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how often to handle to make carpet nice and tame?

Pinkypie

Pinkypie

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I have a new Centralian and she is a bit of a pistol.She is okay outside the cage but gets really defensive in the cage.
Anyway I was wondering how often I should handle her to make her good and tame so a kid could even handle her. I dont want to stress her out either.

I tend to be conservative with handling most my snakes thats why I keep to popular colubrids, they seem to stay tame with minimal handling.But if I want to keep this python it has to be tame, I have a lot of kids at the house most days and safe animals are a plus.
 
Carpets can be tricky. When they are young, they can be nippy/cage aggressive and they usually calm down with age and handling. Some calm down with no handling and some don't calm down at all and will remain pretty aggressive their whole life. They aren't colubrids or ball pythons. They are carpet pythons. That is the thing you have to realize when you keep Morelia. I have a Coastal male that is over a year old and I have had him for over two months now and he is super aggressive inside and outside the cage.

I have never had snakes try and try and try to bite me in my face so much until I started keeping carpet pythons. They are smart, active, and they have a lot of personality. I have had Irian Jayas that were really sweet and calm and then I have had Coastals, a coastal jag and Jungles that were mean as hell and tried to bite me every chance they got.

You said she is new? How long have you had her? Has she had time to adjust to her new enclosure? If you have had her over a month then I would say you can handle her 30 minutes or so a few times a week. I don't really see a problem there. Who knows, your new carpet could calm down in a few months or never. It just takes time. Don't give up though. Just be patient and she will start to trust you. If you have any other questions just ask.

Oh btw, my Coastals name is Homicide if that tells you anything.

Justin
 
LOL, Homicide is a great name.Maybe if I give mine a nice sweet name she will be sweet...Im kinda wondering if this was the best choice for me.I read Bredlis tend to be calm thats why I chose her instead of a jungle.But the thought of an 8ft python trying to bite my face is a bit daunting.Not quite the same as getting bit by a cornsnake;)
Ive had her about a month now.She is mostly okay out of the cage though, If Im good and calm and slow with her.Im hoping thats a good sign.
 
I picked up my first carpet python about a month or so ago. It is a 2011 jungle carpet and tame as can be. not a nip, strike, or hiss. It was owned (from hatching) buy a guy with two small children who held it constantly after birth and named it "woody" from toy story. So it is pretty tame and chill, in fact, it is as calm as an ball python I've ever held. It is probably held every day for a few minutes by myself or my roommates or anyone else (just like all my other animals) except around feeding days so it doesnt stress.

The adult carpets that I've held were always calm, just very hissy and sometimes flinch.

I think you can tame them down just fine with enough handling, they aren't blood pythons.
 
I mean that is really all you can do is just hold her and give her time. If she calms down then she does and if she doesn't then she doesn't. I believe that snakes have their good days and their bad days also. Some days she might be doing good and be in a good mood and than other days they might be pissy and just feel like biting. Like sometimes with Homicide, if I reach in the cage really slowly and put my hand up to his face, he will back down and he won't bite but other times as soon as I open the lid to it, he gets into his strike position and I can't even pick him up without being bit 3 or 4 times.

If I get him out it is really game over... every time he gets near my face and sees movement, he coils up into an S position and try's to bite me in my face (while I am not looking lol). He won't go for my arm, my chest, nothing... but my face.

I don't know, it might be just me but I don't mind the aggressive attitude. I love it about the Morelia genus. I think it makes them more enjoyable. I might sound crazy but to me they are more enjoyable than just a boring ball python that doesn't bite, strike, move or do anything but lay there.. just my opinion. I can't wait until I have 20 plus carpet pythons.
 
I completely agree that they are much more enjoyable than BPs and I've only owned mine for like 6 weeks. It is nice seeing them both be very active and curling up on a perch or on the hide.

I am excited to own a CP that is tame, simply because it will be a good teaching specimen and it is such a fun species to handle and is so beautiful

I dont mind owning bitey snakes as long as they are of a manageable size (i got rid of a VERY large male blood recently for that reason). I loved owning amazon tree boas, it was quite fun to handle them and be on your toes. I don't even know how many species I have been bitten by, but it is easily over the 50 mark haha.
 
I dont like big bitey snakes..I dont know, it doesnt bother me to get bit by a cornsnake(I have one that is moody) but for some reason the idea of being bitten by a python freaks me out..I guess Im more worried about my son getting bit when it gets bigger.Of course my son will be bigger by then too, he's ten right now.
 
Like Morelia4life has said, it is a crap shoot. It may or may not calm down. I have 15 Morelia, 13 carpets and 2 GTPs, all of my carpets are fine out of the cage, 3 of them will strike/bite in the cage. My GTPs bite some days and other days they are fine. I rarely handle any of mine, but I do believe handling can help to tame them down. Good luck, if you want you can always send your Bredli to me. :)
 
Well I will give a good go then.What if I put her in the livingroom were there is more activity.Would that stress her out or help get used to things?
 
I am not sure about that one. I have my Coastal in a bedroom where there is hardly any activity and every time I walk into the room, he knows that I am there and he will watch me while I am in the room. To be honest, I don't think that reptiles care about being social. If you put him in a room where there is a lot of traffic and he can see things and people are always walking by his enclosure and things like that, it probably will stress her out.

Just try to handle her say 30 minutes for a few times a week and see if that helps. If not, than you can always send her to me!! :D
 
If you put her in a busy room be sure to have dark corners, hides, and a solid back to the tank so that she can retreat to a secure corner if it is too much.

I have a different species, but keep them in my living room and they have settled very well. I feel it gets them used to movement around them without it always being a threat or a feeding opportunity.

However if you have a young child and there's a lot of running around it could get too much and disturb her more.
 
Okay well Ill keep her in the snake room but continue to work with her.I do have kids and dogs always running through the house so the living room might be a bit stressful on some days.But I do want her to get used to all kinds of situations, in a calm way if thats possible. I really really want her to be "dog tame" as they say.
 
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