whip and chair, please?

[Gillian]

Ok,
I'm holding Shadow, my BCI, as much as I can. He's a bit calmer. But, has THE STRONGEST feeding response. Damn near got me, as I was taking him out of his feeding tank.

This was no half-a@@ed strike either. He struck fast and hard. Instead of connecting, it grazed.

I REALLY need to get this bad boy calmed down before he gets really big.

Peace, light & eternal love..
Gillian
)0(

 

[Joe]

Have you tried feeding him in a separate cage from the one he lives in? If you feed him where he lives, he'll come to expect food when you take the top off.

Edit: I just read that you were taking him out of his feeding tank. I missed that the first time. How long after he fed did you try removing him?

 

[OldHag]

OH man I have a GREAT fear of being bit....the actual bit part isnt even as bad as my anticipation of being bit. =D
If a big ole boa actually connected with me Im afraid Id end-up jerking back and FLINGING the boa across the room to some horrible death against a wall. THEREfore I stick with the "Noodle with eyes" boa -aka- Sand Boa. I do feed them in a separate container like obscenity suggested. It works like a charm!
We had a male Columbian Red Tail Male that would NOT ever tame down. He was an ORNERY SOB. He'd get all twitchy everytime we'd open the cage...scary.... Hope you can tame yours!! keep at it!
Michelle

 

[Gillian]

Obscenity,
I usually wait at least an hour. In addition, I clean the feeding tank regularly, so it doesn't become a virtual "sensory overload", of prey smells. Shadow is right now almost 3 feet. He's very misleading. Appears to be mellow, moves slow, but then he'll all of a sudden strike fast and hard.

Michelle,
Noodle with eyes?? LOL From my years of working in a petshop, and working with expensive snakes and herps that aren't mine, I've gotten to the point where I don't flinch, when they hit. More so than me getting hurt, I don't want to hurt my snakes.

As for being bit, IMHO, it stings at first, for a few hours, then its over. Of course, I haven't been hit by a Hot snake... Hamster bites, cat bites, horse bites, these all are MUCH more painful.

Teeth can be torn out, which can expose them to infections in their mouths. I freaked the crap out of the petshop lady when, Shadow struck and nailed me in the face. I didn't flinch at all. (well, not counting after, when I was dripping blood off of my nose)


Peace, light & eternal love...
Gillian
)0D

 

[Joe]

Originally posted by Gillian
Obscenity,
I usually wait at least an hour. In addition, I clean the feeding tank regularly, so it doesn't become a virtual "sensory overload", of prey smells.

Peace, light & eternal love...
Gillian
)0D

This is probably a dumb question, but do you make sure that you don't smell like prey yourself?

 

[Gary O]

Ok few questions

Do you feed Live, Pre Killed or F/T?

Also do you own a hook?

Here is some things you could do.

Feed in another room and enclosure. I know lots of work but it has broken this habbit in snakes before.

Feed at night. About an hour after lights out.

Once you answer the first question I can help a bit more.

 

[Gillian]

Obscenity,
I wash my hands and arms in warm soapy water, then use a clean towel to dry off with.


Gary,
The feeding tank is in another room completely. I feed only f/t, and use tongs. I tend to stick to nighttime feedings.


Thanks guys...
Peace, light & eternal love...
Gillian
)0(

 

[Gary O]

WOW, so you are doing everything I was going to say to do lol.

HMMMM you got a tough one here.

 

[Gillian]

Originally posted by Gary O
WOW, so you are doing everything I was going to say to do lol.

HMMMM you got a tough one here.

Well Gary..maybe Shadow is just a pissy little S.O.B.


Peace, light & eternal love...
Gillian
)0(

 

[Gary O]

lol I guess. Maybe she will grow out of it lol

 

[burnpile]

get yourself a plexiglass shield about 2'x3' and put a cabinet handle in the center. you can then hold it in front of your face when you open the feeding box. I had a nasty forest cobra that never settled down, and had to use one of these for 4 years at every feeding.

you can also open the lid on the feeding container (if it has one) and wait several minutes before you actually remove it. it may just not like the action of the lid suddenly popping off and it's striking out of reaction.

it could also still be hungry....try increasing the prey size if it can handle a larger item.

 

[Bry]

And there are some snakes, no matter how calm they are, their feeding responses are just scary. My JCP is one that knows when feeding day is coming. She cruises the cage when she smells rats thawing in the other room, even if it's not HER feeding day. She even "hunts" for rats as early as two days after eating a big meal. When I do go into her cage to take her out to put in a feeding tub, her first reaction is to try to eat the every warm thing that moves. I've been bitten and wrapped (around my hand) by her on numerous occasions. You can't beat an appetite like that.

Bry

 

[Gillian]

Burnpile,
The facial bite I sustained, was due to me holding him too close to my face, when he was shedding. (his eyes were partially covered. ) However, if he continues being a little pissant, when he's an adult (which is like what, 7-9 feet??), I'll definitely have a plexi shield.


Bry,
Currently, he's eating smallish medium rats. (this is not my opinion on snakes and feeding). I had cruised RedTail.com, and saw a feeding suggestion, if you will.

Now, I went into this realizing fully well and proper, how big Shadow can get. He's not a Garter Snake, I know this.

At any rate, it showed pics of different sized red tails, and what size prey to feed, to control their growth.

However, for me, I'd much rather feed them what they can handle, so that I can maybe curb this feeding response, a bit.

Bry, I can agree and laugh about your story of the JCP. That's Shadow. There's a sink outside the room the snakes stay in. Before I have even removed him and placed him in his feeding tank, he becomes active, and "paces" his tank. This behavior starts about 3 days prior. He'll destroy his cage.


Thanks...
Peace, light & eternal love..
Gillian
)0(

 

[burnpile]

I hope he settles for you. If not, just think of it as good practice for an Amazon Tree or an Emerald