How to Read Snake Body Language and Not Get Bit

Hope you all enjoyed the holidays! Took a break but am back with the topic of how to read a snakes body language.

I discuss how to read a snakes body language, strike range, how to avoid getting bit. I show off some corn snakes, boas, rainbow boas, and pythons.

Disclaimer- This is not for venomous snakes. Obviously, but I have to put this out there...

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[IntrepidExotics]

I think boas are the trickiest for newer keepers, they almost always are "S"d up naturally always looking like they wanna pop ya, whether they actually want to or not. Great vid J 👍

[chameleonlandlord]

As someone who is not new to reptiles but new to snakes this content is gold, love your channel.

[karenrosenberger]

I have a Ball Python for nearly a year now and hes NEVER tried to strike/bite me. He's an absolute sweetheart. My husband got him for me for Christmas last year from a breeder at a reptile expo and the breeder told my husband that my snake has had a LOT of human interaction and socializing. I actually took him to Petco yesterday. I love him so much!!

[alexfierro]

That's exactly how my corn snake is super nervous and gets into the same posture as your scales. It's my fault for not handling her often, but she's always been nervous and flighty. Awesome video.

[KT-knvd]

Those postures can be very confusing to someone like me who’s still learning what to look for. Heavy breathing is usually that defensive get away from me sign lol.. the not moving at all with no tongue flicks is very helpful. Thanks Jason!!

[snakemannn]

Bro i do enjoy your educated works, ,,, Very great info, ,, may the new year be even more of a susccess for u and yours, ,, Reptile 🐍🐍🐍🐍🐍🐍🐍🐍

[jdmahle]

Hey brother, I'm glad to see you back from the holidays. Hope you had a good Christmas and New years.

[JoshBowren]

Awe, she's so calm now. I saw the first video by accident before this video. She lit you up!!! She was having a bad day, I felt bad too.

[douglasblankenship]

I’m probably going to be needing some mentoring, I just purchased my first snake I believe she’s a female and she’s about 7-8’ long 4-5 yo red tail tree boa, she’s extremely docile but with her size she can nonetheless be a little intimidating!

[boldcoastexotics]

I asked so many creators for this kind of content years ago.
Great vid! 👍

[reccless]

Great video Jason thanks! Good stuff to learn as we are getting into these bigger snakes now

C&J Reptiles and Exotics

[adamdavis]

Super important video my man great job

I haven't had anywhere near the amount of animals or experiences you have, but over the past 6 years or so I've gotten pretty used to how most South American boas behave, and I say that only because I have mostly had common imperator morphs, But this little Argentine boa has been similar to figure out. She however hated my guts for the longest time, I had some defensive and nervous babies before, but nothing like her

I felt almost embarrassed because here was this itty bitty little baby snake and she was so loud and struck so much that she still managed to put me on edge lol

Soon I just learned that you need to show her that her drama does not work, trying to distract her didn't work, you had to just reach in and get her. Once you picked her up and reoriented her she was always fine, it was just whenever you put her down and had to get her again that she went back into that mode

These days she is one of the sweetest snakes I've ever owned

The animals that I found to be harder to read have been dumerils Boas and blood pythons

Go figure I'm like the one person who had a couple of defensive dumerils Boas. One was a little baby who bit and struck along with refusing to eat. he was only my third snake and I unfortunately gave into frustration and ended up trading him away. I'll probably regret that for the rest of my life, cuz I felt like I kind of gave up on the poor little guy and I really wanted him and didn't want another ball python which is what I ended up receiving in that trade. Although that python was incredibly sweet and easy to work with

But I had another juvenile one who was just nervous. If you unexpectedly moved your hand in front of his face you would get a nip, if you were moving things around in his enclosure you would get a nip, and if you spooked him during shed he would turn into a downright monster. Conversely the one that I got as an adult was one of the chiliest animals I ever had. But it kind of made between all three of them a little bit hard to always understand what they were thinking.

My blood python was always nervous, I tried eventually totally reorganizing his enclosure and giving him a lot more security and eventually space when he got to be big enough to need it, but that almost actually made him more defensive. I think when I had a little bit less stuff for him to hide in or burrow under he would just kind of tense up but accept that you were there to interact with him. But then when he was able to really hide he became very defensive of his enclosure and before you even knew he was there he would tag you

They can also be somewhat bizarre animals to read because they'll often be very vocal with you, but kind of like Burmese pythons it doesn't always mean that they're upset. Sometimes however it does

He's another one who just was not providing me any kind of joy to keep and he's with a more experienced blood python keeper now. At the very least I hung on to him until I found someone absolutely trustworthy to take him, because boy I got a lot of other garbage offers from people who didn't know what they were talking about

I have a couple of Sumatran short tail pythons however who are very reactive still however neither of them have ever been any kind of defensive. They can still be pretty nervous, but they never entertain the idea to bite

But overall, I think I've had to settle on the fact that I really prefer to work with South American Boas. I would like to get back into dumerils Boas at some point, I think they're gorgeous and make great pets when they're Well behaved and established on food. But I think they can be kind of tricky to get them to both of those points sometimes.

But for consistency and enjoyability to work with, it's been common boas and now this little Argentine girl despite the fact that she was a bit of a project.

Buddy if you're reading all of this you're the best, and I think you should look back at your earliest videos and cross-reference them with your latest ones and see just how much muscle you have put on! Proud of you

[vintageme]

I enjoy watching your videos. I watch videos on snakes to learn so your no BS approach is great.

[patrickalilbitofeverything]

Super super cool boas and great information 🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥

[Deus-Too]

Excellent video! I have a yearling, red tail boa, and I’m wondering, how long after her feeding should I wait to handle her? I do not want to elicit regurgitation.

[btoddw]

Thanks brother. It's always a pleasure.

[gregms]

Jason thanks for your videos man. They’re educational and a joy to watch.

[bostonperez]

Love it I’m from Boston I’m Italian and I talk wit my hands lol. I’m from Fall River mass and I felt this lol 😂

[Manguerah]

This video is freaking Great. I am closing in on buying my first RedTail and I appreciate this so much 🙏. I was glued the entire time. Will be Rewatching probably another 2 or 3 hundred times between now and tomorrow 😂

[mrturveydrop]

Thank you for this video! Always an education watching you and how you interact with these beautiful animals.