I recently bought Kaa, a hypo RTB (BCC i think) from a reptile specific store. She is roughly 16 inches in length. I have had one RTB in the past that I sadly had to re home after joining the US Army. My parents also had one when I was about 10 that got to be quite large. Needless to say they both had awesome personalities and were very beautiful snakes. Now that I am out of the military and in a stable environment I decided it was time to reconnect with a RTB. Combined with endless research on forums and books plus my previous exp. I thought it would be no problem. I understand that baby snakes can be and usually are nippy and with good reason. Although a nippy baby isn't a big issue and can be quite common I am concerned I might go about solving the nippiness the wrong way and end up with a large snake that still bites. My last RTB never struck at me even when it was a baby, just luck I guess. Well when I first brought Kaa home everything was great. I slid her right out of the bag slowly onto my hand and she was fairly calm. I held her for about 10 min and then introduced her to her new home. The next day I decided to stick my hand in her cage to she how she would respond to me after just a day in her new home and she was very calm and allowed me to pick her up and hold her for a little bit. The next day same thing no problems. Then it was feeding day. The reptile store fed her live prey because she wouldn't accept frozen thawed easily so i decided to stay with what she is used to. I separated her from her cage and placed her into a large tub and placed the mouse inside and she ate right away. after about 25 min i attempted to transition her back to her cage but she began to strike at every movement, i assumed it was because she was still in kill mode (for lack of better terms). i placed my hat over the top of her and got her back into her cage. she struck at the glass as i backed away and then eventually went inside of her hide. after a day and a half i decided to attempt to handle her and as soon as i opened the cage she went into a defensive stance. i placed the hat over the top of her again and scooped her up slowly from underneath. She went right under the hat and bit my arm. it didn't hurt but it startled me pretty good. i returned her back to her cage and she began hissing. I decided that was enough for one night and left her alone. the next day i tried again without the hat and just decided to take a hit if she struck since it is pretty painless but she actually let me hold her. ill admit I was very hesitant when reaching in the cage because although painless each strike scared the crap out of me. i think she could sense my fear but still allowed me to scoop her up. After a few seconds she began striking towards the ground and then started striking at my other hand repeatedly. i returned her back to her cage and this time no hissing. I was beginning to worry that daily attempts to handle may be a bit much but after reading many threads on RTB.com and not allowing time to adjust to a new home. about 50% said daily handling to "tame"a snake is good and 50% said not a good idea. so i decided to give it one last chance and if she began to strike i would leave her alone for a couple of days and try again. I put on some thin soft gardening gloves (just a slight boost of confidence for me) and gave her a slight tap on her side to let her know i was going to handle her and i scooped her up slowly with no problem. i held her for 10 min with no problems at all. there were times where she stopped and took up a defensive position while staring right into my eyes but eventually eased up and was back to exploring again. I returned her to her cage and she hung out and explored her cage for a bit and then went back to her hide. FINALLY a good handling session.
BTW I am going to switch to frozen thawed rats from now on after reading more about the benefits.
My concerns are that the gloves masked my scent so she was calm and that i may have "scarred" her by using the hat to cover her in attempt to not be bitten so every time she sees me or picks up my sent she will become aggressive. maybe i'm just thinking to hard into this and just accept the fact that most babies are nippy LOL. am i going about this the right way? is it important to feed her in a separate space?
thank you for anyone who read this, i know it was a bit long but i want to be through and make sure i give Kaa the best life she can possibly have in captivity
BTW I am going to switch to frozen thawed rats from now on after reading more about the benefits.
My concerns are that the gloves masked my scent so she was calm and that i may have "scarred" her by using the hat to cover her in attempt to not be bitten so every time she sees me or picks up my sent she will become aggressive. maybe i'm just thinking to hard into this and just accept the fact that most babies are nippy LOL. am i going about this the right way? is it important to feed her in a separate space?
thank you for anyone who read this, i know it was a bit long but i want to be through and make sure i give Kaa the best life she can possibly have in captivity
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