Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hey all, my 1 year female surinam bit me last night for the first time ever. The second I stuck my hand in her cage to change her water, I knew something was up. She coiled her neck and shyed away from, an instant warning sign that I ignored. After changing her water, I decided to pick her up.

She bit me in the hand, just once and didn't latch on. I have a pretty nasty wound but that is not the point right now. I am wondering what caused her to strike me. This afternoon, I was prepared to pick her up again, however she coiled up into a defensive position as soon as I removed her hideaway, this time I got the message and let her alone.

I decided to leave a sweaty undershirt of mine in the cage, in hopes that it will "familirize" her with my smell.

What should I do? I want to be able to handle her and whatnot, and I don't want to have this fear of being bitten last forever!

BTW... she ate just over a week ago so I doubt that is the problem...

It may have been just in one of those moods.All snakes can have days when they just dont want to be messed with,maybe this was just her day.One very important thing to remember is to never let them know that you are afraid of getting bit.In a way snakes are kinda like dogs in a sense and will acustom biting to not being handled and will bite every time.If they sense fear they will also bite (not all the time but as often as possible).Nervousness,even in the slightest instance can also trigger a bite (defensively and mistaken prey). Regards Bill McLeod

She may have developed a feeding response to you opening the cage door and thinking it is feeding time, she may be starting an early shed cycle or you may just smell like food from eating a chicken dinner or petting the family cat? it could be a bunch of different things but here is some advice....
1st off I will give you a brief lecture on what you wanted vs what you got. BCC vs BCI. You traded beauty for temperment when you decided to get a true Red tailed boa, Someone should have warned you on that. BCC boas tend to be a bit more nippy then a Common Colombian and even then different locality Boas are better then others, so you may not ever get her to be that Boa that you can handle and trust all the time, for that you should have looked at a Colombian Boa (even a central American Boa, also BCI can be nippy at times)
2nd get the sweaty shirt out of the cage, it may be what smells like food and your snake may try and eat it! Not a good move LOL, ever try and take a peice of cloth out of a snakes mouth, not an easy task!
3rd, invest in a snake hook, you can get them from midwest tonges or most reptile shops for about $20.00. Use the hook to test the temperment of your snake before you reach into the cage. They snake may just expect food and when you show it that there is no food, it may settle down and not be aggresive at all, a good indicator on the bite, to tell if it was a feeding strike or a mad snake is how much huffing, puffing and hissing was done prior to and after the bite. A mad snake lets you know it is made by making a show, a hungry snake just coils back and strikes, once it figured what it hit was not food it releases you.
I hope this helps
Jim Hopkins

I doubt very much that boas can tell if your nervous or not, sensing emotions has no use whatsoever in an animal that doesn't communicate (at least not in a complex way). If you don't want to get bitten again then boas (or snakes in genral) may no be the pet for you. They are unpredictable, it's in their nature.
Cheers

Emotions signals the release of chemicals in the body. Some of these chemicals are Hormones like ephinephrine, which will make your heart race and make you feel nervous, but others are pheromones. Pheromeones are similar to a hormone, but they are excreted from the sweat glands and released into the air. If you are afraid, it is very well possible that a creature that has a highly developed sense of smell/taste (such as a snake) to be aware of this emotion.

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Sure snakes have very sensitive taste/smell, and they may very well be able to detect minute changes in the hormones your body releases. But I don't think they can determine if you are afraid or nervous from these secretions, and I don't think they will bite you because you are nervous. If it bites you it is because it is defending itself or because its in feed mode. Snakes are creatures of instinct, much of their behaviour is hardwired right into their brain. The scent of a rat will trigger the feeding response, the scent of human hormones will trigger nothing, unless of course the snakes confuses it with a "relevent" smell to the snake. They are wonderful creatures, probably my favourite but they are very simple. If you think your snake has bonded with you, cares about you, senses your emotions or feelings or sees you as anything other then just another large creature (sometimes one with food) then I believe you are mistaken. Basically snakes are unpredictble and uncaring and I think all snake-owners should know this.

I am not saying the snake can sense the emotion. It may very well be able to sense a change in your pheromonal output. By natural instynct, a snake may strike at that if you are nervous or afraid. The snake itself does not have emotions, but mother nature may have put a set of instructions in the snake that tell it how to react to certain scents.

I have found that if I go to pick up a snake and I stop halfway when it looks at me, it is when I start moving again that it bites me. I have had good luck just reaching in and placing my open palm on the snake without pausing halfway. But I have small boas and if they were larger I would use a hook, why risk getting a bad bite. Once my boas & pythons are out of their enclosures they are very calm.

I agree with this statement. A lot of the fear thing is philological and causes us to act a certain way. Animals act a certain way when under stress and in a conflict. If your had is jerky, doesn't move smoothly, and hesitates, it is acting just like any other creature in the wild would when it attacks a snake. I think snakes are very sensitive toward movement and body language and it interprets intent using these queue points.

Other animals can sense fear/nervousness and will react to it.Have you ever wondered why when a snake decides to bite you (mistaken prey) and holds on why they will not release until you are either dead or intervene?Its because of the adrenalin that gets pumped through your entire body when you are excited,threatened,or in an otherwise unsafe position.When this happens your heart starts pumping rapidly and doesnt stop until the situation is under control.The snake can feel this and sense this and will react accordingly,in other words the faster your heart beats the tighter it squeezes.

The snake hook theory is alright if you dont know your animals.Knowing the movements of ones animals is usually the key to not getting bit in the first place.Not saying that there isnt occasions where this rule doesnt apply but probably about 1 in 5 times that someone gets bit its because they wasnt paying attention to their animal in ?.Regards Bill McLeod

If it was a feeding response bite, she would not have released. She would have locked down hard and started to coil/constrict around you hand and arm. I had my burmese do this to me, and a feeding response bite is defenitly a lot more painfull then a defenseive bite, and they are not easy to get off without hurting the snake.

A quick bite and release is a defensive bite. As someone else said, she probably didnt want to be bothered with at the time. She also may have been nervous or stressed out from something. An easy example of how you could stress them out without realising would be if someone was playing music that had a lot of bass and/or a subwoofer.

She also may have been protective of her environment. You can try taking her out with a hook and placing her on the floor, and then attempt to handle her once she is out of her cage.

Billy

My burm bit me about a year ago. I was hong a thawd rat in her cage, with 12" tweezers. She made her normal excitment as food was coming in the cage and got my hand. She quickly released as I pulled my hand back. And before I got my hand all the way out of the cage, she sruck the rat and coiled around it. She knew my hand was not food. Thank you, Lee

I was speaking in general. One incedent with your burm does not make this normal behavior for all burmese pythons, or any snake for that matter. Thank You.

Billy

I was giving an example. Most snakes can tell if what they struck is food or not. Thank you, Lee

..Any snake can and will bite at any time. And Suriname boas are not the most calm or tame of the boas.

If you want to avoid a really nasty bite when it is much larger pay attention to the animal and learn to trust your instincts about when to handle it and when to leave it be..

Gus

Imagine what your hand must look like to them as you are reaching in to pick them up. They are intimidated because you look like a big predator and they become defensive.
Invest in a snake hook. When you take your snake out with a hook it must concentrate on balancing and holding on to the hook. Plus, you can stand farther away so you are not right on top of them when taking them out.
I've had many boas that hiss and strike when opening their enclosures, but when "hooked" out and placed onto my hand or arm, they settle down completely.

post pics please ;-D lol
i'm just kiddin man...
no, wait, no i'm not... seriously, post some pics man!
have a good one, jb
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Jonathan Brady
My Kingsnake Photo Gallery

Being bit by a rat....GAAAWWWDD Those things can take a chuck out of you. I would rather get bit by a huge boa than a rat ANYDAY. I have been bit by 8 ft. plus boas...not realy a big deal at all. The big pythons and those nasty rats however can really be trouble.

1st time in years. My fault.Feeding time , smelling like rats.........DUH It was just a baby Hog Isle.........He sure did make me bleed,ALOT