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 Bull snake sized attitude
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Kingsnake Mermaid
Snake Mite

USA
26 Posts

Posted - 03/05/2011 :  15:27:26  Show Profile  Reply with Quote
Alright, my mom has an young albino bull snake, who's maybe 3ft or so, not really sure. He used to be my sister's snake but from the beginning he's had a serious attitude problem, my mom and I have been working with him and trying to handle him but he just keeps getting worse.

Once you get him out of the cage and let him cool down for a minute, you can pick him up and handle him fine for a minute or two, the last time we got it up to 4, maybe 5 minutes, before he started to hiss and growl. Reading up on another board people have said don't put them away when they get attitude-y, don't let them think getting aggressive will get them what they want. I followed this advice and continued to handle him, but eventually he starts getting worse and striking.

Honestly, I'm just stumped on how to work with him! My experience, I've dealt with snakes that are of the opposite behavior, they're snippy and freaking out when I get them out of the cage, but realize it's not getting them anywhere and settle down to the perfect little handling snake.

My mom's now talking about getting rid of him, and it is her choice, but I think if we can figure away to calm his attitude she might keep him. He's a gorgeous snake after all.

0.1. California Kingsnake "Claymore", 1.0. Leucistic Texas Ratsnake "Sabre", 1.0 Mexican Black Kingsnake "Cutlass", 1.0 Candycream Cornsnake "Épée"

Kingsnake Mermaid
Snake Mite

USA
26 Posts

Posted - 15/05/2011 :  04:07:38  Show Profile  Reply with Quote
Anyone who can give any advice on this guys attitude?

We took him with us to a reptile get together and he was oddly chill and was prefect for handling, making total liars out of us, but the next day he was snippy again and acctually managed to tag me. (not that it hurt at all! I was suprised how weak of a bite he delivered for the massive threat displays he gives)

0.1. California Kingsnake "Claymore", 1.0. Leucistic Texas Ratsnake "Sabre", 1.0 Mexican Black Kingsnake "Cutlass", 1.0 Candycream Cornsnake "Épée"
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Kehhlyr
The Resident Loon

United Kingdom
511 Posts

Posted - 20/05/2011 :  00:00:18  Show Profile  Click to see Kehhlyr's MSN Messenger address  Reply with Quote
Dunno why no one replied to this, sorry.

All I can suggest is persevere with the handling and hopefully he should chill down a bit.
Unless there could be other reasons as well.
Can you give us a complete run down on his setup as well, to enable us to rule anything else out, cheers.

-=Kehhlyr - The Resident Loon
SOME OF MY ANIMALS

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Kingsnake Mermaid
Snake Mite

USA
26 Posts

Posted - 23/05/2011 :  09:03:51  Show Profile  Reply with Quote
he's in a 10 gallon tank right now, with one side heated with an undertank heater, keeping that side around 85F or so. He has aspen bedding, a large waterdish and a two hides.

I think part of the problem is the room he's in is also heated a bit, so it's always a bit warm in there, so even when we take him out to cool down before trying to handle him, I don't think he's cooling down much at all. I've been thinking about it, but I haven't tried it yet, and that's putting him in a smaller enclosure and bringing him in a different, cooler, room than the one he's in to see if that helps him calm down.

0.1. California Kingsnake "Claymore", 1.0. Leucistic Texas Ratsnake "Sabre", 1.0 Mexican Black Kingsnake "Cutlass", 1.0 Candycream Cornsnake "Épée"
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Kingsnake Mermaid
Snake Mite

USA
26 Posts

Posted - 29/05/2011 :  04:42:40  Show Profile  Reply with Quote
Still not having any luck with him. Going to continue to work with him, but he might just end up being a nice display snake, handled only when absolutely nessicary.

0.1. California Kingsnake "Claymore", 1.0. Leucistic Texas Ratsnake "Sabre", 1.0 Mexican Black Kingsnake "Cutlass", 1.0 Candycream Cornsnake "Épée"
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Constrictor
Snake Mite

16 Posts

Posted - 13/12/2011 :  11:51:03  Show Profile  Reply with Quote
Hi Mermaid.

Sorry to see you haven't had much luck on the reply front here. I have no experience of Bull Snakes myself but have heard from friends that they are pretty agro.

Actually went to visit a friend who keeps a bull snake just after Christmas. She said that, as seems to be the general theme, her Bull was a right bag of rage when she first got him but after some constant handling he soon calmed down.

Did a bit of research out of curiosity and came across http://www.petsnakecare.net/bull-snake.php that has a little bit of information. Basically it seems that Bulls are aggressive so you need to persevere.

Good luck!

Edited by - Constrictor on 03/01/2012 13:11:56
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Eight
Egg

73 Posts

Posted - 13/12/2011 :  12:33:38  Show Profile  Reply with Quote
Could you possibly post some picks up of his size and his enclosure, I'm useless with sizes in gallons.

Like you mentioned maybe it is too warm for him, maybe you should take some temp readings over a couple of days to find out what your average ambient room temperature is.
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germanguy45
Egg

USA
60 Posts

Posted - 08/05/2012 :  20:52:59  Show Profile  Reply with Quote
I nurse a sick bull snake in my yard one year held many of them there quite common werre I live. But have yet to get them to tame down there just a mean snake and I've seen some pretty big ones here to. But there a cool snake and they will calm down to a managable attitude.

1.1.0 lavaender cali king
1.1.1 normal banded cali king
1.0.0 albino banded cali king
1.2.0 albino nelson milk
3.3.0 corns snakes

Edited by - germanguy45 on 08/05/2012 20:54:13
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