Reptile & Amphibian Forums

i've been catching snakes and collecting them for over 30 years. i've been bit numerous times by non-poisonous snakes and even once by a poisonous one.

i'm the father of 5 boys and 3 are into snakes. the question i have is can a person put out a smell that will cause snakes to bite? my 9 year old son is totally into snakes but any snake he handles bites him. this is not an exageration. every california king snake he catches bites him over and over. i can take them from him and i don't get bitten.

i have many boas and they are all very docile. one day i was holding one of my females which had never bitten and my son walked by and she nailed me.

has anyone had a similar experience?

thanks

No offense- this is very obvious, but I've certainly missed the very obvious before, so...your son doesn't happen to have a pet hamster/rat/guinea pig etc, does he?

I know, I know...just a thought.

Sometimes a strong cat or dog smell will also confuse a snake and cause it to bite. I was showing my sister and nephew a yearling ball python that had never attempted to bite and all of a sudden wham he latched on to my thumb as if it was dinner time. I don't have any warm and fuzzy pets but my sister has three dogs and two cats.

Also it might be how he holds the snake, he may restrict its movement or hold it too tight. I have found, as I'm sure most everyone else has, it's best to allow the snake to freely crawl through your hands as if it's actually moving and not restricted.

And then again there might be some human pheromone that says to a snake 'bite me', I don't know. Over the years I have seen some people more prone to getting nailed than others.

I think the simple fact is that your son is the "anti-christ" and snakes are biting him for the bad rap that his father gave him way back in the "ADAM AND EVE" days...