BEHAVIOR EDUCATION, STUDIES, AND TRAINING

Notes and Resources on Snake (and other reptiles) Training, Brains and Cognition

When I decided to share my home with snakes again after more than twenty years without one I took on that responsibility with an understanding of animal behavior and training that I did not have the first time. From years of education in behavior science and the laws governing how animals learn to many years of hands-on experience training animals, I ventured into snake keeping with an interest in r...

Snakes as Family Part One:

Are Snakes being overlooked as the Perfect Pet Family Members?

As an animal trainer, director of an animal sanctuary, and someone who has shared a home with animals their whole life I am always surprised by people who do not share their life with at least one non-human animal. Common reasons ...

I have recently heard discussions on a few podcasts regarding enclosure types. Why debate this subject when we can turn to the animals to tell us what they want? We humans think we know what is best for our snake, sometimes we have valid reasons and other times we are making assumptions without empirical facts. What I am not hearing as part of these enclosure discussions is that it should come down to what the animals prefer. Watching their behavior when housed in ...

I was fortunate to be able to share some of my training and behavior work with snakes on https://www.blogtalkradio.com/moreliapythonradio/2019/07/10/snake-behavior-with-lori-torrini" target="_blank">Morelia Python Radio (MPR) Tuesday, July 9, 2019. Eric Burke sent me a list of EXCELLENT questions ahead of time and I knew there was no way we would make it through all of them in just 2 hours because there is just so much to cover in regards to snake cognition, behavior, welf...

 

Update: Behavior study of Morelia bredli under human care

30 June 2019

The study currently involves 10 animals hatched in 2018 and 7 older animals hatched between 2014 – 2017. The most recent animals were added on 15 May 2019. I feel that 10 animals all the same age is a good sample size to start for comparison and cataloguing of behaviors. They, in addition to the 7 older animals, should give us an overall picture of what behaviors M. bredli spend most of...

Bredli Behavior Study: Update 1

I tracked the activity of 14 individual Morelia bredli, 8 females and 6 males, ages 8 months to nearly 5 years old over two 12-hour periods. The first was between 5:00 pm and 5:00 am (1700 – 0500 hours) on May 10, 2019 – May 11, 2019. The second was between 11:30 am and 11:30 pm (1130 – 2330 hours) on May 11, 2019. An ethogram was filled out for each animal at 30-minute intervals.

The purpose of this was to test the methodology fo...

Snake Cohabitation

May 2019 Pilot Study Update

Lori A. Torrini, CPDT-KA, A.A.S.

 

Introduction

This seems to be a controversial subject among snake keepers, breeders, and hobbyists. Since I began to research this topic over a year ago, I have read and heard opinions from “never do it” to “I have done it for years with no problems” and everything in between. I have searched for scientific studies into the subject and been disapp...

 

3 May 2019

Exciting things happening this year with both our training programs.

The two Smooth Collies I have had here for over a year for behavioral rehabilitation are doing well. Nelson who suffers from Play Deficit Disorder is now able to interact well with some of the other dogs unsupervised and can be with all the dogs under supervision. Although he still chews on items he shouldn't, this has also gotten better. Sadie who is here for severe anxiety i...

I’ve been target training Vedra and I’m so proud of her tonight. She followed the target all the way from her enclosure to her feeding tub without me putting hands on her or using any prompts at all! This is a big step in the process. It’s the first time she’s moved from one location to another following the target. Until now I’ve gotten her to follow the target with her eyes and head and perch above it in her enclosure; tonight I used it to get her to move on he...

Snakes CAN learn and be trained. Humans often fail to give reptiles the credit they deserve when it comes to cognition. When Vedra first arrived here she was used to living in a tub; eventual transition to a terrarium/vivarium terrified and stressed her so she went back into a tub where she felt safe and was content. Enter the compromise to facilitate training and a behavior shift: a Neodesha enclosure with only the front clear. At first Vedra stayed near the back and used her hiding spaces a...