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Sunday, February 25, 2024

Low-stress snake care and management involves caring for snakes in a way that minimizes stress and promotes their wellbeing. This approach recognizes that stress can negatively impact an animal's health, behavior, and overall welfare. The goal is to create a positive environment that meets the physical and psychological needs of the snakes, not intruding into their personal space or disrupting them unnecessarily, and not engaging in forced handling unless it is an emergency.

Low-stress snake care is particularly important in settings like zoos, laboratories, and veterinary clinics where animals are under human care, but it is also important in homes where snakes are living as family members. Low stress care is a considerate management style that reflects an ethical and responsible approach to snake husbandry, recognizing they are individuals who deserve to be treated with respect and compassion.

Make sure to regularly observe snake behavior to identify signs of stress, illness, or discomfort. Early detection of signs of stress means keepers can back off and leave the snake alone before they become distressed and noticing signs of illness or discomfort early allows for timely intervention. The sooner they get to the veterinarian the better when something is out of the ordinary.

Remember that snakes benefit from predictability with regards to care routines and that when care, including enclosure maintenance, can be accomplished without being intrusive or disruptive to the snake, their stress level with remain low and they are less likely to become defensive.

I get asked frequently by people incorporating low-stress management and choice-based interactions into their snake care how they clean the enclosure without taking the snake out. While it is always possible to teach the snake through operant conditioning and positive reinforcement training to come out of their enclosures voluntarily or wait for them to decide they want to come out and explore, when you need to do enclosure maintenance, there are low-stress ways to clean and do maintenance while they remain in their habitat.

Lori A. Torrini, CPDT-KA, AAB-UW, FFCP-Trainer
AAS Zoo Keeping, BSc Animal Health and Behavior
www.BehaviorEducation.org
www.Patreon.com/BehaviorEducation

Classical Conditioning for Snakes handbook available here: https://www.patreon.com/behavioreduca...

Resources

Bassett, L., & Buchanan-Smith, H. M. (2007). Effects of predictability on the welfare of captive animals. Applied Animal Behaviour Science, 102(3-4), 223-245.

Demaline, B. (2018). Fear in the veterinary clinic: History and Development of the Fear Free℠ Initiative. Conspectus Borealis, 4(1), 2.

Leotti, L. A., Iyengar, S. S., & Ochsner, K. N. (2010). Born to choose: The origins and value of the need for control. Trends in cognitive sciences, 14(10), 457-463.