How often do YOU hold your reptiles?

[awwalz01]

After seeing a recent thread on here about "Would you keep reptiles if you couldn't hold them?" it made me wonder. How often do you all hold your reptiles? Or do you even hold them at all?

Personally, I hold each of my animals (not the carpet yet - still waiting on him to eat in my care) a few times a week. Not the same one every day, but I do like to get my guys out. I usually get one of them out as I sit down and watch Brian Barczyk's daily vlog on YouTube. It is the perfect little handling session! Only about 10-15 minutes usually, so it doesn't stress them out too much. I also like to hold them while studying for my tougher computer courses. Getting into the 4-500 level classes and my snakes keep me from stressing out too much!

Do you all have that certain time you like to get out an animal? After work? After dinner? Before work? I'd love to know!

[Minkness]

I handle mine 'all the time'. Probably daily. Not usually te same one, though my sd retic seems eager for handling or out of cage time when I open the door to the reptile room. Depending on my mood I may get one out before work. Most times its aftwr work though. I actually seem not to handle much on weekends because I run errends or clean or have all hell break loose, but I also feed on weekends, so that works out actually lol.

[GyGbeetle]

I work from home and my husband is a stay at home dad. So we're home all day long. And get to handle our babies daily. Not all of them come out every day, and some days no one comes out, but we spend up to 5 hours on average a day handling snakes. A buddy will sit on my desk and work with me for awhile. My husband will let one sleep on his belly. We exercise them on the floor. When the weather is nice, we'll take them to the park and let them feel the grass. They get bathed at least 2-3 times a week. When we mist their enclosures we will take them out and let them chill. And they will interact with the kids when homework is all done.

Sometimes I'll sneak one over to the dinner table, but my husband frowns on that because a foot long snake trying to be a centerpiece isn't usually a good idea.

[awwalz01]

I handle mine 'all the time'. Probably daily. Not usually te same one, though my sd retic seems eager for handling or out of cage time when I open the door to the reptile room. Depending on my mood I may get one out before work. Most times its aftwr work though. I actually seem not to handle much on weekends because I run errends or clean or have all hell break loose, but I also feed on weekends, so that works out actually lol.

Yea I can't wait until my carpet gets setteled in so I can start handling him. Having a snake you can't hold really sucks because I am so excited to hold him but he won't eat. Hopefully he will take this weekend. After work is always nice though. Sit down and relax and just hold a snake! Thanks for the partaking!

I work from home and my husband is a stay at home dad. So we're home all day long. And get to handle our babies daily. Not all of them come out every day, and some days no one comes out, but we spend up to 5 hours on average a day handling snakes. A buddy will sit on my desk and work with me for awhile. My husband will let one sleep on his belly. We exercise them on the floor. When the weather is nice, we'll take them to the park and let them feel the grass. They get bathed at least 2-3 times a week. When we mist their enclosures we will take them out and let them chill. And they will interact with the kids when homework is all done.

Sometimes I'll sneak one over to the dinner table, but my husband frowns on that because a foot long snake trying to be a centerpiece isn't usually a good idea.


lol I like the idea of a snake centerpiece! Sounds like you got your hands full of snakes all of the time!

[Klinger]

My Sinaloan Milk snake comes out every two weeks, or when company comes over, and loves to explore and meet people! I've had it for almost twelve years, and there is no fear or nervousness at all.

The 2.5 year old Blue Beauty comes out once or twice a week, but is very nervous still. He huffs a bit and will slightly open his mouth if agitated enough, but never really goes into defensive posture, unless there is a camera around. Not sure why that is. Hopefully this will mellow out with a bit more age.

[mattd]

i try hold my ball python every other day and i just got a new one. it sucked cause one was shedding one was knew 2 snakes and could not bother them. my new bp just ate his first meal and my other just had a great shed. dont think id ever want a hot snake.

[bigsnakegirl785]

I work a lot now so I don't handle my snakes as often anymore, but I take a few snakes out once or twice a month, as I feel up to it. That's for actual handling sessions anyways, I take them out more often for husbandry maintenance. Before I had a job/when I was working a more reasonable 20-25 hours a week, I'd take at least one snake out twice a week.

I work from home and my husband is a stay at home dad. So we're home all day long. And get to handle our babies daily. Not all of them come out every day, and some days no one comes out, but we spend up to 5 hours on average a day handling snakes. A buddy will sit on my desk and work with me for awhile. My husband will let one sleep on his belly. We exercise them on the floor. When the weather is nice, we'll take them to the park and let them feel the grass. They get bathed at least 2-3 times a week. When we mist their enclosures we will take them out and let them chill. And they will interact with the kids when homework is all done.

Sometimes I'll sneak one over to the dinner table, but my husband frowns on that because a foot long snake trying to be a centerpiece isn't usually a good idea.

Bathing is completely unnecessary and can actually cause more harm than good. Snakes have tiny little pores at the tips of their scales and their skin is slightly porous. Constant soaking can strip away the oils under their skin and cause dehydration, dependence on the soaks for a good shed, or stuck shed in extreme cases. Snakes only ever need to be bathed if they're having a medicinal soak, such as a Betadine soak for scale rot. I would also hesitate to soak for a stuck shed, as wrapping them up in a warm damp towel works just as well (I did that for the first 5 years I had my bp before I learned about keeping up humidity inside the enclosure). If they get dirty, you can soak if that's easier, but a quick wipe down with a wet washcloth or towel works just as well. If they soak on their own in their enclosure that's one thing, but I've found when their relative humidity is kept properly high they won't generally choose to soak on their own (they'll still soak when stressed, if they damage their scales, sometimes after a large meal, if they have mites, etc.).

[EL Ziggy]

I don't handle my snakes very much. I'd say everybody gets handled once a week for about 5-10 minutes each. I sometimes sit and watch them for hours though, especially late at night. It's better than television. :)

[awwalz01]

Bathing is completely unnecessary and can actually cause more harm than good. Snakes have tiny little pores at the tips of their scales and their skin is slightly porous. Constant soaking can strip away the oils under their skin and cause dehydration, dependence on the soaks for a good shed, or stuck shed in extreme cases. Snakes only ever need to be bathed if they're having a medicinal soak, such as a Betadine soak for scale rot. I would also hesitate to soak for a stuck shed, as wrapping them up in a warm damp towel works just as well (I did that for the first 5 years I had my bp before I learned about keeping up humidity inside the enclosure). If they get dirty, you can soak if that's easier, but a quick wipe down with a wet washcloth or towel works just as well. If they soak on their own in their enclosure that's one thing, but I've found when their relative humidity is kept properly high they won't generally choose to soak on their own (they'll still soak when stressed, if they damage their scales, sometimes after a large meal, if they have mites, etc.).

Good to know!

I don't handle my snakes very much. I'd say everybody gets handled once a week for about 5-10 minutes each. I sometimes sit and watch them for hours though, especially late at night. It's better than television. :)

Yea I like to handle my snakes a bit more!! I can't get enough of it. Unfortunately though I cant really watch any of mine roam around because they are in a rack. I see them every once in a while moving around though.

[uhhlise_nacole]

We LOVE Brian's videos!! Watch them everyday religiously. Usually get each one out for 15-20 minutes daily. try to keep them on a good schedule of handling around the same time every evening. The juvenile BP's are all around the same age so more often than not we'll get a couple at a time out together, they love to follow each other around. I'm slowly adding a small amount of time each day with the Burm specifically. She's growing rather curious of her surroundings now and is quite the (playful) handful. She's also quite the mommy's girl.

[awwalz01]

We LOVE Brian's videos!! Watch them everyday religiously. Usually get each one out for 15-20 minutes daily. try to keep them on a good schedule of handling around the same time every evening. The juvenile BP's are all around the same age so more often than not we'll get a couple at a time out together, they love to follow each other around. I'm slowly adding a small amount of time each day with the Burm specifically. She's growing rather curious of her surroundings now and is quite the (playful) handful. She's also quite the mommy's girl.

Yea I watch his vlogs every single day! Thanks for sharing!

[Tsubaki]

I only take my snakes out for cleaning and other maintenance, I do tap train and touch my retics every other day when I clean the waterbowl so they'll stay used to it. And with some luck not try to eat my face while I grab the bowl:D

[MartinD]

Mine are handled everyday for around 5-10 mins each and because they are nocturnal it's usually around 19:00 when they start moving around.
I do not handle them when in shed or Sunday's which is their feeding day or the Monday as I leave them to digest their dinner, unless it's an emergency or they crap everywhere and they need cleaning

[akane]

Someone daily except I have a few that are too fast, small/thin, and fragile. The bull I have to unstack some rocks so unless I catch him out basking maybe only 1-2 times a week. My blood python is still settling in some but I weigh him weekly and check his health periodically. I just don't bother him for a day after a meal or when he feels like soaking. The rosy can come out whenever. She just usually has herself wedged between something and the glass so I have to wiggle her out but she gets over any annoyance right away. I just have to watch out for the cat because she doesn't go in the room with the other snakes but the rosy is by my desk and the cat hangs on the back of my chair. She will whap the snakes without claws just to see what they do if allowed. She tries the same thing with the parrots but they more obviously threaten back so she tries to hit their tails instead of their heads now. Even the slow rosy can strike faster than the cat can whack and I don't want that disaster. Both would have puncture wounds to get infected. Bird and snake handling is slightly cat behavior dependent for that reason. Some days she just goes to sleep somewhere or stares at the rodents instead and some days she's within a couple feet of me minimum all day long.

[regi375]

I handle my Kingsnake Oreo at least once a week for about 10-15minutes, and my Spotted Python Jethro about the same. I handle my bearded dragon everyday just for maintenance reasons alone. Same thing for the frilled dragon, he's a lot more cranky than the beardie. Although he absolutely loves my girlfriend. She can get him out without any defensive gestures and put him in her lap. He'll sit there for hours. For me though, I'm lucky if he'll sit still for five minutes.

[Cricket1234]

I handle my Pueblan Milk Snake once a day, for about 15 to 20 minutes. He is becoming very mellow and will just chill with me while I type, do homework, watch TV, etc. In fact, he is in my right hand while I type this with my left. (Lol)

[riddick07]

Not all that often. The retics and boas get out the most for handling. Cleo my purple Sunfire retic is out at least once a week but she is the all round favorite of the house.

[Andy_G]

A couple of times a week for a few minutes. They don't "enjoy" it even though I wish they did, so why stress them out.

[StrictlyMorelia]

Only when cleaning, when moving for breeding introductions or health inspections. In short they may get an average maximum of less than a minute handling on a monthly basis. Even less for the arboreals.

[eminart]

Not often. Maybe once every couple of weeks on average for my indigo, and he gets out more than any of the other snakes at our house.

[awwalz01]

Yea I like to hold my snakes. I wish I could hold them all day every day without stressing them out. Can't get enough of them!

[Aayrick]

I like to handle my ball pythons every few days. Never had issues with either of them. My Boa on the other hand, he's tricky. I've never had him strike once I've gotten him out of his tank, but inside, he strikes at just about everything. He's smashed his face into the glass more than once when I was just walking past.

[whistlepig]

I only get my racer out when I clean his cage. I tried holding him everyday when I first got him, but*all it seemed to do was cause him stress. Seems much*more comfortable with the current arrangement.

[Pareeeee]

I take out my corn once or twice a week. My Rosy Boa only gets handled a couple times during the winter just to check on him or when cleaning his tub (he brumates) but I handle him a couple times a week during the summer. They both go outside during warm summer days.

I can't handle my Crested Gecko anymore because he bites...HARD.

[Magdalen]

Since someone brought this up again. My leopard gecko I handle a couple times a week, some times more. It's usually her crawling up my arm while I'm changing out food in her cage. So she comes out whether I wanted her to or not. Seriously she'll be in her corner, see me messing around with things in her tank and books it for my arm. Usually when I just want to do a quick in and out cause I'm tired and want to sleep.
The cape house snake, I've had him for a few months and he's eating great but super shy still. He's a baby so kind of still tiny. I haven't held him yet. I'm waiting until he gets a tad bit bigger to work on taming him. I've never had to tame a snake before haha. So this will be interesting.

[Lefitte]

I handle maybe a few times a week at most. Some weeks are very busy and I won't handle at all, other weeks I'll handle every single one of them at some point. My rainbow boa certainly doesn't seem to mind being out. He's a curious guy and I think it's stimulating to be out of the cage. If it's extremely hot and dry, I won't take him out at all. And if my hands are freezing sometimes I won't take him out because I feel like my hands cool him down too much since they won't warm up haha.

My hognose doesn't mind coming out either. He's constantly exploring his cage and roaming so taking him out gives him more things to explore. My kingsnake, however, doesn't like handling much. She pees nearly every time and sometimes she flails. I handle her rarely, maybe once or twice per month and typically I weigh her at the same time. I try to only take her out when she's been out in her cage because she tends to start coming out of her cage on her own. I let her tell me when she feels like being social. She also prefers the snake hook instead of my hand. Reaching in with my hand to get her stresses her out really badly, but she doesn't care about the snake hook much. In winter I rarely hold her at all because she puts herself into brumation.

My new boa is still acclimating to his new home but I'll probably take him out as much as I do the rainbow or the hognose. My cats and the weather also changes when I handle. It's usually at night though, unless I want day time pictures and then it's late afternoon.

[dannybgoode]

Infrequently and as they are nocturnal only during the day. They get fed at night and handled in the day so another differentiator for them to know when they're getting fed and when they're going to be handled.

Reptiles don't particularly care for handling so I try and keep it to a minimum...

[harlequinnz]

I have two snakes. I hold one every day and the other every other day or so because he's moody! I know snakes usually get stressed, so sometimes I have patterns. My ball is usually chill but he has his days, so I hold him up to 3-4 times a week, and my boa is a baby so I try to hold him once every day or two, usually in the evening

[Aaron_S]

Do I have to touch them with my hands to count as handling? I use a hook all the time so if that counts then once a week while cleaning.

If the hook doesn't count then like....once every 6 months?

[Doug 351]

Not too often lately, which is a shame because she actually really likes it. She likes being held by strangers even more. For the first 13 years of her life, I handled her almost every day. She loved parties and little kids.

Recently, I took her with me to a couple stores so she could meet some new folks and get out for awhile. This turned out to be a bad idea. Oh, she was fine in the stores, and well behaved in the car for 3 or 4 trips. Then, (I had done this before and she was fine with it)... I tried to hang her over the rearview mirror. She suddenly developed a real fascination with the steering wheel. Now, she's hanging on the rearview but sticking her head into the steering wheel.

I'm trying to get her extracted from the steering wheel, and I look up just in time to see I'm about to hit a parked car. I hit the brakes, but there was no way. If I didn't have a snake in the wheel, I could and would have just jerked the wheel and avoided it. As it is, only about a foot of my front end on the passenger side hit the parked car.

No more car rides loose in the car for that Texas ratsnake!

[jjhill001]

I don't hold my reptiles very often. I can count on one hand the amount of times I've held my leopard gecko.

I think, at least for me, this is kind of a holdover since I got my start in Amphibians rather than reptiles. And everyone knows it's not smart to hold them much, if at all.

That and I just got out of the shower today and my female Baird's was all out and about I figured, hey why not pick her up. I held her for about 5-10 minutes shooting out a few snapchats.

As I'm getting ready to put her back she musked on my ear. WHAT THE $%$%#$%#%%$%R#$%$%#$% you literally can't even invent a swear word for that. So I had to shower again, I know most people get it on their hands or maybe an arm. In all my years of handling snakes I've never gotten musked that close to my face, the stuff is caustic smelling that close.

[jjhill001]

Do I have to touch them with my hands to count as handling? I use a hook all the time so if that counts then once a week while cleaning.

If the hook doesn't count then like....once every 6 months?

Dang, and I thought I was cold blooded hahah.

[Cricket1234]

I don't hold my reptiles very often. I can count on one hand the amount of times I've held my leopard gecko.

I think, at least for me, this is kind of a holdover since I got my start in Amphibians rather than reptiles. And everyone knows it's not smart to hold them much, if at all.

That and I just got out of the shower today and my female Baird's was all out and about I figured, hey why not pick her up. I held her for about 5-10 minutes shooting out a few snapchats.

As I'm getting ready to put her back she musked on my ear. WHAT THE $%$%#$%#%%$%R#$%$%#$% you literally can't even invent a swear word for that. So I had to shower again, I know most people get it on their hands or maybe an arm. In all my years of handling snakes I've never gotten musked that close to my face, the stuff is caustic smelling that close.

Its bad enough when they musk on your hands....I can't even imagine being musked more than a foot closer to your face lol.

[saturnascends]

I don't hold my reptiles very often. I can count on one hand the amount of times I've held my leopard gecko.

I think, at least for me, this is kind of a holdover since I got my start in Amphibians rather than reptiles. And everyone knows it's not smart to hold them much, if at all.

That and I just got out of the shower today and my female Baird's was all out and about I figured, hey why not pick her up. I held her for about 5-10 minutes shooting out a few snapchats.

As I'm getting ready to put her back she musked on my ear. WHAT THE $%$%#$%#%%$%R#$%$%#$% you literally can't even invent a swear word for that. So I had to shower again, I know most people get it on their hands or maybe an arm. In all my years of handling snakes I've never gotten musked that close to my face, the stuff is caustic smelling that close.

Oh mannnnn, I feel for you. I got musked once on my arm by our baby kingsnake and it was bad...near your face? No way.

On the topic at hand though, I'd say I handle our Cali kingsnake once every couple of weeks - he's the apprehensive one. I handle our MBK about 2-3 times a week. We just got a ball python today! I assume she may get handled a little more than the kings just based on the differences in overall "calmness", but I still don't think I'll overdo it. Especially not these first couple of weeks.

[Tiny Boidae]

I don't hold my reptiles very often. I can count on one hand the amount of times I've held my leopard gecko.

I think, at least for me, this is kind of a holdover since I got my start in Amphibians rather than reptiles. And everyone knows it's not smart to hold them much, if at all.

That and I just got out of the shower today and my female Baird's was all out and about I figured, hey why not pick her up. I held her for about 5-10 minutes shooting out a few snapchats.

As I'm getting ready to put her back she musked on my ear. WHAT THE $%$%#$%#%%$%R#$%$%#$% you literally can't even invent a swear word for that. So I had to shower again, I know most people get it on their hands or maybe an arm. In all my years of handling snakes I've never gotten musked that close to my face, the stuff is caustic smelling that close.

Oh man. These guys don't bite, but their musk is probably far worse than a little nibble. He used to do it constantly when he was younger, but now he's calmed down with it. He's also never musked my face, but he's gotten pretty close before. He seems to have this odd obsession with my hair (which is fairly long). If I hold him close to my chest, he'll climb up to it and inspect it. It's kinda cute so I let him do his thing once- big mistake. He ended up crawling up to my neck and found the neck of my shirt, slithered underneath and before I could pull him out, wrapped around a strap several times. When I tried to remove him, he ended up musking and it was fairly close to my face so it was pretty bad. I can't even imagine what that was like (or what she was doing that allowed her to get close enough to do that). Funny little critters, but definitely a species that I've really enjoyed.

But to answer the question, not often at all. My rat snake I take outside to the garden once or twice a week, but the rest of my snakes only get held once a month- and that's to weigh them and clean the enclosure. I might occasionally just get the itch and hold one around, but even then I just put them in a loose pocket while I write a report or watch television. They're small little sand boas so it works great for both of us. I'd say it's better to watch them, but at most I typically get a "crocodile head" on the top of the substrate. I guess I'm really just content to acknowledge they're still there by dropping a dead mouse in the enclosures every now and again.

[jjhill001]

Oh mannnnn, I feel for you. I got musked once on my arm by our baby kingsnake and it was bad...near your face? No way.

On the topic at hand though, I'd say I handle our Cali kingsnake once every couple of weeks - he's the apprehensive one. I handle our MBK about 2-3 times a week. We just got a ball python today! I assume she may get handled a little more than the kings just based on the differences in overall "calmness", but I still don't think I'll overdo it. Especially not these first couple of weeks.

Heh, you can see the photos down in the colubrid section. She's not exactly tiny anymore either so it was a good amount.

[saturnascends]

Heh, you can see the photos down in the colubrid section. She's not exactly tiny anymore either so it was a good amount.

So is it Lucy who is the guilty party? Ha! She's beautiful though!

[jjhill001]

So is it Lucy who is the guilty party? Ha! She's beautiful though!

Yup lol. I keep her around for her looks apparently.

[Enigma]

If they will be big snakes, then try to hold as often as possible, almost everyday. Exceptions 4 days after meals and shedding time and pregnants of course.