I’ve learned that the snake I nicknamed Thor on the artificial den is officially named “Tickler.” I have no idea why. He’s a fascinating little guy with a personality that seems miles apart from his new den mates. It was a couple of weeks after they all went into the den before I saw him actually associate with the other adults, though he didn’t object if the babies approached and cuddled up to him. The past week or two, he seems to have settled in and is joining the other adults in the morning cuddlepuddle.
Here he is leaving the “puddle” this morning:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V-Bg6OVE0YA
He’s an incredibly curious boy. A sound in the access area will always bring him over to investigate.
The coolest thing about him, though, is that he can’t resist approaching humans and clearly recognizes at least one of his caretakers by sight. When he’s behind the rocks and spots a human in front of the den, he often approaches the rock and lifts his head, so that just his eyes are visible over the top, and stays that way for several minutes, just “peeking” at the human. With a little coaxing, if there’s only one person at the den (more than one seems to be a little intimidating), he’ll come over the rocks to the front of the den to investigate more closely.
This morning, when I arrived, he was tucked up in the middle of the puddle, but when he spotted me in my usual spot, he left the group and came closer to keep an eye on me. As usual, he spent a minute or two “peeking” first. He retreated a little when a second person joined me, but when I was alone again, he came down to the front of the enclosure. I offered him my fingers through the glass and he tongue flicked where my fingers were, and nudged gently at the glass with his nose. I stayed there “petting” him through the glass, and wiggling my fingers for him. Meanwhile, he slid back and forth directly in front of me, with most of his body in contact with the glass. Occasionally he’d pause to nudge the glass and tongue flick where my fingers were. After three or four minutes he left me, and I thought that was the end of it, but he made a beeline for the door and periscoped, glancing back at me occasionally. When the door didn’t open, he returned to the front of the enclosure and hung out with me for another five minutes or so before leaving me and going back to cuddle up with Bruce.
I’d love to think he’s beginning to recognize me but there’s no way to know what he’s thinking. Maybe he was being social. Maybe he thought my fingers were mice and coudn’t understand why I wasn’t opening the door to feed him. Does anyone else spend time just hanging out with him? People come and go, changing water, cleaning up, transferring the snakes to feeding boxes. But they never seem to stop for long. If no one else spends time just hanging out with him , there’s no way to know whether he behaves the same way with others. I suspect he does. The other snakes seem to be mostly uninterested in humans, other than checking to see whether a human is a threat at the moment. Tickler seems to actually seek out human company. His coloration differs drastically from the others, so perhaps it isn’t surprising that he has some behavioral differences as well. In any case, I love the little guy!