Reptile & Amphibian Forums

*Warning: bloody pics below*
Well I’ve gone 4 years without a bite from a snake over 2’ so it figures that when it finally happened again it was the largest boa that got me! Autumn, my 7.5’ BCi tagged my right hand during feeding time. It was a stupid feeding error (SFE) on my part. I was watching t.v. and feeding a few snakes during each commercial break (that’ll teach me to not pay 100% attention!). I usually hold open the door on the cage a little and slide the f/t rat in on tongs for the snake to take. The door slipped out of my left hand so I quickly pulled back my right hand with the tongs and rat, Bammo! She nabbed my hand instead of the rat. Came halfway out coiled my hand and arm. Luckily in a stressful situation (like a car accident) I always tend to get calm and clear-headed so I got her behind the head with my left hand and was able to pull her the rest of the way out of the cage (she didn’t have anything to anchor onto in the cage) and dragged her out of the snake room and into the bathroom with the intention of putting her head under water. Right when I was about to, she let go (ouch! Those top teeth scraped me up good). Last time I got nabbed by a 6’ boa it was the same way, by holding behind the neck and getting out of the room with the rat smell, then let go pretty quickly. Autumn has always been what I consider my ‘tamest’ snake, I’ve had her almost 10 years now and this was the first bite. Just goes to show that they are still wild animals that run on instinct. I still love my big angel; I know it was my fault completely.

So, on to the pics:
Right after the bite, washed off once so far, I like how the flash washed it out making the blood really red and gory:

Here it is after being washed off and cleaned up, she had my thumb and 3 fingers in her mouth.

And the next morning – not looking too bad… you can see a perfect outline of her bottom jaw along the bottom of my hand!

Just to compare to my other hand, you can see the swelling on the fingers.

I don’t have any recent pics of Autumn, so here’s a bad picture I took over the weekend of LemonDrop (‘98 PK albino), who is about ½’ shorter than Autumn, to give a size reference.

What a fun weekend! Hope everyone had a nice Thanksgiving!
-April
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'There is a very fine line between "hobby" and "mental illness."' -Rainshadow

Boy, I hate it when that happens.

When bad things happen to good people.

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Hard as I've tried, I just can't NOT do this.

jsc

n/p

You got tagged pretty good!! In all the times I've been tagged, don't think I've ever been hit that hard. Been keeping snakes for many years and have over a hundred in the collection now and duh, get bit semi regularly. Almost all are nips from the babies and don't even hurt theng goodness. Hope you heal quickly and keep putting antibacterial stuff on it, either polysporin or hydrogen peroxide.
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Thanks,

Dave Colling

www.rainbows-r-us-reptiles.com

0.1 Wife (WC and still very fiesty)
0.2 kids (CBB, a big part of our selective breeding program)

LOL, to many snakes to list, last count:
24.36 BRB
19.19 BCI
And those are only the breeders

lots.lots.lots feeder mice and rats

Yeah she got me pretty good that's for sure. It's the hardest I've been hit before. I'll take baby nips anytime! lol
Keeping the neosporin on and it's healing up nicely.

thanks!

at least it was your hand and you werent knelt down to pick up the door and get struck in the face lol

Luckily it was a Boaphile cage, so the door just swung down. I can't imagine if she had gotten me in the face! Now that would have been a mess and very dangerous! eek!!

gp

I heard they suck live.

nice lol, last time I got tagged by a big one it was a 6 ft Burm and it was the same kind of SFE... just gotta grin and wear as a badge of honor lol great looking albino btw
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0.1 CB fiancee' Kelly (Pythona)
1.1 Albino Burms
1.1 Pigmy leaf chameleons
0.0.1 Razorback Musk Turtle (Lil Cheney)
1.0 Irian Jaya Bluetongue Skink
0.1 Eastern Bluetongue Skink
1.0 Black Throated Monitor
0.1 Savanna Monitor
0.1 Ball Python het pied
1.0 Pastel Ball Python
0.1 Ball python
1.0 Albino ratsnake
1.0 Mali Uromastyx
0.1 Emperor scorpion (gravid)
0.1 Deathstalker (most toxic scorpion in the world!)
0.0.1 Fantasy frog
1.1 Amazon Tree Boas
Ever growing Boa colony
1.1 Cal Kings (50/50 and lavender albino)
1.0 Blood Python
2.2 Leopard Geckos
1.2 African Fat Tailed Geckos
1.1 Sugar Gliders (Memphis & Gravy)
2.1 dumb-estic cats (Nugget,Pedro & Dixie Bubbles)
1.1 American Pit Bull Terrier (Joker & SEGA) Punish the Deed not the Breed
0.1 Jack russell/chihuahua cross (Harley)

Well my snakes serve a second purpose...they keep my family out of my house

I liked all the looks I got from my co-workers when I was showing them the bite. It was hirlarious.
Thanks for the nice comment about Lemondrop!

that looks a nasty bite , im glad you didnt panic in a situation like that

Usually I have someone home or visiting when I mess with any of the snakes over 6', just in case... but I was alone this time, and lucky she only got my hand!

Man I know that hurt. Randy

>>Man I know that hurt. Randy