Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hello,

I have a few questions to see if people feel the same way I do. This is obvious with baby or very manageable snakes, not the monsters.

When one of your snakes bites you do you get jumpy around the rest of them?

Is it chicken to not want to take a hit from a snake no matter what the size. I have some babies and when when they move their head, I kind of jump back, to not take it. If that makes sense.

Just wanted to see if people don't mind getting bite or try to stay away from it.
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0.2 Rotts
1.0 Super Tiger
0.1 Green Burm
0.1 Ball Python
0.1 Red Tail
0.1 Blood Python
1.0 Green Ananconda
1.0 Emerald Tree Boa

I know it's hard not to jump. On one level, I know that they can't really do any damage even if they do bite you (except for the really big ones, of course), however, we've been conditioned that snake bites kill you or at least make you very sick (think of just about every movie you've ever watched), so we can't help but be a little nervous. I'm sure once I've been doing it for many many years, it won't be as big of a deal, but right now I jump if they look like they're even thinking about biting me.
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Awesomo6000

My way of not studying when I should be...
1.1 Red Bloods (Cartman and Bebe)
0.1 Boa Constrictor (Victoria)
0.1 Albino Burm (Butters)
0.0.1 Desert King (Miles)
1.1 Bearded Dragons (Stan and Wendy)

I think that to some extent your jumpiness is probably a good thing. You just have to be careful not to pull away to hard if one actually hits you. I have been keeping various snakes for around seven years and have only been struck at maybe 5 times and hit twice, the most recent one being the most worrisome for me. But i still on occasion get a little chicken when handling even the smaller kingsnakes.

I generally try to avoid being bitten, even by the small stuff, mostly by getting the snake's attention first. But over the years I've also learned to suppress the urge to jerk my hand back because:
A) If you're too slow, you can cause more damage to yourself and to the snake.
B) With larger snakes, if you're too slow, you just stimulate them to hold on and constrict. I've been bitten a couple of times by pythons in the 8 foot range where I didn't move the bitten hand at all, and they just held on for a second and let go. (Doesn't always work).
C) They learn that they can make you go away by biting you.

On the other hand, the last few years I've gotten into keeping venomous and I worry this conditioning will come back to bite me (so to speak). Oops...

I am like you Larry. I try to avoid being bitten by anything, regardless how truly harmless it might be. Despite the fact that the snake isn't venomous, some of the bites can actually smart a little bit. Of course, you will live and just have to clean it up with some alcohol and a band-aid, but everything will be just fine. However, if you condition yourself to making sure that you dont get bit by anything, you will have that condition in place when you are handling animals that a bite will actually count.

I dont consider anyone to be a "chicken" because they want to avoid being bitten by a ratsnake, or watersnake. In the future, that caution might actually pay off.

JMO,

Chris
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My Website
www.herpfanatic.com

I work with alot of snakes, some of which arent the most personable. As a side effect Im chewed on pretty regularly. If I were to be more careful I could probably avoid alot of the bites, but I find it easier to just do what I need to do(I dont work with hots mind you). To me snake bites dont hurt untill they are 6' and then itsmore of a ache than anything. Ive become so usd to it it dosent phase me anymore. On the other hand with 10' snakes I always use extra care as we all know the risks involved.

Alot of people just dont like getting bit, and there is absolutly nothing wrong with that. Hell, Im afraid of birds, period. Everyone has their limits. I think not pulling back comes with expeince. When I started with snakes I would jerk back, and it always made things worse. Get bit a few times and you just get used to it.

The reason you evolved to have two hands and plenty of blood is so you can still clean cages with a 5 foot boa trying to eat you. CUTE!
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- Mike Fourquet

Cloaca Herpetoculture
www.CloacaHerps.com

Actually, I've got a very strong flinch reflex, and I've come to the conclusion that it is genetic. I am as apt to jerk my hand away if a hatchling corn snake strikes as I am when something far larger and more dangerous strikes. Don't ask me for any scientific references, but I think there is a whole suite of behaviors like this (being ticklish; jumping at the scary parts of movies when something goes, "boo"; being startled when someone comes up behind you unexpectedly) that one is simply born with.

Over the last 7 years I have worked with many small snakes (under 6 foot). A few were nippy juveniles, many more were rescues that had been mistreated by former owners, and some were just demon children who would strike at the glass if I passed 10 feet away.

I don't think the 'jerking the hand back' is in any way cowardly. I firmly believe this is a hard-wired instinct in humans, even though the thinking, rational part of our brain knows that that 16" colubrid or juvenile python is harmless, old self-preservation gut reactions die hard--somewhere deep down, your body 'knows' this may be a potentally lethal venomous animal. This is no different than seeing an object come flying by your head and ducking or raising your hands, even if you know it's only a nerf ball, it's almost impossible to just freeze and not react to it.

It took a good three years for me to stop my urge to yank away; as a poster above said, it's very easy to harm small/juvenile snakes doing this. On one rather horrifying occasion, I reached into a front-opening cage to remove a juvenile corn; it struck at me and managed to get ahold of the end of my middle finger just as I jerked away--The snake went flying over my shoulder across the room and landed (thank God) on a pile of laundry. I don't think any one wants to get bitten, but it comes along with the hobby. I will admit that getting bitten did make me a little jumpy around my snakes, but I got over it, and learned to watch body language closer, which did result in less bites.

I have heard many herpers (almost all male) state that only 'chickens', 'sissies', or 'cowards' are afraid of getting bitten, or that real herpers don't try to avoid bites. I have always ignored these childish comments, they sound like a 'look how tough/manly I am' pissing contest to me.

Bites from even medium size snakes (large colubrids, ball/spotted/childrens pythons, sub adult boa constrictors, etc.) can be an unpleasent affair, the teeth are sharp, they hurt, and in my case, the saliva causes itching almost as painful as the bite. But I don't think I, nor anyone else in the hobby should feel or ever be made to feel that we are less qualified snake keepers because we exercise caution around small/juvenile snakes, or any size snake for that matter.

Sorry about the run on reply, thanks!
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Heather J. Martin
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1 Solomon island ground boa, female
1 Green iguana, male
1 Green anaconda, juvenile
1 Burmese python, 9', female
2 juvenile het for albino BCI