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Advice on taming an aggressive yearling burm

JessHurt

JessHurt

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My neighbor up the street has 2 10ft albino burms, 2 red tails and 1 yearling albino burm, which my husband and I adopted. I feel horrible for all these snakes as they are not kept well. The one we adopted had no substrate and the tank was covered in feces. The only time the enclosure was opened, was when he got fed. Also, this guy is feeding jumbo rats to his adult burms. If I'm not mistaken, they should be eating rabbits?

Anyway, we've cleaned the snake up as much as possible and gave him a water bowl to soak in. Everytime I pull the tub out, he hisses very loudly and he's already tried to bite my husband. I'm assuming we need just start handling him? He's fine once you get him out, it's just getting him out. What's the best way to go about doing this?

A friend of ours who has a ton of experience with snakes is taking the adult burms and the red tails. I'm thinking I may end up letting him take the young burm that we have as well b/c we aren't experienced with burms. I do want to learn and hope to own one someday. I do know how large they get and I think they're beautiful creatures. I just feel so bad for these animals that people get and have no idea what they're doing. This guy thinks he knows but obviously has no clue.
 
is he only hissing? or is he full on, aggressive open mouth, tongue out a little bit and hissing? because if hes only hissing any looks like he could strike he probably wont.

you can grab a hook and pull him out that way, or get some gloves, or do both.

a Burms size depends on if its a male or female. females generally get 14-16 ft weighting in excess of 140lbs. males get as small as 10 ft and 50 lbs. they can be tamed easily and once they are you'll have a big albino puppy dog :)

as far as husbandry goes it would depend on how big this "yearling" is? can we get a pic or tell us how long he is and aprox weight?
 
He's only hissing and seems alittle jumpy but I can understand b/c he was never really handled. I figured a hook would work but I currently don't own one so I'll try it with gloves.

I was told it was a male. The guy apparently got it from a breeder in jersey.

Right now, he's in a 34qt tub, which seems to work well. I'd say he's not even 2ft long and I haven't attempted to weigh him yet.
 
even my burm hisses (and hes handled daily) but its just a "tough guy" attitude. pick him straight out of the tub with just the gloves on and see how he reacts.

even a male that small will have pretty large spurs for his size. or you can take him to your vet (if you want to keep him i would) and also have them sex him for you?

if hes still only 2ft id say hes a baby still (and babys are always jumpy and nippy) just hold him often and slowly ease him over to not needing gloves anymore.
 
im not a believer in gloves. i have never used gloves with any aggression issue snakes. as long as its a cbb animal, with some regular handling and hook training, they calm down pretty quick. i dont believe in gloves because, i believe that once they bite you are couple times and finally realize you are not giving into them, nor are you a predator, they come to their senses, so to speak, and calm down and quit biting. if you use gloves, there are not only these huge scarier lookin things coming after them, but they bite the gloves, and after a few times, they get used to that feel, smell, taste, etc of the glove, then you may have to go through it again, when you remove the gloves and use your hands. they get re-used to the feel, smell, taste (if they do bite), of your hand. just tap them on the head with a hook (or something) to let them know you are not feeding them, then just reach in and pull them out. regular/consistent handling for a period of time, proper feeding regimine, and proper enclosure conditions, you should have a calm snake to enjoy for many years.

also, burms are notorious hissers, but usually arent very aggressive, especially once out of their enclosure/territory
 
if your not a fan of gloves because you WANT to get bit, why use a hook? i dont get that.
 
I really would like to keep him and tame him myself. He would be my project snake. We all have to start somewhere and my husband and I have quite a few different species of snakes that are well cared for. We do all the research and ask questions if we have them.

Thanks for all the advice. :)
 
A 2ft yearling burm means one thing - he's HUNGRY!!!
Yes, they're always hungry...but its worse during their main growth periods. Adding regular meals to his world should help.
As for the handling, I agree with Ryan (though not necessarily for the same reasons). Gloves suck, and I never use them (nor did I when I kept large constrictors and monitors). I just think I lose too much feel and sensitivity. Using a hook is actually a good idea with any large constrictor, though I don't really consider it "training". Basically, the intent is to show that you aren't food...and when a large hungry snake is watching the opening of his enclosure, they may not always pause to identify the warm object. The purpose of the hook is to make contact with, distract, and/or move the snake a bit to break that feeding focus. Many people suggest tapping on the head, but touching the body & using it to shift their position just a bit works quite well with many snakes. If one is very intently focused, I might touch it to their nose - prompting them to pull back or turn...I often use the handle, if that is all I'm doing. (I've never actually felt a need to "tap" a snake's head/face).
 
I personally don't use either. I rather get tagged. (I'm not stupid though, I'm not going to WILLINGLY put my hand in the cage of a big POed reptile and let him bite) but I do believe that if your useing the hook as a you do Harald, wouldn't a glove work as well?
 
The idea is not to get bitten in the process, lol.

While I don't care about getting bitten by "harmless" reptiles, feeding bites from LARGE constrictors are best avoided. Been there, done that - it sucks. Ever get grabbed by the hand and pulled, then constricted, by a 15ft+ snake? Feels like the flesh is gonna rip right off. You might lose some of that sensation with a glove, but your hand is still trapped...and probably in a very uncomfortable position. Make sense now?
 
hhmoore said:
The idea is not to get bitten in the process, lol.

While I don't care about getting bitten by "harmless" reptiles, feeding bites from LARGE constrictors are best avoided. Been there, done that - it sucks. Ever get grabbed by the hand and pulled, then constricted, by a 15ft+ snake? Feels like the flesh is gonna rip right off. You might lose some of that sensation with a glove, but your hand is still trapped...and probably in a very uncomfortable position. Make sense now?
Click to expand...

it never didn't make sense the way you put it. the way Ryan put it made is sound as if he was getting the reptile out of the cage with the hook.

while i have not been bit, i can imagine it would suck. i was merely stating that using a glove would work the same way as a tap on the nose, or body to realize its not feeding time. :)
 
i was in the same situation with an albino burm i once had. i used the hook method for about 2 months which worked awesome. i sold him but before i did he was roughly 9' and every time i wanted to get him id just tap him with the hook and i was never bitten. he ALWAYS hissed though. seems as though many burms and even my big retic does. if you at any point feel as though this snake is too much of a headache and would like to sell or trade please dont hesitate to PM me as i have a HUGE love for burms and retics.also if you have any questions at all regarding advice with this snake feel free to PM me. thanks, Joe
 
the hook training is to reduce the reaction while goin into the cage, in preparation for the rest of their life being hook trained. just because i dont like gloves, i dont go into a snakes cage looking and hoping to get bit. also, gloves dont allow you to handle the snake as freely and easy as bare hands. i have been bit by so many snakes, from newly ball pythons to 20 foot hungry/gravid female tics. for me, unless i sense the aggression is hunger driven, i dont worry too much about bits from even the 20 footers. unless they are hungry only, rarely will they strike and coil and hang on. otherwise, its going to be a quick strike and withdrawl, not a huge deal, to me anyway. getting bit is part of this hobby. ive said this numerous times, being in veterinary medicine (emergency/critical care), ive been bitten by all kinds of animals, and snakes are way up on the list of animals id rather have straight up bite me (obviously, that would change if the snake bite is hunger driven and a strike, hold and coil is involved).
 
also, just reaching in and grabbing a snake without forewarning (ie hook training), a snake may never fully tame down,, because all they see is a large glove coming after it, in its own territory and defend itself
 
Same here. I've never worn a glove. I've been wrapped up by a 16' burm female twice. Once breaking my hand, and recently had my 4 foot retic wrap up my chin because I forgot that I'd had a rat on my shoulder no more than 5 minutes prior to holding him.

So for calming your burm down I think there have been a combination of correct answers.
First I agree with hhmoore ( Harold ). A young male burm isALWAYS hungry. I've fed a young burm, and reached in the cage 10 minutes later for spot cleaning just to find a hungry burm attached to my hand. Go figure.

Also with the neglect you mentioned it's entirely possible that like you said he's not use to handling. Even a c.b. burm will fear human hands if they don't understand why we're picking them up. Burms calm down by repeated positive handling. When you handle the yearling for even 2 minutes without getting bit it is a positive. So if you feel him tensing up gently put him back in his cage. Increase the amount of time as he'll allow it.

Also a yearling burm will make you bleed, and bleed pretty good, but in my opinion it doesn't hurt that bad. It's not worth the broken teeth that a glove can cause. If you're really that scared of being bitten then it's a great idea to get a hook. There's really no training involved. As mentioned in some of the posts above it's simply to break the burms initial feeding focus. Their little stomachs are telling them that food is life, so their focus on the potential food to come is like the focus of a professional bowler. If you've seen a pro bowler face on as they approach you'll know what I mean. It's intense. So the hook is to break this focus so they actually have a minute to think before striking. Also for the cage aggressive ones it assures that you're not going to get bit in the "hostile-zone"

Hope this helps a bit.

Dustin
 
Thanks for all the advice. I've never had an aggressive snake. I honestly just think he's scared to death b/c he hasn't had human contact. I feel really bad for him. Stupid people suck.
 
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