Thursday, February 11, 2010

Me and My Friends









The winter months are cold and boring. I can't look for snakes outside so I spend a lot of time working with my rescues. I handle Ronald-The Mean Little Bastard, so he isn't so mean. I rest on my dog proof couch with Mike's Best Friends- Neecha the Rottweiler, Buster, my Snoopy, and a new little friend, Peeko.

I have also been giving a lot of my time to Harry the Boa. He is a really good snake. For all that his former owner kept him in a cage too small for him, he also seemed to be good to him otherwise. Harry has never offered to bite me, even once. That doesn't mean I would become irresponsible in handling him. He is a large boa and demands respect. You can see in the pic above where it takes my wife and I both to handle Harry. Yet another young lady has come to the house to conquer her fear of snakes. Brooke is helping me with Harry above, and she did a great job!
I get each of the snakes I have out of their enclosures several times a week and spend time handling them. The Mean Little Bastard is the only one that has ever bitten me, though that was a while ago. If you want a pleasant, easy to hold snake just follow two simple rules.
1. Never feed them in their cage. Get them out and feed them in a separate area, away from their living area.
2. Handle them on a regular basis. If need be, start out by wearing latex gloves when you hold them. If they bite you they get the taste of the latex glove and they don't like it. It does not take long for them to stop biting.
If you have any questions about snakes, please let me know. Leave a comment and I will do my best to get you an answer.



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