biting

[justink]

I gave my young dumeril 2+ weeks now to get used to her new environment, and she has eaten twice for me. I tried to pick her up today and she tried to bite me again. I dont know what to do, i dont want a pet that i am scared of. Any suggestions?

[thunder]

handle her often, with gloves. eventually she will get used to you and you wont need them anymore. also, baby snakes are more inclined to bite as they see you as a preditor and are afraid.

[reptilesalonica]

Once she get used to that mysterious warm tree (you), she will stop doing that. Also, try to not associate you with the time she has to feed. Use a hook to take her out of the terrarium whrn you want to handle her. This way she will learn that whenever you use the hook she won't get any food;)
~Greg~

[justink]

i tried the glove technique and it worked, she didnt bite and allowed us to handle her. I handled her successfully all week and today she tried to bite again. It seems like when she is burrowed (about all the time) she gets upset when i wake her up and try to handle her. Will this behavoir stop if i keep at it? I want to teach her that she should come out and be cooperative when i want to handle her. Or should i just leave her be untill she gets more secure? besides the nipping she is doing great!

[ssscales]

She will calm down with a few handling sessions.

[Invictus]

She should calm down, but remember... they bury to feel secure. If you deprive them of their security, they might think you're a predator. I had a snake that was like this too, and after a while, it realized that when I yank it out of its little burrow, I'm NOT going to hurt it. So, just keep it up, and DO get a snake hook to get your girl out of her enclosure. This is usually the only time they are really bitey is when you're first handling them.

[justink]

thanks for the help. i got a snake hook and it works great, she doesnt bite even when i take her out from her burrow. I am going to feed her later this week and wanted to get her to eat in a different container. Should i use the hook to take her out and put her in the other container or will she associate the hook with feeding time.

thanks

[bistrobob85]

Your lucky if you get her to feed outside her tank, it doesnt work on mine, yet...

phil.

[reptilesalonica]

Originally posted by justink
thanks for the help. i got a snake hook and it works great, she doesnt bite even when i take her out from her burrow. I am going to feed her later this week and wanted to get her to eat in a different container. Should i use the hook to take her out and put her in the other container or will she associate the hook with feeding time.

thanks
If you will take her out with the hook to put her in the other container to feed, she will associate both the hook and the other container. If at other times you pick her up with the hook to handle her, she will associate the feeding time only when you put her in the other container. But that will take some time to learn, about a month or so. I keep 1.2 BCIs 2 years old. Only the one female doesn't eat outside of her cage (shy feeder). The other two are together in a bigger cage and i have to take one each time to put it in another container to feed it. After it ates i wash the head and the upper body with luck water to prevent their cagemate sniff any rat smell.
~Greg~

[justink]

Baby Mia just ate in a tuppaware container for me on the first try. I didnt even have to leave her alone, just put her in there, stunned the mouse and dropped it in, she did her thing immediately. Next step i want to take is to get her to eat a f/t. i figure ill let her eat one more time in her new container and then try that. Thanks for the help.

[reptilesalonica]

Most snakes and especialy boa constrictors fill more secure if they remain at least one day in one place, ie her cage in that case.
~Greg~

[Linds]

Originally posted by bistrobob85
Your lucky if you get her to feed outside her tank, it doesnt work on mine, yet...


Why do you want her to? Moving them around during feeding time causes a lot of undue stress on the animal. This is also the time you are most likely to receive a healthy bite, as they are in feeding mode and the smell of food is in the air. This can become a dangerous practice for the keeper to get in to when boas become a hefty size.

[justink]

i thought i had read on here to try to get them to eat in a seperate enclosure so that they know when it is feeding time and so that they dont eat the substrate along with the food

[bistrobob85]

Thats precicely why i want to feed her outside her enclosure at the moment. I'm using some kind of Jungle Mix ( which i will eventually change to Eco-Earth ) and i just don't want her to swallow big chunks of substrate... As for being bitten by her, it's really no big deal, she's just a month old, can't really do much damage...

phil.

[justink]

when reading the tempts, should I place the thermometer end under the substrate where my snake usually is, or on top? thanks, just trying to get an accurrate reading.

JUSTIN

[reptilesalonica]

For a more preciasly temp reading, you should place a thermometer in the cooler end of tha cage and one in the hotter end. Both at medium height (don't place them high or low).
~Greg~