PHYSIOLOGICAL AND BEHAVIORAL-EFFECTS OF HANDLING AND RESTRAINT IN THEBALL PYTHON (PYTHON-REGIUS) AND THE BLUE-TONGUED SKINK (TILIQUA-SCINCOIDES)

Four handling techniques commonly used with snakes and lizards in zool ogical park reptile collections were evaluated with respect to animal well-being. Adult male blue-tongued skinks (n = 3) and ball pythons (n = 4) were either handled gently, restrained manually, or container re strained for 10 min. The animals were then released into their enclosu res for 15 min and blood sampled. At each sampling period, one animal served as an unhandled control. Plasma corticosterone (CS) levels, pre - and post-treatment locomotor and consummatory activities, and hetero phil/lymphocyte ratios were determined. None of the parameters evaluat ed differed significantly among treatments with the exception of CS le vels in container-restrained pythons (56.2 +/- 6.7 ng ml-1), which wer e higher (P < 0.05) than those of controls (37.6 +/- 6.1 ng ml-1). Bri ef periods of handling in captivity thus do not appear to cause chroni c stress in the study species, although container restraint did appear to result in short-term stress in pythons.