Defensive children's pythons

[regi375]

About a month ago I acquired two papercuts with faces. In this short time that I've owned them I've been tagged more than I have in the past year of snake keeping. From what I've read about them I thought Children's Pythons were supposed to be pretty chill. I don't know if I have been misinformed or if they just hate me. Their enclosure has a hot spot of 90 and 75 on the cool end.
If this is just a fluke though, and I did decide to breed them, would their offspring have a high chance of being just as defensive as the parents? Also could some internal issue cause this behaviour? I got them at a reptile show so I don't know.

[toddnbecka]

Are they juveniles or adults?

[Andy_G]

Aside from overfed individuals, most children's pythons that I have encountered have been very food driven and will bite, chew, and constrict with little hesitation. Adults are fairly confident and could definitely be considered chilled out...but they like their food and sometimes fingers. Young individuals can definitely be nervous and defensive, but normally outgrow this. Maybe others have had a different experience, however.

[regi375]

They are both adults. Every single bite so far has been a defensive one, not a food response.

[Aaron_S]

Baby children's are jerks.

Your snakes could not have been handled and that's why they are so defensive.

[Andy_G]

Baby children's are jerks.

Your snakes could not have been handled and that's why they are so defensive.

Sounds like this is the case.

[Scubadiver59]

I guess that I have an exception...my lone Childrens, a juvenile, is food oriented but not a "biter" when handled.

[phenyx]

...papercuts with faces...


I can't stop giggling at that description of bratty baby snakes... :laugh::laugh::laugh:

[regi375]

Here's a pic of them. The male is the smaller one and decided to musk on me in the picture. I've decided to name them Loca and Loco after their attitudes, lol.

[toddnbecka]

May not have been handled when younger, possibly that's because they're just jerks in general, lol. Snakes are individuals, some are simply less tolerant of handling than others, though with time and patience they should become less defensive.
If a snake acts defensive in the enclosure I allow it to come partway out on its own, then very slowly and gently pick it up. Handle briefly, then offer it the chance to retreat back into the enclosure if it wants to.
If it insists on staying out I'll allow it to climb up and hang out on top of the bookshelves in the living room for a time. I keep a full size bundle of mosquito netting up there for the snakes, provides some cover and security for them. lol. After an hour or two they're usually content to be picked up and returned to their warmer environment.

[Herpin' Man]

They will probably settle down with regular handling- but no guarantees.
I do think that there may be a genetic component to defensive behavior. I work with the closely related Stimson's pythons. One of my breeder males is pretty feisty. His offspring are also very feisty, whereas the offspring from the mellower snakes have all been very mellow.
For what it's worth, the feisty babies are much easier to get started feeding.

[Humble308]

I have a 1.1 pair that are still pretty young. They seem to be very food driven and lunge alot. The male usually swings a few times then retreats and he's cool to be handled. The female is a little pistol though. I spent an hour trying to dig a tiny baby snake tooth out one night after a feeding bite...she's crazy. I figure they'll mellow out with some age...but they're mean and bitey right now.

[Sublimeballs]

I've worked with over a hundred childrens at work( currently around 70 give or that) and pretty much all of them are extremely bitey. Some are fine after feed mode is broken but most go from feed mode to defense mode. Spotteds are similar but nowhere near as defensive and stimsons are mostly calm after they realize you aren't food. We had around 250 antaresia at one point

[regi375]

That's one of the reasons I was asking. My spotted python is pretty chill as long as you're not food. Thanks for the replies.