night and day!!!

[Artemis]

Well, since venturing into corns, I have discovered that other than the basic obvious stuff, corns and boids are like night and day in terms of behavior.

So, I want to start handling my corn, but I am seriously afraid Im going to hurt him. He is such a fast little booger that I need to restrain him a bit to keep him from escaping me, which appears to be all the poor lil thing wants to do when I attempt to hold him, which has only been a couple of times thus far out of the need to clean out his enclosure.

A friend told me stroking their underbelly will help to calm them down while holding them... any truth to that or is it an old snake tale?

How often should I be trying to work with him to get him to calm down, and how long should I keep him out to start? Has anyone ever accidentally injured their corn while working with them? He is seriously so teensy (and yet is still quite strong for his size) that I am worried that not enough force will mean his QUICK escape, and too much will injure him....


Thanks for your thoughts!

A

[vanderkm]

I have found that with baby corns what works well is to just let them cruise on your hands and from one hand to the other without actually trying to 'hold' them. Restraint seems to frighten them and make them more likely to try and escape.

If you firmly pick them up (at about 1/3 of the way back from their head end - avoid the head - many are nervous about being touched there) and put them in the palm of your hand, they will start to curl around your hand and fingers. When they go where you don't want them to - just put your other hand in their path - they crawl onto that and I keep transferring them from one hand to the other for about 5-10 minutes. I don't handle them much more than that at a time when they are babies.

Our hondurans are much worse than corns for dashing off in all directions!! They seem to respond best to having a dark place to hide (within a towel or something) when being held. If you are worried about your corn falling, just make sure your handling sessions are close to the floor or over another soft surface (like a towel on a table). I have actually had some little guys launch themselves off my hands and fall, but none of them have suffered any damage.

mary v.

[Linds]

I agree with Mary. I use this method for nearly all my snakes. About the belly rubbing, I wouldn't assume that would do anything to calm down a snake. They aren't dogs. Most snakes tend to move away from their belly being touched, which implies that they do not like it. A lot of snakes do this when you touch them anywhere else, or they push in to the movement, in an attempt to push you away (they also do this to eachother).

[beanersmysav]

My corns handle very easily although I've only held them to get them out to feed, but before I fed them I held by hand open, fingers spread and they both love to intertwine themselves in my fingers, probably makes them feel more secure and also gives them something fun to do I guess but once they get completely wrapped up Oakley (my female) just sits there all tangled up, but Cornelus (the ole lady nammed him unfortunatly I dont like that name lol) he just keeps going and going, so try to let them roam between your fingers.