A few pet snake myths that I hear over and over again.
Feeding live prey will make my snake more aggressive: False
First understand snakes are not aggressive but can be defensive if scared or stressed. In the wild snakes are not more "aggressive" because they are feeding on live prey, they are simply more defensive because well, they are WILD animals. A feral cat is not going to be like your sweet house cat, and this has nothing to do with the animal's diet. Snakes are predators plain and simple, they are nature's natural rodent control (and for some species other snakes & reptiles). Changing an animal’s diet from live prey to frozen thawed prey would not make a difference in the instincts of a predator like a snake. If your snake is being defensive take a look at what might be causing it stress.
Carpet Pythons (or anything other than ball pythons & corn snakes) are mean: False
This goes back to the statement above, snakes are not mean or aggressive, but defensive. Baby carpet pythons get a bad reputation for being more bitty than other species of pythons. There is a simple reason for this, carpet python hatchlings are small, much smaller than ball python hatchlings. So if a big scary thing comes along and picks you up, and your only way to defend yourself is to bite, then you're going to bite. Learn to read your snakes body language. Is the snake hissing, puffing up, coiled? If so chances are the snake is scarred.
I hear this a lot, and people seam to think anything other than ball pythons are mean or aggressive. There is a simple reason for this, and it comes down to size of hatchlings. The smaller the hatchling the more likely it is to be defensive until it becomes larger.
You can tame snakes: True, well mostly
Working with snakes to get them over their fear of handling is a real thing. Working with a snake daily can get the snake to no longer see you as a treat. Why I say this is mostly true is that some wild snakes will always be just that, wild animals. It's always going to be easier to tame a captive bred animal rather than a wild caught animal. Remember snake work off of instincts, so wild animals will sometimes stay wild. But at the same time if you put in the effort to work with an animal, even wild ones can become tame.
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