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Agitated milksnake? Help please

B

buddy.reilly

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I've had my milksnake for a number of years now but I never got him out of his vivarium to frequently as I was too young to handle him and I was quite scared. Now that I'm 15 I'm determined to handle my milksnake much more than before and overall give him a better quality of life. So recently I decided to handle my snake every day and it started fine however he started to become what seemed to me to be agitated. He would be very awkward to hold and always try to get away. As a result I believed that the sudden change in the frequency of handling was stressing him out so I decided to cut it down to once every other day. But yesterday he is in exactly the same frame of mind and is generally just very awkward to hold. I think the best word to describe him is frantic. He slithers extremely fast when I put him down on my bed and he actually slithered very quickly towards me as if he was going to strike but I caught him just in time. I don't know whether he was going to strike but it certainly looked like it to me. I would really appreciate it if anybody had any ideas on how I can combat this as it makes handling the snake less enjoyable for me as well as him. Thanks
 
It's great that you want to interact more with your snake; but, by your own words, he has gone "a number of years" with minimal handling... you can't expect him to be calm about it when it is suddenly being forced upon him. Take it slowly, and keep handling periods short. Basically, you have to let the snake get used to being touched/handled; and that means minimizing stress through the process. A good place to start is partially lifting his body while he's in his enclosure - let him crawl over your fingers. If he doesn't get agitated, you can do it a few times each session. If the enclosure is large enough, progress to using both hands... eventually lifting the whole snake. When it is tolerating that well, take it out of the enclosure. It's not likely to just stay still in your hands - so move your hands as the snake crawls, in order to keep it supported (as it crawls off one hand, move that one forward under its body... you'll be doing sort of an elliptical, hand under hand shuffle. It may turn & crawl up your arm, which is fine. It will appreciate the extra support. Don't be surprised if it crawls into your shirt at the collar (or sleeve)... and don't freak out if/when it gets by your face.
Good luck
 
some milksnakes act that way. I've got 3 and they're all kinda like that. they're also really flinchy but have never tried to strike. My oldest I've had for about 6 years is the worst and they get handled almost daily. but you'll get used to how they move and will be able to hold them no problem. they don't mess around when it comes to food though, seems it's the only time they'll come to me and I'd be crazy to try and pick them up then.
 
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