New adult milksnake, restless and not tame

[CurlyFries]

Hello all, I have a new milksnake, male I believe. He is a couple years old (~4 ft I'd say). He is very beautiful, albino, but he is not tame. He has not bitten or musked, but is very flighty. Also, this is my second day with him, but he has spent the whole time pacing restlessly, as if trying to escape. He rubs his nose along the glass and screen top constantly.

I have two ball pythons that were pretty easy to tame, they were young and easy to begin with. This guy is a different story. I am wondering if I should let him settle or start working on him right away? I did attempt to hold him yesterday, I lasted about a minute, he was so quick. How long should handling sessions last and how often? Also, I know he is a milk snake, but does anyone have experience calming down a snake like this? Any help/suggestions are appreciated!

Also, how much would his bites hurt? Comparable to a cat scratch? He is probably an inch and a half at his thickest, a large fellow.

[EL Ziggy]

I would leave him alone for a couple of weeks before handling him. Let him acclimate to his new environment and have a couple of meals first. I can't imagine his bite would hurt much but hopefully you won't have to find out.

[Jim Smith]

Having been bitten a number of times over the years, I would say that a bite from your milk snake would be considerably less painful than a cat scratch. It's more like being attacked by angry velcro with some tiny teeth embedded in it. This is a picture of the last bite I received. It was from a milk snake, but I startled her and she latched on. Rather than taking a chance in hurting her, I let her chew her way over my arm and it took her about 3 minutes to realized that she really didn;t want to bite me. Keep in mind that I take a baby aspirin every evening so I tend to bleed a bit more than "normal". Once the blood was wiped off, there were 8-10 tiny pin pricks that went away in a day or so. If you do get bitten, just wash it good, wipe it down with alcohol and keep an eye on it.

http://i103.photobucket.com/albums/m159/jwsmiths/DSC00654_zpssdsdyl4i.jpg (http://s103.photobucket.com/user/jwsmiths/media/DSC00654_zpssdsdyl4i.jpg.html)

[Andy_G]

Milk snakes by nature are nervous and secretive in general and if you haven't been musked it is a good thing. These are completely different from ball pythons in regards to handling.

Always let your snake settle in, no matter the species or temperment of the individual. Get it to eat 3 or 4 times in a row on a normal feeding regimen and then start handling it after that. Everything that it was used to...sights, smells, surroundings...has changed. Give him a week to settle in and leave him completely alone before even attempting to feed.

Milksnake bites are not painful. Your ball pythons would do much more damage with a bite.

[CurlyFries]

Thanks for the replies. He's still restless at the end of day two, with basically no breaks. He seems distressed, hopefully he settles in soon. By the way, he looks like he can take a medium to large mouse. Do these species typically take two smaller ones or one larger rodent? I have never fed my balls two in one go, but this seems pretty common with milks and kings

[Ian of Oldham]

Just let him bit you and still work with him to show that it is not going to stop the handling he will then soon calm down


2 Royals, 1Corn, 1Boa and a mad Cat

[CurlyFries]

So he has definitely calmed down. He tried escaping as I was changing his water and after 30seconds of handling he calends down. I actually held on to him for about 20min, and he was very calm :)

One thing, he has a whistle in his breathing today. He is about to shed and did not have this in the two days prior. It's very slight and only when I handle him. Could it be the shed? I'm nervous for my other snakes.

[Ian of Oldham]

He must be quarantined before you put him near your other snakes. you need to move it away until he as been quarantined.

[Andy_G]

Always let your snake settle in, no matter the species or temperment of the individual. Get it to eat 3 or 4 times in a row on a normal feeding regimen and then start handling it after that. Everything that it was used to...sights, smells, surroundings...has changed. Give him a week to settle in and leave him completely alone before even attempting to feed.



So he has definitely calmed down. He tried escaping as I was changing his water and after 30seconds of handling he calends down. I actually held on to him for about 20min, and he was very calm :)


This doesn't exactly encourage me to give further advice to you...your snake, your choice, though. Anyways...


In regards to his breathing, the whistling is probably just the shed. Stress can also bring on laboured breathing, and milksnakes can sometimes slow down or cease movement not because they are calm, but because other things they've tried to do to get away haven't worked and they are giving up but still stressed. Feeding one large adult mouse a week would be fine.