| T O P I C R E V I E W |
| kayjosh |
Posted - 18/09/2011 : 17:08:42
Need advise on my snow corn - she is becoming tempramental when first reaching for her in her viv - she is about 6mths old and starts the whole tail wagging and strike stance - she struck at me once - more like a head butt - problem i have is she is for my son and now he is unsure of her - any ideas to help the confidence in both of them. PS once i manage to get her out of the viv she is calm although a little jittery at times. |
| 7 L A T E S T R E P L I E S (Newest First) |
| Auld Baldy |
Posted - 19/09/2011 : 18:11:44
Now that Mirkey is more compliant, you are welcome to my whip and chair as I have no further use for it.  |
| kayjosh |
Posted - 19/09/2011 : 17:23:41
Thanks every one the advice has been second to none as usual - will be more assertive with her from now on - Kayjosh x |
| Aegis |
Posted - 19/09/2011 : 12:35:33
Very good advice from people already. Must be something to do with snow corns, mine is grumpy too sometimes. Is ur corn about to shed? Snow corns can be hard to tell if they are going blue.
Just keep at it, try and be confident, if she thinks that you are going to leave her alone because she has tried too strike at you then she will realise that you will leave her alone and keep doing it :o) |
| Auld Baldy |
Posted - 18/09/2011 : 21:16:41
Kayjosh, hopefully this might give you a bit of encouragement. 
I took on Mirkey the Mauler, a 4 foot Grey Rat Snake with a mean reputation, as a re-homer from the SSPCA. He had been seen and rejected by lots of folk over several months because he was pretty aggressive. When I went to check him out, he acted more like a rattle snake, tail-rattling, rearing, head-slapping and multiple bite tagging. After half an hour of this caper he settled down and calmly coiled around my arm. In other words he realised two things. (a) I was not a threat to him. (b) His defensive aggression was not going to make me go away so might as well give up and get comfortable. 
Since getting him home he has only rattled once or twice during the first couple of days when settling in and has not struck or tagged me at any time when picking him up. We are now best buddies. 
When your snake is feeling threatened it will try and escape and hide. If it can't get away it will try to 'scare away' the threat:
1.Bluff with a rattle rattle & hiss.
2 If that doesn't work, try a head-slap which is just a dummy strike with closed jaws.
3.Failing that try tagging. This is a strike with open jaws but not an attempt to grip. After all, he wants you to go away and not stay around.
4. Last resort is a tag bite. This is when he latches on and rolls his jaws as he would do with food prey. It's his only way of saying "Look I mean it!".
He doesn't have fangs only small gripping teeth. OK, they are quite sharp but barely long enough to puncture skin and certainly not capable of tearing lumps of flesh out of you. The muscles in the jaws are relatively weak so it is more like getting pinched by someone holding a bit of co**** sand-paper.
You can only persevere and build up the mutual trust with regular handling. Sooner or later it will settle down. You say it is when first reaching into the viv. Try drumming the front of the viv with your finger nails to get her attention and then reach for her. Not too fast or slow as that can be mistaken as attack or stalking behaviour.
Good luck. Hope things settle quickly.
PS. Check out the "Arm Wrestling Championship" movies in the Movie section. The chew on my thumb at the end of Round 2 should put a peck from a baby corn into perspective. A tag from a 5 ft Corn was no worse. A quick dab with Savlon and it was gone by morning. |
| kayjosh |
Posted - 18/09/2011 : 19:37:10
She is in a small viv with another but a male they came to me like that - just organising a RUB for her instead - pnly had them for a fortnight and handle them twice a day |
| Mamma |
Posted - 18/09/2011 : 19:02:26
carry somethin in your pocket with you for 24 hours. Then place it in her viv/housing. This should hopefully get her used to your scent and being around you again. How long have you had her for? What is your set up like? |
| Spreebok |
Posted - 18/09/2011 : 18:04:35
All I can say is just to keep at it. Ignore the rattling and striking, and just scoop her up. The worst outcome is a bite, and that like rubbing your hand on the male side of velcro! Keep up the regular handling, and only put the snake back once it's calm and behaving. If it starts getting antsy and threataning, keep her out until she settles again. She'll calm down again. |
