Help for new snake owners!

[bcr229]

Also make sure that your hands are clean when you pick him up, as odors of other snakes or food could bring on a bite. My Cali King almost got me a few weeks ago when I made the mistake of handling him after picking steamed crabs for dinner. Oops, never knew he liked seafood...

If your wife wigs out, tell her that when they're that little, getting bitten is like being attacked by velcro.

[smy_749]

Originally Posted by bcr229

Also make sure that your hands are clean when you pick him up, as odors of other snakes or food could bring on a bite. My Cali King almost got me a few weeks ago when I made the mistake of handling him after picking steamed crabs for dinner. Oops, never knew he liked seafood...

If your wife wigs out, tell her that when they're that little, getting bitten is like being attacked by velcro.

And when she asks " And what about when hes an adult ? " lol

[bcr229]

Originally Posted by smy_749

And when she asks " And what about when hes an adult ? " lol

By then he'll be hook trained, dear.

[Terranaut]

Originally Posted by bcr229

Also make sure that your hands are clean when you pick him up, as odors of other snakes or food could bring on a bite. My Cali King almost got me a few weeks ago when I made the mistake of handling him after picking steamed crabs for dinner. Oops, never knew he liked seafood...

If your wife wigs out, tell her that when they're that little, getting bitten is like being attacked by velcro.

This is your issue here. Mine does this as well. Was your handsright before handling him . Don't touch anything but him. Try it today and you will see. Kings eat anything that moves so if your hands smell like anything other than soap they may think it's food. Watch the same behavior when you feed him. He will strike and coil. After the prey is dead he will sniff and tongue at it then slowly open his mouth and bite it. Same as your hand. I do not hook my king. I just grab him. Never an issue other than the slow food bite like yours. Gotta love kings!!

[Viperx2000]

Originally Posted by Terranaut

This is your issue here. Mine does this as well. Was your handsright before handling him . Don't touch anything but him. Try it today and you will see. Kings eat anything that moves so if your hands smell like anything other than soap they may think it's food. Watch the same behavior when you feed him. He will strike and coil. After the prey is dead he will sniff and tongue at it then slowly open his mouth and bite it. Same as your hand. I do not hook my king. I just grab him. Never an issue other than the slow food bite like yours. Gotta love kings!!

First of all, thank you all for your replies and suggestions. I have searched and posted to many forums and received very few respones on any of them. In fact I think the amount of responses I have gotten on this one topic here are greater then all the other questions I have asked else where.

As far as feeding goes F/T Adult Mice are fed. When we got him the zoo told us one every two weeks...... Thinking it may be that he is still hungry we have upped his feeding two adult mice a week a 2 days apart. We feed him in a seperate rubber maid container.

As for the hand washing I make sure to wash before every attempt at handling right from the sink to the tank to attempt and pick him up. We do have a Cat.... I wonder if the lingering smell of cat in the air may be setting him off?

[Cor8et]

We do have a Cat.... I wonder if the lingering smell of cat in the air may be setting him off?

I`v both a cali and a cat, cat`s always looking in my viv`s as they do... never really noticed any of the snakes paying attention to the cat. There is glass between them though.

As said before wash and sanitize your hands/arms first


This is a great site for information, no need to go elsewhere tbh


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