Handling big snakes

[Squirtle]

Originally Posted by Burmjunkie

It seems that no one who has posted is actually a large snake owner. So I thought I would give my input.

1) HOOK TRAIN you snake, this can't be stressed enough. Conditioning your snake to "understand" that it is feeding vs non feeding time is a must.
2) If you don't feel comfortable holding a large snake DON'T OWN ONE. Large constrictors are VERY intelligent animals and are not just a throw in a cage and stare at type of animal to brag to all your friend with "look what I have". Proper exercise for these animals is key to keeping them lean and healthy. Those who seem against holding your large snakes seem to have a phobia or bad experience vs actually knowing and understanding about the animal, which is sad.
3) NEVER let the snake start to wrap around the front side of the neck near your trachea. Applying pressure at this point can cause either asphyxiation or possible breaking of the spinal column. Avoid wrapping on both sides of your neck as well. With enough pressure same thing can happen here as well.
5) Different people have different rules when it comes to the amount of feet per how many people. Telling a person to have 2 people in the room with a 8+ foot snake is ridiculous to say the least. It all has to do with the species your dealing with. I don't need 2 people to hold my 8 foot blue beauty. For bums I would say 10' is a good place to start with having 2 people in the room but it really depends on the girth and weight of the animal as well. Assuming we are talking a healthy animal 9' to 10' is a good place to start thinking about having a secondary person around. Also experience plays a role in this as well. Since the OP is new having someone in the room with you would help and keep you calmer.
6) Holding the snake on your shoulders, traps, and back of your neck is perfectly fine. Avoid the "classic draping techique. Normally used by inexperienced people who are overwhelmed with the snakes weight. Like Robyn said most of the squeezing people feel is from them being unstable and not balanced, due to improper handling to begin with. If your handling properly and giving it enough support and balance you can avoid this.

Examples of holding a large constrictor:







As you can see in all the pics the snake is NOT touching both sides of the neck at once. Only the rear and a side so squeezing would not effect the holder. ALL of these are NON snake owners holding my personal pet coached by me on how to properly hold him. The body is fully supported as to make the snake feel secure and stable.

I hope this sheds some light some light for the OP, that you CAN handle your snake safely, just be smart about it. No need for neglect b/c it gets big. Big snakes need some loving too! =)

Burmese in picture is 8-9 feet long and around 25-30 lbs.

Thanks for your post man, very informative and you seem to know what you're talking about. I've been handling my burm around my neck by letting him rap his tail first around my wrist/arm and letting him move his head around, is that good? I've also been doing what's shown in your pictures.

Is this guy handling his burm correctly?

Link seems to not be working, if infernalis can please fix the link for me it'll be appreciated

[exwizard]

Originally Posted by Burmjunkie

I merely made my observation based on the largest snakes people where comparing to the large constrictors were carpets, SD retics, or boas. Also alot of the advice being given for the most part seemed to be fearful or handling. People who have worked with large snakes can understand there is a world of difference between a carpet and a large burm, retic or anaconda.
I am glad that the large snake owners did decide to pop up and agree with me. Ain't nothing better than the big boys! =)

You have a friend here.

[zaroba]

Originally Posted by Burmjunkie

It seems that no one who has posted is actually a large snake owner.

<--the pic in my avatar is this guy:



This is a pic from a 2009 reptile show we did, he was around 8ft & 30lb then.
A male Albino Granite Burmese Python, currently over 10ft, haven't weighed him recently.
Hope to get new pics of him tomorrow so will weigh him then as well.

[Terranaut]

I'm considering a burm. Have been for a while. Depends on how my reptile room turns out.
I know my boas will both grow quite a bit more so that is a strike against as well. I want to keep my feeding bill just in the " thats not so bad" zone and not the " are you freakin serious" area. I'll be into rabbits this summer. 4 a month is a lot less than 6. But I love burms. Man Iam so on the fence here. Time will tell I guess.

[millertime89]

I'm on my phone, but I've got a thread on here showing me working with some bigger ones. I would own one but my roommates would kill me. Almost bought a pair anyways...

[emmabee]

Originally Posted by Burmjunkie

It seems that no one who has posted is actually a large snake owner. So I thought I would give my input.

1) HOOK TRAIN you snake, this can't be stressed enough. Conditioning your snake to "understand" that it is feeding vs non feeding time is a must.
2) If you don't feel comfortable holding a large snake DON'T OWN ONE. Large constrictors are VERY intelligent animals and are not just a throw in a cage and stare at type of animal to brag to all your friend with "look what I have". Proper exercise for these animals is key to keeping them lean and healthy. Those who seem against holding your large snakes seem to have a phobia or bad experience vs actually knowing and understanding about the animal, which is sad.
3) NEVER let the snake start to wrap around the front side of the neck near your trachea. Applying pressure at this point can cause either asphyxiation or possible breaking of the spinal column. Avoid wrapping on both sides of your neck as well. With enough pressure same thing can happen here as well.
5) Different people have different rules when it comes to the amount of feet per how many people. Telling a person to have 2 people in the room with a 8+ foot snake is ridiculous to say the least. It all has to do with the species your dealing with. I don't need 2 people to hold my 8 foot blue beauty. For bums I would say 10' is a good place to start with having 2 people in the room but it really depends on the girth and weight of the animal as well. Assuming we are talking a healthy animal 9' to 10' is a good place to start thinking about having a secondary person around. Also experience plays a role in this as well. Since the OP is new having someone in the room with you would help and keep you calmer.
6) Holding the snake on your shoulders, traps, and back of your neck is perfectly fine. Avoid the "classic draping techique. Normally used by inexperienced people who are overwhelmed with the snakes weight. Like Robyn said most of the squeezing people feel is from them being unstable and not balanced, due to improper handling to begin with. If your handling properly and giving it enough support and balance you can avoid this.

Examples of holding a large constrictor:







As you can see in all the pics the snake is NOT touching both sides of the neck at once. Only the rear and a side so squeezing would not effect the holder. ALL of these are NON snake owners holding my personal pet coached by me on how to properly hold him. The body is fully supported as to make the snake feel secure and stable.

I hope this sheds some light some light for the OP, that you CAN handle your snake safely, just be smart about it. No need for neglect b/c it gets big. Big snakes need some loving too! =)

Burmese in picture is 8-9 feet long and around 25-30 lbs.

hiya! new mew member here but i keep "biggies". i do snake education talks and take a selection of species with me, the biggest a 14ft burm. i totally agree that you can handle these animals easily and safely if you are confident in knowing what you are doing. the problem i find is people (dont know about over in the us so please dont shoot me!) get these animals as status snakes and dont respect whet they can do!
i am a 5"4 female around the 140lb (not good with conversion!) and keep and deal with big snakes. every one is delt with in a different manner to suit the snakes temprement. at this size i am not able to physically hold my 14ft burm on my own but neede to move him....answer, he goes into a quilt! im not idiot emough to think i can deal with him even in a good mood!

when we take our animals to talks and people want to hold them its fine, we let them have pics of the snake over their shoulder, what people dont realisie is myself and the other half are stood just out of shot and can "read" our animals safely and know how each one can be got off.....we also explain to the people at out talk that these are wild animals and are not predictable. i will hunt out some pics of our talks because the expression on peoples faces with the big snakes is amazing.