first day problems.

[jessie_k_pythons]

Pandora's first day here is not going well on account of her massive attitude. She left me a present this morning so I figured It wouldn't hurt to spot clean, and WAM! She tagged me from her hide. I looked at her, looked at my hand and went back to cleaning and WAM! Again she tags me. Not being stupid, I clean up the wounds, grab a clean towel and place it over her hide. I get the job finished remove the towel and go on to cleaning every one's tubs. After an hour or so, I'm finished and Pandora is out of her hide moving about her tub. I walk by to toss out the trash and I hear a thud fallowed by a loud and deep hiss. I look over and there she is coiled up, neck in the “S” possession and she strikes again.

I placed the a towel over the tub and left the living room.

I hope after the 2 or maybe even 3 weeks of no contact she will settle down and stop this. At least for her nose's sake.

Is there something I'm doing wrong? All the temps are right, humidity, and every thing is set up as it should be. Should I place some news paper balls in with her?

Also I heard a rumor that females can sometimes be a bit more aggressive than males. I don't know if this is true or not. I doubt it is true, but have any of you heard this rumor?

Thanks every one.

[recycling goddess]

the main thing i see you doing wrong is you started with her enclosure! you need to deal with all your other snakes BEFORE you go into the quarantined critters enclosure - cause if there is anything she can pass along to your other snakes... then this is the way to do it.

other than that. i would leave her covered if she has to stay in your living room... if you can move her to a quieter location i think that would benefit her greatly.

and in the future, when she postures or tags you... respect her feelings and get out of her enclosure. by staying there and continueing to clean you were telling her that her feelings don't matter. IMO showing her that you respect her will go a long way to assisting her to trust you.

[RichardA]

I have to go against the grain here.........

Leaving a snake after it has tagged you or hissed is just showing the snake that it wins. If it knows you are scared it will continue to do those things. My snakes get handled and messed with more if they show attitude and usually calm down once they see it has no effect on me. Even my Rattlesnakes very seldom rattle at me anymore now that they know I will not go away and leave them alone. I am not saying to stress the snake out.......just dont give in to them showing how big and bad they are.

[recycling goddess]

i see where you are coming from richard but this is day one for a snake who came from a home, went into a vet office, stayed there over night... was poked and proded and now is in another home.

i think respecting her need to just chill and get her head wrapped around this new situation isn't ''feeding her behaviour".

but then again... i've been wrong before... and i'm sure i'll be wrong again in the future LOL

[RichardA]

LOL

I hear ya........I didnt see the part about the vet and all..........I thought this was from a breeder to home deal........sorry.

Dont give into it though Jessie...........hang in there!

[jessie_k_pythons]

As for dealing with her first, I cleand up very well after working with her. I have almost a fobia of germs and I scrub very well after I touch any new snakes then I use a hand sanitizer (ps?) (it goes every where with me)and wash again befor going any where near my other snakes. (you should see me with raw chicken... it's funny.) I will start out next time with every one else, then move on to her. thanks.

We have a problem with mold in my house and I didnt want to leave the mess in the cage. I'm having my ducts cleand this week and if that dosen't work I'm requesting to be moved into a new house. for some odd reasion if something is left out over night, food, soada, snake poo, It grows mold, and I have allergies to mold so nothing can stay left out. I guess next time I will just have to wait if she trys to tag me again.

As for the living room. It is the quitest place in the house. It is used as a show room for my husbands customers online. The most we go into it is when me move in a new piece of the Home audio setup in, or to take pictures. The Demo Room. We dont have any TVs in the house and our home audio systom is rarely ever used unless a customer comes to our home but most of them are for out of the U.S. so our house stays empty.

Thanks for the tips though. I will try my best to keep things as calm and quite as can be and to respect her wishes.

Thanks again.

[Spaniard]

I wouldn't worry to much, the first day Anubus was here he was striking at everything that passed his cage. I would chalk it up to the new home experience. If after 2-3 weeks she still is Ms. Attitude I would follow nightmares approach. Patience grasshopper its only day one.

[recycling goddess]

and don't forget... mites can 'cling-on' to your clothes! ewwwwwwwwwwwwwww

sounds like you have it all going on jess... best of luck to you both. i'm sure you'll be best of friends in no time at all.

[jessie_k_pythons]

As for mites she is mite free. She came to me right from the vets office. When going to any shows, peoples homes and after handeling there snakes I change and toss everything into the landry with color safe bleach. I fear the world around me and I dont trust other peoples snakes to not have mites or other buggies! EWWWWW!!! LOL and actualy I dont have OCD :giggles: .

[recycling goddess]

i thought that about my RTB - she came straight from a woman's house and stayed a moment at my favorite petstore until I took her home... she had mites.

i got my hog island boa from one of my (at that time) favorite breeders... he had mites.

i always always always spray the new enclosures with Provent-A-Mite before bringing in a new snake.

cause everyone says their snake doesn't have mites... in my limited experience anyway.