Disgruntled female Nelsons hatchling Help!

[arezek13]

I bought a female nelsons hatchling on oct. 1st it was born on Sept. 23rd it was fine eating once every 5 days on pinkies and I could handle it with ease it was more squirmy compared to the hatchling corn I also bought but not bad. Until last sunday oct. 8th I was holding it and was taking it to the tiny plastic critter keeper I feed her in and she bit my finger so I grabbed her neck and worked her mouth off my finger and placed her in the critter keeper she ate and I gently slid her out the critter keeper back into the 10 gal. I didnt hold her for the rest of the night after she ate so I went to pick her up the next day monday oct. 9th and same thing with no time wasted this time she bit me the second i picked her up so I thought maybe she was still hungry since the pinky i fed her was really small so I fed her another one and she gobbled it down no problem and I put her back in her normale 10 gal. cage. I waited until the next day tues. oct. 10th and like clock work the same thing bit me right away and today wed. oct. 11 same thing. So what am I doing wrong?! She had no problem with me handling her as I please for 10 days and now constantly bites. I dont get it. Tips on calming her down would be greatly appreciated.

 

[hhmoore]

My thought on this is simple - babies bite.
You are big, and you scare her.
Personally, I would say leave her alone for awhile - stop stressing her...but I know others will encourage you to gently persist to get her used to it. It is your call which approach you take - regardless, it certainly doesn't hurt when they bite at that size.

 

[arezek13]

Thanks for the help. I'll give it a try. It doesnt hurt but I would like to break her of this while she is small. Also what are your thoughts on housing it with other snakes? Right now she is sharing a 10 gal. with a female corn and I am on the look out for a male king or milk x king to pair her with for possible future breeding.

 

[Mooing Tricycle]

housing snakes together is never a good idea. snakes are known to be cannibals, and if not that, if one gets sick, the other will surely follow suit.

 

[T and J's Corns]

housing snakes together is never a good idea.

I agree on that point.. Not worth the risk for me..

Milks seem to be very nippy at that age.... You want to break her of the habit? The snake is not a dog, nor do they seem to have the intelligence of a dog.. Essentially, it is my belief that eventually the snakes tolerate us, and start to over come their fear of us and that is the best we can hope for..

You might want to do some more research on the subject... Bob Applegate's site has some really good information to read..

Regards..T im fo T and J

 

[paulweaver]

The above posts are correct....young milksnakes often bite. You can sometimes make them less nippy by handling them. But honestly, time usually takes care of the problem. They usually grow out of it by the time they are 6 months old or so, Nelsoni especially. When they do bite, I don't recommend "prying" them off like you described. You can damage their teeth. Just let them gnaw for a second or two. When they see that it doesn't bother you they will stop, and it doesn't really hurt that much, does it?

As far as housing, you should always house milks and kings alone. If that corn is roughly the same size it will eventually become a meal.

 

[T and J's Corns]

When they do bite, I don't recommend "prying" them off like you described. You can damage their teeth. Just let them gnaw for a second or two. When they see that it doesn't bother you they will stop, and it doesn't really hurt that much, does it?

So true, the mice hurt a lot worse when they bite.. I have been bite by a few different coloubrids, the first reaction is to freak out, but I have been bite some many times now... To me the milks, the kings or corns don't even hurt when they mash my finger(s) or arm for a meal..

As far as housing, you should always house milks and kings alone. If that corn is roughly the same size it will eventually become a meal.

I don't cohab anyone of my collection together.. Not worth the risk to me.. To much of my time and money is tied up into the group to lose one to a room mate..

Regards.. Tim of T and J

 

[John E Dove]

I have a 2 year old male Cali King that always bites when I pick him out to move him to the feeding enclosure, always has. I just run a little cold water over his head and he releases pretty quick. Without cold water he just hangs on.
I would really suggest you not try prying your snake off, you could really hurt it without meaning to.
As for the dual housing, Bad idea. Not only are Lampropeltis snake eaters but I have found that for all but a few species dual housing causes stress on one or both of the snakes.
I have a male Corn turned in as a rescue because he would not eat. He was being housed with a BCI and had not eaten in the 6 months the people had him. He ate 2 days after I got him and has never missed a meal since, even when he was in the blue.
With another pair of Corns I bought, they were housed together, one was sold as a non feeder because the fellow who took them in in trade could not get it to eat. Again they came here I put each in it's own enclosure and both turned out to be aggressive feeders.
John E Dove