MBK with strong food drive
Hello everyone (I'm new to reddit so I don’t really know my way around yet).
Exactly a week ago I got to welcome a mexican black kindsnake into my home (it’s a roughly 6 year old male). I left him alone to settle for a couple days and then fed him on day four.
He ate very well and ever since I got him, he has been a curious explorer and shown no signs of stress or discomfort.
So today (7 days after I got him and 3 days after he ate) I wanted to handle him for the first time.
My issue is currently that everytime I open the enclosure he comes darting towards the opening and I barely have access to his mid section to scoop him up.
At some point I was able to open the enclosure when he wasn’t actively exploring and brushed his mid body with my knuckle before gently lifting him up.
He immediately went to bit my thumb and coil around my wrist and after a while I had to gently open his jaw to wiggle my thumb free because he was trying to swallow it and he wasn’t super happy about that and hissed at me. He then started flicking his tongue but since he seemed tense I decided to put him back in the enclosure.
Afterwards he darted around the enclosure for about an hour but he has settled down now.
Any ideas or tips on how to approach this the next time to avoid him trying to gum down my thumb again? Should I leave him alone for a couple days now?
Edit: This is my first snake