How often do you handle your herps?

[Tim_Cranwill]

I know there are lots of different herp species being kept by all of us here and there are a ton of variables from species to species such as temperment, size and other general care needs <b>but</b>, I thought I post a poll anyway.

If you have many different species, just give an "average"...

How often do you handle your herps???

[marisa]

I only handle them for maintanence purposes. My frog, my gecko, my tarantulas, and my feeders are never held for "pleasure" I feel (well not the feeders) that its uneeded stress to constantly hold a gecko or a frog.

The snakes here get held more often than the other pets. Normally I bring the kings and corns out once per week for exercise, and for pleasure. But I try and keep it to no more than once per week. I don't believe snakes are social and I don't like forcing them to come out, even if it seems like they come out on there own.

My Ball Python gets held for pleasure/maintanence twice per week. But thats only because I simply CANNOT help myself and I love taking him out. LOL.

Marisa

[Phantom]

I personnaly handle all my herps at least once a week besides for maintenance.
I really enjoy handling all my herps, especially my snakes. But I just feel no use bothering them for my personnal pleasure, and prefer to respect their secretive nature.


Phantom

[ThEmAdHaTtEr]

I handle mine daily..They like to get out of they're cage once in a while.

[Mitch]

My snake poo'd on me and I haven't held him for a couple of weeks now. I don't want it to happen again, It smelt awful! I'd just had a bath too...

[eyespy]

I can't not handle Gizmo, my free-roaming iguana. If I am busy and ignoring her she'll just climb right up and headbutt me until I give her lots of neckrubs and backscratches and gently pull on her spikes and dewlap.

Such a sweet girl when she isn't plotting trouble and then carrying out her plan.

[marisa]

Man I wish I could allow Roxy to free roam! Damn cats and dogs!

Marisa

[Linds]

I mainly handle mine for general maintenence, however occassionally I will take them out for other reasons. The only exception to this are the extra fiesty ones, which I usually like to work with a little more regularily to try to acclimate them to handling. If they are easier to work with, it is less stressful for everyone involved in the long run. Hehehe... in most cases that is, I gave up trying to calm my male Guyana down, he's just not having any of it so I let him be except for cleaning

Originally posted by marisa
Man I wish I could allow Roxy to free roam! Damn cats and dogs!

Marisa

My free-roaming Iggy is queen of the house, she holds the throne over the 3 dogs and cat. The JRT's get along best with her, the older puppy is still learning to respect her, and the cat isn't around her too much, but doesn't mess with her either.

[Andy_G]

I take my cali king out after she has pooped at least once, because that means she usually won't have any accidents whenshe's out. I also only take her out when she wants out. If she is under her hide box I leave her alone. Usually if she wants out she will climb on her branch and when I walk by she follows me around with her eyes until I take her out. Only a few times a week but wish I could more.

[scott hough]

i can't resist beardies. i walk into the room and they'll jump at the doors of their cage. however, like Mitch, if one happens to deficate while they're running about it usually takes a few days or so for me to let them out again

Scott

[Ace]

Depends on the snake actually. I don't like taking them out of their hides unless it's feeding time. So, if they're hiding I let them be, if i see they're out, I'll take them out to hold. Some always seem to be out and wind up being held more than the others. I TRY to hold each at least once a week besides feeding time. Shedding periods always put a damper on that though.

[Lisa]

I find our colubrids obviously don't like handling so we only handle them minimaly to keep them from freaking when handled. of our boids we tend to leave the viper boas alone except for cleaning/feeding. Our other boa's and pythons appear enjoy handling (even if it's just a chance to explore new suroundings) except for our blood python, who will be snappy one day and fine the next...

[eyespy]

Originally posted by Linds
My free-roaming Iggy is queen of the house, she holds the throne over the 3 dogs and cat. The JRT's get along best with her, the older puppy is still learning to respect her, and the cat isn't around her too much, but doesn't mess with her either.

Same here, Linds! Gizmo hasn't even had to resort to a full tailwhip yet, just one little warning shot. Now Buster the kitty is usually in whichever room Gizmo is not, although both will snuggle on my bed with me to watch TV in the evenings before Gizmo goes beddy-bye.

Anyhow, Buster is a rare kitty in that he can be trusted. He's a very highly trained service animal who will not eat anything that hasn't been placed on his placemat or in his dish. He has 3 toys that he is allowed to chase, chew and bite but doesn't go after anything else. It took 6 months working with an animal behaviorist plus refresher sessions every 3 months to achieve this level of trustworthiness.

I still make sure he is VERY closely supervised around the beardies and the birds and never leave the snakes out around him (they look far too much like shoelaces to Buster, I can see that in his eyes!) The juvenile iguana is still recovering from abuse and so I will not subject him to the stress of being near a cat but I think I could even trust Buster with him. The one slipup when Amazon and I were watching TV and Buster got out of the bedroom the kitty sat on my lap and just blinked while Amazon gave him 16 tailwhips on his nose! He didnt' run, didn't cry or wail, just sat there blinking......... weird cat. Boy did he get the catnip and treats that night!

Gizmo is far too big for him to even consider messing with though.

[Burmies]

I try to hold most of them a few times a week, but i have 21 snakes so it is time consuming.

Burmies

[jncoclub]

We try to hold them at least every other day- give or take.