So as the title says my little year old boy pastel Koehik struck and bit me today for the first time. (okay well it was more of a scratch but he did draw just a little blood.) Really I was asking for it. He was out on top of his humi-hide, and I was doing my daily spot check and putting in two new terracotta pot hides for him, getting rid of his warped too small shoe boxes. And otherwise long story short, I was rearranging some of his substrate apparently too close to him and he struck at me. Didn't hurt at all.
Its the first time he's done this so I was a little surprised. Figuring I couldn't let him think his strike would scare me off I kept on going and he did it again. (missed that time, it was a very half hearted strike) Well I figured the same thing but thankfully I was done rearranging his dirt at this point. but I did need to get to his humi-hide so I carefully moved him. He didn't strike me and I continued on with what I was doing with him glaring at me from the opposite side of the tank the whole time. When I was done he was still glaring at me so I slowly put my hand into a fist and set it 3-4" in front of his nose to see what he'd do. No strike he just puffed up a little, with the very occasional tongue flick. We kept up this little stand off up for about a half an hour until he calmed down decided to move off.
I really want him to be tolerant of human contact and he's my first snake, so I need to know... did I handle this situation correctly? I don't want to stress him out more, but I don't want him thinking he can get his way by striking at me or anyone else either.
Threaded Mode