the hook."
>>
>>For some of you who may or may not understand what I am meaning by this, I am not talking about just allowing the snake to be loose on the ground. I am meaning that they have ahold of the animals tail at the given moment, but the hook isn't controlling the snakes head but more of just underneath the snake in a quite relaxed manner that the snake could possibly catch them off guard if they aren't paying 100% attention.
>>
>>Thanks again!
>>
>>Chris
>>
>>>>Hey all,
>>>>
>>>> First off, I hope everyone had a joyful holiday and hopefully got a new snake or at minimum something to better care for the existing ones you have. I hope everyone has a great new year!
>>>>
>>>>Now for my question. I have seen some photos of people and the handling appears to be a bit laxed. Of course, due to my inexperience I am not qualified to make an appropriate judgement other than "No freehandling!". Some of these photos include people just allowing the snake to sort of "rest" on the ground as opposed to be fully controlled by the hook. This to me, seems like it would be easy for the snake to make a quick "turn and strike" where the handler may not be completely prepared to react? Am I wrong in this assumption?
>>>>
>>>>Next question..
>>>>
>>>>When hooking and tailing a snake, would it be better to keep the snakes head elevated above your hand on the tail or is keeping the head lower still ok, provided that you are simply using the hook to support it? Granted I understand that the answers to these questions will vary according to the snake that you are working with. Furthermore, it is also yet another reason to make 100% positive that you are using the appropriate tool for the job.
>>>>
>>>>I appreciate everyone's responses or thoughts on the subject.
>>>>
>>>>Best Wishes and happy holidays to all!
>>>>
>>>>Chris
>>>>-----
>>>>U.A.P.P.E.A.L.
>>>>Uniting A Proactive Primate and Exotic Animal League
>>-----
>>U.A.P.P.E.A.L.
>>Uniting A Proactive Primate and Exotic Animal League
-----
U.A.P.P.E.A.L.
Uniting A Proactive Primate and Exotic Animal League

>>I am meaning that they have ahold of the animals tail at the given moment, but the hook isn't controlling the snakes head but more of just underneath the snake in a quite relaxed manner that the snake could possibly catch them off guard if they aren't paying 100% attention.

Two things:
1) Normally, this is only done for purposes of taking the picture.
2) While the hook provides a little bit of control, I think it's a mistake to think it will prevent the snake from coming back at you, and so you ALWAYS have to be on your toes when tailing.

I worry much more when the person in the photo is LOOKING AT THE CAMERA instead of the snake. When I'm going to tail a snake, I make sure everything is arranged so I can go from start to finish without taking my eyes off the snake (actually I try to do that regardless of handling technique).

>>>>When hooking and tailing a snake, would it be better to keep the snakes head elevated above your hand on the tail or is keeping the head lower still ok, provided that you are simply using the hook to support it?

In most cases, you keep the head lower to let the weight of the snake work in your favor. That way he has to work against gravity to strike at your hand. That won't prevent most snakes from reaching you, but it will slow them down a bit.

The one exception might be if you were tailing something like a mamba which will climb towards the highest point it can reach (you don't want that to be your hand). Of course, I've never been much of a fan of tailing mambas...

I appreciate your response. I agree that I probably shouldn't assume that by having the snake resting on the hook that it will "prevent" the snake from striking back at me. Have you ever had any occurences of any types of rattlers coming completely off of the hook and back at you? Just curious as it seems like rattlers would have to reposition themselves on the hook in order to come back at you. I am assuming that there are hots out there that are like G. Anacondas that can pretty much strike from any position? I would assume that tongs would be the best solution for a snake that has those capabilities?

Thanks again,

Chris

>>>>I am meaning that they have ahold of the animals tail at the given moment, but the hook isn't controlling the snakes head but more of just underneath the snake in a quite relaxed manner that the snake could possibly catch them off guard if they aren't paying 100% attention.
>>
>>Two things:
>>1) Normally, this is only done for purposes of taking the picture.
>>2) While the hook provides a little bit of control, I think it's a mistake to think it will prevent the snake from coming back at you, and so you ALWAYS have to be on your toes when tailing.
>>
>>I worry much more when the person in the photo is LOOKING AT THE CAMERA instead of the snake. When I'm going to tail a snake, I make sure everything is arranged so I can go from start to finish without taking my eyes off the snake (actually I try to do that regardless of handling technique).
>>
>>>>>>When hooking and tailing a snake, would it be better to keep the snakes head elevated above your hand on the tail or is keeping the head lower still ok, provided that you are simply using the hook to support it?
>>
>>In most cases, you keep the head lower to let the weight of the snake work in your favor. That way he has to work against gravity to strike at your hand. That won't prevent most snakes from reaching you, but it will slow them down a bit.
>>
>>The one exception might be if you were tailing something like a mamba which will climb towards the highest point it can reach (you don't want that to be your hand). Of course, I've never been much of a fan of tailing mambas...
-----
U.A.P.P.E.A.L.
Uniting A Proactive Primate and Exotic Animal League

"Some of these photos include people just allowing the snake to sort of "rest" on the ground as opposed to be fully controlled by the hook."

What I meant by this was that when they are handling them they only have their hand on the snakes tail and the hook is moreless just laying beneath the snake. It really isn't sitting in a position that helps control the snake in my opinion. It seems like the snake could possibly catch the handler off guard in that instance.

Thanks,

Chris

>>Hey all,
>>
>> First off, I hope everyone had a joyful holiday and hopefully got a new snake or at minimum something to better care for the existing ones you have. I hope everyone has a great new year!
>>
>>Now for my question. I have seen some photos of people and the handling appears to be a bit laxed. Of course, due to my inexperience I am not qualified to make an appropriate judgement other than "No freehandling!". Some of these photos include people just allowing the snake to sort of "rest" on the ground as opposed to be fully controlled by the hook. This to me, seems like it would be easy for the snake to make a quick "turn and strike" where the handler may not be completely prepared to react? Am I wrong in this assumption?
>>
>>Next question..
>>
>>When hooking and tailing a snake, would it be better to keep the snakes head elevated above your hand on the tail or is keeping the head lower still ok, provided that you are simply using the hook to support it? Granted I understand that the answers to these questions will vary according to the snake that you are working with. Furthermore, it is also yet another reason to make 100% positive that you are using the appropriate tool for the job.
>>
>>I appreciate everyone's responses or thoughts on the subject.
>>
>>Best Wishes and happy holidays to all!
>>
>>Chris
>>-----
>>U.A.P.P.E.A.L.
>>Uniting A Proactive Primate and Exotic Animal League
-----
U.A.P.P.E.A.L.
Uniting A Proactive Primate and Exotic Animal League

There are many things to consider ranging from what species (are they tend to climb? coil and strike? run like crazy or hold their ground?) to what individual animal you are working with (some animals have quirky things they tend to do). Also something that I don't see a whole lot mentioned about is how well the tail is grasped. For example, if I'm working with a large bodied rattle snake and have to tail it for whatever reason (honestly I usually use two hooks on such animals) I'll gently grasp the tail while hooking the animal. A sizable rattlesnake has to have quite a bit of an anchor in order to come back from a dangling position. If you only gently grasp their tail, they don't have enough of an anchor to pull their body weight back up and are much less likey to try to do so. However, the same snake when grasped firmly by the tail in the same situation would be more likely to try to pull itself back up.

When handling any dangerous animal I think of working with the animal in the sense of number of mistakes or things going differently as planned. It is best to plan things to where more than one thing has to go wrong between what you plan on the animal doing and a bite occuring. It is pretty amazing what one can tell from tailing a snake (someone please back me up here so I don't sound crazy). When tailing a snake, an experienced individual can tell when the snake is tensing up, when it is relaxed, and has a sense of what the snake is trying to do. You mentioned someone tailing an animal and having a portion of the animal on the ground unrestrained. While I'm not telling anyone to go out and try these things and test them, I'll stick my neck out and admit there have been times that I've tailed an animal and have used the floor as a handling tool of sorts. I've noticed that in a lot of monocled cobras they try to get away from you well before they try to come back and bite the hand that has their tail. I've "tail walked" species such as this before... when they get ancy and try to get away, I let the front half of them "crawl" on the floor while I walk the back half of the animal along with it (and of course this is a technique that works best on sizable animals). Of course this goes back to how many errors can occur before a bite. If the animal showed interest in turning back and biting, you simply drop the tail and step back.