hissing and body language

[cristine]

what body language along with hissing is not good ? :bugged: :bugged: :bugged: :bugged: :bugged: :bugged: :bugged:

[Bartman]

Im not sure what you're asking.

Hissing will usually come with heavy breathing, and/or the snakes body pumping quickly as well as a very defensive position. The head will be curved into a strike position.

[rrrrr]

You're unlikely to get a satisfactory answer. Reading a snake's body language takes some time and experience...it's pretty subtle and hard to explain. There are some that are easy. Open mouth "threat displays", or striking is a bad sign. If the snake is coiled to strike and tracking your movement with it's head, that's probably not too good. There's a whole lot of less subtle signs you'll need to learn to read the hard way.

A couple of little hints for you. Hesitation is your worst enemy. Hesitation shows weakness which tells a snake that "fight" might actually work better than "flight" with this particular threat. Snakes literally work themselves up into an aggressive defense while you debate grabbing or not grabbing.

Grabbing from above is bad. Try to get one hand on the tail and slide a hand under the belly.

Using a hat or a rubbermaid as a shield between the head and tail often let's you get a hand on the tail without getting nailed, even by a seriously aggro snake. Once picked up, many snakes will give up the fight.

Dont be afraid of the bite. Fearing the bite is worse than getting bitten for most young snakes. Just keep your face out of range, and forget what I just said if we're talking about tree boas. They have nasty teeth, and you dont want to get bitten by one anywhere if possible.

[Bartman]

Great info rrrrr. Especially about how to pick it up. I always use something to block the head and it usually works like a charm. Also try picking it up from the mid section of the body. Just watch out when you come around with your other hand to support the body..the snakes see's this as a threat but the hand that is already holding it usually seems to be safe. They probably dont realise its part of you :p

Also great info about hesitation. Thats deffinetly the worst. If you're going to try and tame the snake down, just go right down and pick it up. Don't sit hovering over it pondering whether or not you want to get a possible bite.