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 #1734079


Morsel
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 Bitey Pueblan

I recently, and this is just yesterday, adopted an adult 5-6 ft long Pueblan from an educational program at the school district where my father works. They didn’t need her for their desert ecology/sciences stuff because she was a non-native species to the sonoran desert and she was a donation etc. She’s really healthy, unfortunately, on pine which will be switched out as soon as she’s more acclimated, she’s had enough stress as is. Part of the reason why she was also given to me is because she’s very unsocialized and bites, a lot.

I didn’t see what they were talking about until later in the day when I took her out and she attempted to swallow my finger. That was interesting to say the least. I was a bit weirded out, I don’t have a snake larger than 3 feet long at the moment and to have such a big girl chomp down on my finger was bothersome. I tapped her head calmly, nothing hard just a gentle tap and she got the hint and let go. I figure that was a non-aggressive feeding response so I go about to thaw a nice big mouse for her. As I’m putting in a water dish and taking care of some gentle cleaning (feces etc) I get another bite. This time it was aggressive. I’m used to my king putting up the warning signs, the hissing and tail rattling etc. This one just...bit.

She ate her mouse yesterday so that will give her a couple of days to just rest and digest and get used to things again. Is there anything I can do once I can handle her to get her more less likely to carry on with these poor manners? I’m not worried about being bitten at all, it happens, I’ve been tagged once by her already. I was thinking of handling like once a day for five minutes or so, like I’ve done with my king, to see if that might get her calmer and used to me etc. I don’t know how stubborn she’s going to be as an adult though. Any suggestions? Comments? I’ll post pics as soon as she’s not all bloated with mouse!
05/13/08  01:36pm

 #1734163


Grogansilver
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   Message To: Morsel   In reference to Message Id: 1734079


 Bite Pueblan

Sounds interesting, I have two of my own pueblan milk snakes and they were sort of the same way being as aggressive as yours is now but what i did was i would hold them every day just for a couple of minutes and they eventually calmed down i mean there still a little nervous but they don’t strike at me any more i always found the best time to hold them without having them bite me was like the second day after eating a mouse. some people say ho if you hold the snake after feeding them they would throw up the mouse well mine never did. takes some pictures and post them on the site i would like to see the monster causing you all the trouble.
05/13/08  03:19pm

 #1734181


MilkY_king
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   Message To: Grogansilver   In reference to Message Id: 1734163


 Bite Pueblan

I say just hold it every day for a while even if it attempts to bite you, and you shouldn’t care since you just said you weren’t affraid of getting bitten. It is probably the best time to hold him/her a couple of days after she has eaten because if this has anything to do with her being hungry she should be less likely to bite you.
And by the way I would like to see pics because a 5-6 foot pueblan is one of the biggest I’ve ever heard of.
Anyway hope this helps, and good luck with your new snake.



05/13/08  03:34pm

 #1734186


Morsel
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   Message To: Grogansilver   In reference to Message Id: 1734163


 Bite Pueblan

Here’s the monster. I’m not sure if she’s exactly a pueblan or not, she doesn’t have really high yellows like some of them I’ve seen but it’s possible she’s just not as bright as others.






Always hard to get good pics when they won’t stay very still.

I’d say she’s probably a little over an inch thick there, I wish I could have put something in for comparison.
05/13/08  03:35pm

 #1734191


MilkY_king
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   Message To: Morsel   In reference to Message Id: 1734186


 Bite Pueblan

I’d say thats definately a Pueblan, and a very pretty one too.



05/13/08  03:39pm

 #1734231


Grogansilver
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   Message To: MilkY_king   In reference to Message Id: 1734191


 Bite Pueblan

here are mine two pueblans there old pictures but it gives you an idea of what a Pueblan looks like there pretty much similar to yours.
05/13/08  04:08pm

 #1734233


MilkY_king
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   Message To: Grogansilver   In reference to Message Id: 1734231


 Bite Pueblan

Those are some gorgeous snakes man.



05/13/08  04:14pm

 #1734255


Grogansilver
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   Message To: MilkY_king   In reference to Message Id: 1734233


 Bite Pueblan

you should see them now, those are old pictures i will update my pictures when i get the chance right now I’m dealing with six Hondurans, two pueblans, one king snake, three turtles.
05/13/08  04:36pm

 #1734296


Peter54
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   Message To: Morsel   In reference to Message Id: 1734186


 Bite Pueblan

Are you sure about the length and that this is a purebred Pueblan? In that case you definitely have breeched the world record by a mile. I have owned and bred Pueblans for many years and I can tell you that I have never ever seen a Pueblan over 44 inches. If this snake of yours is 5-6 feet it’s definitely a new world record!


his is my largest Pueblan, he is 42 inches, 7 years old.
05/13/08  05:19pm

 #1734311


MilkY_king
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   Message To: Peter54   In reference to Message Id: 1734296


 Bite Pueblan

WOW



05/13/08  05:26pm

 #1734388


Morsel
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   Message To: MilkY_king   In reference to Message Id: 1734311


 Bite Pueblan

She’s...really huge. I’ll have to get some official measurements ASAP. Probably tomorrow to see how she holds up to the others. Then again, I could be wrong and just think she’s a giant or something and she’s really only 4 feet long or something ;p. I’ll know for sure soon.
05/13/08  06:29pm

 #1734498


Morsel
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   Message To: Morsel   In reference to Message Id: 1734388


 Bite Pueblan

Okay, she’s about 4 and a half feet long. Still pretty big!
05/13/08  08:03pm

 #1734909


Grogansilver
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   Message To: Morsel   In reference to Message Id: 1734498


 Bite Pueblan

you have a nice snake there enjoy her.
05/14/08  04:18am

 #1734968


MilkY_king
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   Message To: Grogansilver   In reference to Message Id: 1734909


 Bite Pueblan

Still 4 and a half feet is very big, especially for a Pueblan. Shes gorgeous.
05/14/08  08:32am

 #1735944


Peter54
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   Message To: Morsel   In reference to Message Id: 1734498


 Bite Pueblan

I think even that size is a record. These snakes don’t exceed 36 inches in the wild. However, due to the conditions in captivity, wich never include the harsh living conditions the face in the wild, they tend to grow bigger in captivity. But 4 and a half feet, that’s more than 135 cm and to my knowledge that is a world record for pueblans.



05/15/08  02:07am

 #1735961


Morsel
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   Message To: Peter54   In reference to Message Id: 1735944


 Bite Pueblan

I bet she’s a hybrid or something. I have NO clue about her origins, neither did the people who gave her to me because they got her as a donation to the facility so...yeah. She’s a very big girl, she’s calmed after a good feeding though. I don’t know why they said she was so aggressive. She’s only territorial, and that’s reasonable. Once she’s out of the tank she’s fine.
05/15/08  02:57am

 #1736078


MilkY_king
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   Message To: Morsel   In reference to Message Id: 1735961


 Bite Pueblan

Yeh it sounds like shes cage aggresive, witch I’ve had dealings like that before but snakes aren’t territorial. She probably just feels uneasy when a huge hand, (huge to her) comes reaching in to the cage, not nit picking though.



05/15/08  09:08am

 #1740328


Rai my corn snake
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   Message To: Morsel   In reference to Message Id: 1734186


 Bite Pueblan

This is a little off topic but the terrain that your snake has might not be good. I once gave my snake that terrain and I think she got mites from it.
05/19/08  05:50pm

 #1740895


Morsel
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   Message To: Rai my corn snake   In reference to Message Id: 1740328


 Bite Pueblan

Mine’s on shavings right now. Or did you mean the coconut husk one? That’s fairly safe as well, but it also holds a lot of humidity and can be dusky. I -have- seen some small bug issues before when I used that stuff for hermit crabs.
05/20/08  12:26am

 #1740962


Peter54
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   Message To: Rai my corn snake   In reference to Message Id: 1740328


 Bite Pueblan

rai my corn snake
You cannot get mites from anything that has not been in direct contact with a mite infested environment. Usually mites is brought in by ourselves thru us visiting places that are mite infested.

Morsel
I have been studying your pics, and my best guess is that your snake is a mix between Pueblan and Sinaloan. Most Sinaloans stay around 4 feet 4 inches, but I have seen much larger specimen. in fact I own a very large male Sinaloan myself. I therefore suggest that your snake is a mix. I don’t believe that a pueblan milk ever grows to that size.


My kids holding the 64-66 inch male Sinaloan.
05/20/08  04:29am

 #1741202


Morsel
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   Message To: Peter54   In reference to Message Id: 1740962


 Bite Pueblan

I can believe that he/she is a mix for sure. I have no idea about the snake’s origins and got minimal information when it was given to me. I also have limited experience with snakes and well, milks, this is my first. I’ve caught on to a lot of information in the last year of caring for snakes but I don’t claim to be an expert. A year is such little time!

I’ve been able to read it a lot better over the last week though and I’ve been able to avoid getting bit by just handling in the daytime when it’s not in hunting mode.



05/20/08  11:30am

 #1744149


Morsel
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   Message To: Morsel   In reference to Message Id: 1741202


 Bite Pueblan

Aww, and there was first blood last night. Unprovoked, no reason to strike at all, she turned and tagged my hand and left some nice little pin pricks. My parents saw what happened and were more freaked out than I was.



05/23/08  02:18pm


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