# How important is being able to handle your reptiles to you?



## 955i (Aug 17, 2007)

Just wondered what peoples thoughts on this were as I really only handle any of my animals if I have to and prefer to just observe them doing their own thing.


----------



## HABU (Mar 21, 2007)

just depends on what they are....


----------



## captaincaveman (Nov 6, 2006)

I like ot handle as many of mine as possible, my green tree used to be handle with a hook only, but the majority are hands on:no1:


----------



## 955i (Aug 17, 2007)

Already answers before I'd finished the poll questions.....I'm impressed :lol2:


----------



## HABU (Mar 21, 2007)

Frogeye 1050 said:


> Already answers before I'd finished the poll questions.....I'm impressed :lol2:


we're on top of things!!:2thumb:


----------



## asnakecalled? (Apr 9, 2006)

its nice to handle but its not a must


----------



## slither61 (Nov 18, 2006)

Hia all, I

It is nice to handle snakes, but not always in the snakes intrest.

I handle most of mine except my tri-colour hognose and only handle when putting him in his feeding RUB.
If you handle him he his always rattleing his tail, and not happy so I do not handle him like my other snakes.

Some of my snakes like only a few mins handleing at a time my Boa will stop with you all day, corns don't mind either.
Depends what mood Ratsnakes are in as to how long I handle them.

slither61 :snake::snake::snake::snake:


----------



## HABU (Mar 21, 2007)

if a snake is totally acclimated to people, it doesn't stress them....i believe it enriches them. when they start roaming i believe letting them out to explore satisfies them....in the wild they are always investigating things not having food just delivered to them. they follow a genetic program that controls there behavior. and besides, how many people actually have a cage as big as their natural range? a corn moves around more than a few inches or feet on a regular basis in the wild, doesn't it? captivity doesn't take away their wildness....snakes are adaptable. it's what helps them survive. how many years have say, colubrids been around in north america??...a few years i bet...think of all the changes a kingsnake has seen as a species......i bet a sabre-tooth tiger ate one one day 20,000 years ago. if they can handle an ice age, they can handle you taking them out for a stroll. now, i know that some species are better at this than others but hopefully, you get my drift!!:2thumb:


----------



## Johelian (Nov 25, 2006)

I have some I handle and some I dont. My monkey tails are generally hands off as they really dont like being picked up in the slightest; however, my 2 mellow males will sometimes come out and climb about on me, or get handfed. I much prefer watching them do their own thing than disturbing them. My tegu is my hands on "pet", as he doesnt seem to mind interacting with people; we let him out to roam around, and when he wants to he will come over and bother us  It can be painful but fun at the same time when he tries to climb up into your lap!


----------



## Torres13 (Aug 30, 2007)

I like to handle my reps but if they dont like it then I dont bother. The only things I reguarly handle are my cresties and leos who come to me by their own will. Collards and Chams are occasionally handled but you can tell they dont like it as much! And the dragon, it all depends what day it is with her. Sometimes she will climb on me, othertimes hiss at me


----------



## argentine_boa (Feb 10, 2007)

The majority of what I keep are handlable but some of them strike at anything that moves.


----------



## SilverSteno (Feb 12, 2006)

My corn snake I handle, my geckos I don't


----------



## Akua_Ko_Nalu (Feb 15, 2007)

P much all my collection are handleable, but with a large collection it's not always practical to handle them all, so therefore I handle when necessary (Giving weekly soaks and cage cleans to Blood Pythons etc) And some of the others just every now and then to keep them used to me working with them


----------



## markhill (Sep 22, 2006)

I like to be able to handle my snake and lizards but the inverts I leave alone to do their own thing.


----------



## linda.t (Sep 28, 2007)

i do like to handle my reps but my turtles do not like to be picked up
linda


----------



## shiva&kaa123 (Jul 20, 2007)

I love handling my reps but I also love agressive ones, suppose Im just weird really!lol
Ben


----------



## Akua_Ko_Nalu (Feb 15, 2007)

shiva&kaa123 said:


> I love handling my reps but I also love agressive ones, suppose Im just weird really!lol
> Ben


That's some kind of fetish? Might wanna go see a psychiatrist for that one! :rotfl:


----------



## shiva&kaa123 (Jul 20, 2007)

Akua_Ko_Nalu said:


> That's some kind of fetish? Might wanna go see a psychiatrist for that one! :rotfl:


:lolsign:Too late, I killed him....:devil:
Ben


----------



## DeanThorpe (Apr 9, 2006)

hmm.. most of our lizards are handleable... not so much the occelated skinks, dwarf sungazers and 3 of the leos..owever the leos will be worked on until they are as i know they "can and prolly should be" whereas the sungazers and occelateds im not so sure or bothered about handling.
The long tail lizards i dont expect to be handleable to any extent.
The oplurus cuvieri... [madagascan spinytail iggys] are really skittish atm and we will go VERY slowly with them but hope to have them atleast semi handlebale within 6 months like our oplurus cyclurus is [similar species]

everything else we have is handleable and we do prefer it, if however they showed that they didnt want to be then thats fine [although i woouldnt allow it from an iguana...monitor or a beardie as i believe that handling or atleast having them "chilled out" is in everybodies best interest.

Posting this i realise we have more reps we dont handle than i realised lol, the eyed lizard is semi handleable, perfectly fine to be stroked and hand fed etc but soon jumps out of reach if we pick her up..again thats fine...and erm..the tokays... well...we will see on that one atm they are look dont touch..

hmm..i guess it isnt that important then lol

ok i sound liek i dont handle any of our reps now lol, i should point out that we DO have perfectly handleable 
1 bosc
4 beardies
1 uromastyx
2 rankins dragons
11 leos
1 oplurus cyclurus
2 fiji iggys [ok, they are a bit reluctant often]
3 collard lizards [ok one is a little moody sometimes but handlable]
soem cresties and a garg [they ar eonly little and dont get buged too much]
and the corns, cali king and royal.
oh..and the 2 berber skinks who love attention and handling ,they are lovely little guys.


edit
BAD DEAN, BAD DEAN FORGETTING STAR THE WATER DRAGON bad me sorry, she is fine and hanldeable.


----------



## MSL (Jul 30, 2007)

I answered the first but only because I only have a tiny collection.
Top of my wish list is an ETB which I know will probably not be handleable so it wouldn't bother me if I had both.
depends on the anmal and whether they are happy being handled or not, I leave it to them.....I've just got my female rtb out and she was on a log on the floor, I was cleaning water bowl etc and she just came over and coiled herself up in my lap......I would say she wanted the contact.If she hadn't of come over I would have just popped her back in!


----------



## shiva&kaa123 (Jul 20, 2007)

shiva&kaa123 said:


> I love handling my reps but I also love agressive ones, suppose Im just weird really!lol
> Ben


 
Should probably rephrase this, I just get a bit of a rush out of dealing with snappy snakes, gets the adrenaline going!
Still doesn't sound better? Oh well...:2thumb:
Ben


----------



## masticophis (Jan 14, 2007)

I agree with Habu,

As a general rule if they get handled a bit then most animals calm down and don't view people as threats so much. Ok some of the boiga are a little tricky to handle but if you can then they don't get so jumpy all the time.
The iggies need to be handled to make them good pets. An iggy that isn't handled will be a nightmare to deal with. In fact both my girls love being handled, they love a day out driving, and clarissa will fall asleep very easily once she is safe in my arms.

Mike


----------



## fishboy (Aug 7, 2007)

haven't left an answer because don't think the questions were best phrased lol

Yes, I only keep handleable animals
I have some I can handle and some I don't
I only handle any of my animals when necessary

probably better as

i only keep easy to handle animals
i keep some easy to handle animals and some more difficult to handle/display only animals
i only keep difficult to hadle/display only animals

or

i always handle my aninmals
i rarely handle my animals
i only handle them when necessary

cos what you've done see, is mixed up two sets of questions that don't really match like for instance

i like eating cheese
i think eating cheese is ok
i hate getting cheese in my eye



and i'm being pedantic now......

and a bit silly :crazy:


----------



## 955i (Aug 17, 2007)

fishboy said:


> haven't left an answer because don't think the questions were best phrased lol
> 
> Yes, I only keep handleable animals
> I have some I can handle and some I don't
> ...


Sorry to hear about the cheese accident, but everyone else seems fine with it:2thumb:

Maybe could have been a bit clearer as the questions were more to do with whether you do handle, not whether the animals were handleable but hey ho.


----------



## Ssthisto (Aug 31, 2006)

I handle the animals that I own that are not overly stressed by handling OR that do not cause *me* excessive stress when I handle them. 

That means if someone's quick and nippy and liable to bite, I tend not to handle them - they'd prefer I left them alone, and they're willing to indicate so clearly and in a potentially uncomfortable way, so I respect their wishes. Some of my other reptiles on the other hand pester to come out and like being 'on people' - even if it's just because they're basking on you - and those are handled more often.

Animals I don't handle include:
Little Lizard (fast bugger, and if we got him out we'd never see him again)
Diablo (Nile monitor, would prefer we not touch him thank you very much, we prefer he not bite chunks out, ditto)
Jingo (Fat-tailed gecko, and he hisses and lunges; he doesn't like hands.)
Pepper (African house snake, has grabbed onto my shirt above ... sensitive things... and thus would not care to repeat)
Mutt (Redtail X Common boa, lovely snake, but I'm a little nervous of him and don't like getting him out. Once he's out, I don't mind him on my lap.)
Callisto (Colombian rainbow boa, again gorgeous snake, nice when she's out, but eager feeder. Blood hasn't come out of the carpet yet.)

Everyone else is pretty handleable.


----------



## Piraya1 (Feb 26, 2007)

What I do and don't handle
My viper boa, no
frilled dragons, no
basilisks, no
chinese water dragon, sometimes but only when she really wants out.
brazillian rainbows, no.
iguana, for nearly half an hour every day.
All tarantulas and scorpions, no.

Everything is pretty much display only.
I'm currently taming and training my iguana to be as close as possible to being a big softie. He's 3 months old so I think there's a decent enough chance.


----------



## quizicalkat (Jul 7, 2007)

I only like to keep handelable ones

However some take more taming than others :rotfl:


----------



## snickers (Aug 15, 2007)

The three snakes are all handleable. One is still a bit quick, but nothing to worry about.

The Ts are best left alone.


----------



## Daredevil (Jul 10, 2007)

I like to handle my snakes because i believe that if i handle them then they will get used to me handling them and so will become more tame quicker. Just my personal opinion on the matter.:2thumb:


----------



## fishboy (Aug 7, 2007)

i like to handle my snake. usually late at night when i'm sitting in front of the computer. it seems to like it......
....but then sometimes it gets angry and spits at me :whip:


----------



## Snakes r grreat (Aug 21, 2006)

fishboy said:


> i like to handle my snake. usually late at night when i'm sitting in front of the computer. it seems to like it......
> ....but then sometimes it gets angry and spits at me :whip:


Erm, who does that Andy?


----------



## fishboy (Aug 7, 2007)

Snakes r grreat said:


> Erm, who does that Andy?


you know the snake i'm talking about:Na_Na_Na_Na:

the one that always gets me in trouble :blush:


----------

