Help! Babysitting snake!

[Kasha]

I am currently watching my nephew's two snakes, a corn and a king. Both are small, but long and really fast. My problem is they try to strike me when I open their enclosures, and thats when I am putting water in there. So I am guessing they are really hungry even though its only been about a week since they ate. Anyway, my nephew puts the pinky in a small dish in their tank, but everytime my hand get near the bottom they come flying out at me. So any suggestions? Can I just throw the food in there?

 

[David_F]

What kind of substrate is being used? If it's just newspaper then yeah, just toss the mouse in. If it's aspen or some other type of substrate that could be ingested it's not a good idea to just throw the mouse in. How big are the snakes? I know it sucks to be bitten but if they're still tiny it won't hurt at all. Just reach in.

 

[Cirith Ungol]

In regard to the corn - you could put on some thin gloves every time you go in there. Let it bite you, and hopefully after a few tries it will start realizing that not all what moves is food. Done that with my female and it seems she's calmed down a little bit over time. Another alternative is that you unlock the tank, then spray in some water (at the snake). The snake might strike at the "movment" once and then have gotten the urge out of her system and continue being a bit calmer.

 

[Beardo]

Gloves?.....for a Baby Corn Snake?......LOL!!!

They are striking at you because they see you as a threat. When snakes are young, they are potential prey for many larger creatures, so they have to more defensive in order to survive. It has nothing to do with being hungry.

A bite from a baby corn snake is nothing that should require gloves....trust me, you won't even feel it lol.

 

[Cirith Ungol]

Gloves?.....for a Baby Corn Snake?......LOL!!!

They are striking at you because they see you as a threat. When snakes are young, they are potential prey for many larger creatures, so they have to more defensive in order to survive. It has nothing to do with being hungry.

A bite from a baby corn snake is nothing that should require gloves....trust me, you won't even feel it lol.

Oh... didn't see that Sorry, take the gloves off!!! (Had my fair share of babies, I know the """"feeling"""")

 

[Kasha]

The corn is usually really friendly, but I think she is just hungry. The food is thawed, so I think she just wants my fingers cuz they are pink. The substrate is this wood chip like stuff.

 

[Ishkabibble]

I've always kept the practice of feeding my snakes in a separate tank than the one they live in so they don't associate any entry into their enclosure as introduction of food. Some may think this as foolish, but upon being placed into the feeding tank I've seen their attention level jump to a more alert staus. I've not been hit by them in either enclosure when using proper handling techniques. So until my snakes prove me wrong, i'm going to cotinue this practice and write it up to reflex conditioning. But as far as wearing gloves with small colubrids, (excluding the Boomslang, which does grow to a larger size, and a few other venomous species of Colubrid) it is rather humorous. David Beard, you're more of colubrid handler than myself, so let me know if there's any invalidity in this post, concerning venomous colubrids, would you? Or anyother individual with additional knowledge on this subject, I'm always wanting to learn more about Herps. I pretty much stick to Boidaes. Thanks!

 

[Beardo]

I do not advocate the free handling of any venomous snake, including rear-fanged colubrids, although I have done so myself with species such as Mangroves and False Water Cobras. The potential to get bit is always there and I know from personal experience that bites from even the most "harmless" of rear-fangs is not fun.

As far as the feeding in a seperate container issue goes, I do not feel that it is relevant to whether or not you get bit. Snakes bite for 2 reasons:
-they feel threatened
-a feeding response
If you don't smell like a prey item, or as long as there are no prey stimuli (smells in particular) in the immediate area of yourself and the snake, you will not get bit via a feeding response.

 

[Daisey_Boo222]

I do the same thing as Ishkabibble. When i first got my corn (now adult and very calm) it was aggressive and tried to eat me, So i went to the pet store and asked what to do, because my friends was very nice and was good at being handled. He suggested a different feeding bin, and it worked really well at first. then he wouldn't eat it, he was just interested at looking at everybody else in the room. So i took his smaller cage (with no substrate) into the closet and switched off the lights. I checked on him later, and the mouse was gone and there was a lump in my baby's tummy. . you should suggest the different eating enclosure to your friend, because starting a baby on this technique would probably stick in its head a little better.
To tell you the truth, i have to clue what to do about the other snake :8o
hope it works out

 

[Schlyne]

If you are concerned about ingesting substrate, you can also lay down newspaper on top of the substrate in the tank and feed on top of the newspaper.

 

[Elmolax]

Um/// I jsut dangle the pinky/fuzzy by the tail at a reasonable distance and my corns snatch it up. Bites dont hurt tho, and i don't get bit very often. Maybe once every 2 months or so.

 

[Cirith Ungol]

Ok, I agree it was funny when I happened to suggest gloves for *baby* corns. That was a mistake since I completely missed what size the snake was and I thought it was an adult. But I didn't make the glove wearing a general statement and it was absolutely not directed towards any other snakes than corns. I didn't even think this a sollution for all people to use who have that problem. I gave a possible sollution for the problem at hand - the problem being that somebody who is babysitting and seems to feel uncomfortable with the situation needs some short term help; and wearing gloves would/could have made the person feel more comforable during the time she has the snakes!

Well, I'm outta here.