My corn snake has made me a wuss. How can I pick him up?

gregsdad · 10-09-17, 04:17 PM

My corn snake has made me a wussy. How can I pick him up?
So I have a young corn snake. Ive held him at the pet store and like 4 times at home. Ive had him for like a month or 2 now. He is kinda curious so I used to just let him climb up my hand. He kinda panics but is usually calm. So i was like hey lets practice picking him up and HE DOESNT LIKE IT. In fact he panicks from being touched as most video tutorials say to do to warm the snake up. I leave my hand in for a sec, i have a tissue with my scent in there and today I touched his mid section twice and he ran. I touched him one last time when he calmed down to try and pick him up and he went sidewinder on me and began to his and strike . I let my hand sit near him again and he didnt his and relaxed. Hooks freak him out. I do if I touch him. My leopard gecko warmed up to me from just leaVing my hand in. I dont want to hurt him by jumping from a bite and i feel bad when hes scared. Also should I or should I not lift his hide when I go to handle him.? Ive held bigger snakes and him. I dont know why im so panicked. Im punked out today.

akane · 10-09-17, 08:46 PM

The wiggly run away stage is what I dislike about corn and king snakes. As babies most species are paranoid of being prey regardless of how big that size actually starts out. Part of it you just have to wait out as they grow and settle in. Running seems to be the better response for corn and king snakes. They'll eventually stop bolting if you stay in the middle between not letting them be too antisocial and hiding away with no handling but not pushing them to threaten biting often.

I have the opposite approach results in my 2. The younger one was rehomed aggressive after the person just pushed through the biting of a scared baby and the snake was very defensive. I lowered or backed my hand off just enough she'd move around again when she started to threaten and eventually she went to only trying to run before ignoring us reaching in her tank. She still initially tries to bolt when picked up but she's not directly handled a lot even if she sees us a lot and she's only turning 2 years old. My desert king of the same year is much the same.

The 4 year old they went to only moving him by snake hook when necessary with no other handling. He's a lot more difficult because he will take up a spot and repeatedly draw blood now. He's an adult and his only human interaction was food and forced out by hook for cleaning so humans always meant cornered and forced from his hiding place. I do sometimes block or shove him a little with a hook because I get tired of bloody dots in my hands while working on his enclosure if I don't have gloves but since he can do little damage I've been trying to avoid just continuing to uncomfortably force him around. He continues biting when picked up. I don't know if he'll ever chill out. I meant to temporarily stick him in a 48x21" tank out of quarantine but he built a tunnel system in the bioactive enclosure I have to dig him out of now. Good thing I didn't plant yet or it might be permanently his to avoid the effort lol

Herpin' Man · 10-10-17, 05:16 AM

Young snakes are flighty and usually don't like to be held. Your snake is acting completely normal.
If you want to handle the snake, just reach in and pick it up- quickly and decisively, before it has a chance to react. Don't hold your hand in there, trying to get it used to your scent, or try petting it first, or any of that. Doing so will only invite it to strike at you. Just pick it up. If it does bite, so what. Keep handling it, and it will settle down eventually.

**Andy_G** · 10-10-17, 07:13 AM

I'd disregard those videos and just reach in and pick it up as mentioned and simply ignore the defensive behaviour.

Scubadiver59 · 10-10-17, 09:01 AM

Don't feel so bad, I had/have the same hesitation with some of my snakes. I'm still a bit leery about just grabbing my False Water Cobra, so I still hook the front end and hand hold the back end; then there's my one CA Striped King...he bites the glass when I get near the glass front sometimes.

In the meantime, I can loan you my juvenile Jungle Carpet Python if you really want to get some REAL experience handling juvenile snakes! He makes be real hesitant to grab him...

Quote:

Originally Posted by gregsdad

My corn snake has made me a wussy. How can I pick him up?
So I have a young corn snake. Ive held him at the pet store and like 4 times at home. Ive had him for like a month or 2 now. He is kinda curious so I used to just let him climb up my hand. He kinda panics but is usually calm. So i was like hey lets practice picking him up and HE DOESNT LIKE IT. In fact he panicks from being touched as most video tutorials say to do to warm the snake up. I leave my hand in for a sec, i have a tissue with my scent in there and today I touched his mid section twice and he ran. I touched him one last time when he calmed down to try and pick him up and he went sidewinder on me and began to his and strike . I let my hand sit near him again and he didnt his and relaxed. Hooks freak him out. I do if I touch him. My leopard gecko warmed up to me from just leaVing my hand in. I dont want to hurt him by jumping from a bite and i feel bad when hes scared. Also should I or should I not lift his hide when I go to handle him.? Ive held bigger snakes and him. I dont know why im so panicked. Im punked out today.

TRD · 10-10-17, 01:16 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by gregsdad

My corn snake has made me a wussy. How can I pick him up?
So I have a young corn snake. Ive held him at the pet store and like 4 times at home. Ive had him for like a month or 2 now. He is kinda curious so I used to just let him climb up my hand. He kinda panics but is usually calm. So i was like hey lets practice picking him up and HE DOESNT LIKE IT. In fact he panicks from being touched as most video tutorials say to do to warm the snake up. I leave my hand in for a sec, i have a tissue with my scent in there and today I touched his mid section twice and he ran. I touched him one last time when he calmed down to try and pick him up and he went sidewinder on me and began to his and strike . I let my hand sit near him again and he didnt his and relaxed. Hooks freak him out. I do if I touch him. My leopard gecko warmed up to me from just leaVing my hand in. I dont want to hurt him by jumping from a bite and i feel bad when hes scared. Also should I or should I not lift his hide when I go to handle him.? Ive held bigger snakes and him. I dont know why im so panicked. Im punked out today.

Little baby snakes think one thing in general about you as a big human; "You're going to eat me, HALP!" when you grab them..

When you want to lift them out then first just put your hand in, let the snake be calm about that big moving thing in there with it, and just instead of grabbing him between 2 fingers, just gently put one finger under his belly and slowly lift him up. It's fine if you lift his hide as long as you don't lift his hide and then grab the poor baby by the tail and drag him out... you'll have to build a trust relationship with it (ie- I may hold/touch you but I'm not going to hurt you).

Ps. the worst behavior you can "teach" the snake is behaving nervous around him when he becomes defensive.. if he's taught that you'll leave him alone when he defends himself, then this is what he will do. They learn as they grow up.

Baby snakes, especially small ones, can't hurt you one bit anyway. There's no need to be scared

jjhill001 · 10-11-17, 09:51 PM

Just grab it gently. Hold it in the cage for a few minutes to let it calm do, be mentally ready for a bite so you don't jerk away. I promise a baby snake bite isn't gonna hurt though it might bleed a little if he gets you in a thin spot on the hand or wrist.

It'll get used to it. As always give a baby snake 48 hours after a feed before handling, once they are bigger most colubrids do fine with only a 24 hour wait as long as you aren't feeding huge items.

dannybgoode · 10-16-17, 12:17 AM

Quote:

Ps. the worst behavior you can "teach" the snake is behaving nervous around him when he becomes defensive.. if he's taught that you'll leave him alone when he defends himself, then this is what he will do. They learn as they grow up.

I've never found this to be true. I rarely handle my snakes anyway as you know but by and large the adults have become less flighty and defensive as they grow older regardless of how much they were handled as babies.

There's the odd exception but then that tends to be from snakes who as a species tend to be more feisty.

I'm sure it does happen with specific animals but I've never observed it.

To the OP - I'd at it up in a kickass naturalistic enclosure (so easy to do for a corn) and enjoy observing it and creating the best home you can for it and handle it only when necessary. I appreciate not this may not be everyone's idea of what they want from reptile keeping but it's worth at least trying.