Snake Care Tips – Socialisation – do you have a snake you cannot handle?
Many snakes come into the sanctuary because people have become afraid of them or have not handled them in a while. In fact you only need to handle a snake once a month for it to remember you and if you feed it outside of its vivarium in a separate box that’s all the handling it should need. Of course it is better to handle your snake more often but also not too often, everyday is too often. Don’t handle them when sloughing or when they have just eaten, so be extra careful when placing the snake back into its vivarium after it has fed.
How to socialise a nervous snake:
1) Put a glove on one hand and open the viv, lay the gloved hand on the snake preferably covering its head; do this whenever you have time. Snakes cannot see the same as us and have no eyelids, they detect heat very well so a large, hot human hand heading towards its face can be very scary.
2) with the gloved hand on the snake place ungloved hand on the snake avoiding its head, do this whenever you have time.
3) once the snake accepts your hand resting on it without it jumping, you can attempt to take it out of the viv, always arrange the snakes head to be pointing in the opposite direction to yourself and move very slowly any fast movement will spook it. This can be done for a very short time and then allow the snake to go back to its viv. (I always say its best to move as if you’re doing Tai Chi).
4) its always best to feed snakes outside of their viv so by managing to handle the snake this way means that everytime you want to feed the snake it will be handled (If the snake is not socialised and I want to feed it outside of its viv I always use two gloves and follow tip (3) guide the snake into the box with the food in and use the gloves to pick it up and put it back in the viv after the food has gone down).
5) my personal experience is that after this handling the snake will not hide so much and will actually want to come out even if it is only feeding time. If the snake comes to the glass to come out put a glove on one hand, put the back of the ungloved hand in front of the snakes face allow it to taste and smell your hand, 9 times out of 10, at the beginning, they will turn back to the safety of the viv. Over time they will recognise the smell of your hand and begin to climb on you (remember Tai Chi) and I still keep one gloved hand in case I need to move it quickly, (the gloved hand doesn’t spook them).
6) Eventually you should have a socialised snake. Always be prepared to go back to tips (1) and (2) if needed.
Little Tyson in the photo came in unsocialised and this has worked really well with him, it’s always best to do this while the snake is young I have a Rainbow Boa that came in 2007 he was 8yrs old and we haven’t moved on past number (4) but I haven’t totally given up!!