Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I was wondering how painful it would be to be bit by my 2 year old califronia kingsnake. It is about 3ft long.If he bites what do i need to do to the bite on my arm? Can it break the skin?

Hey, I've been wondering kinda the same thing too! See, I'm sure that pretty soon I will experience my first bite and I'm scared of it, even though I'm not afraid of the pain, I'm not afraid of the marks it'll leave... i'm just scared of it, and i don't know why. I heard it does feel like a pinch though, not even a poke. Sorry I wasn't much help though.
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~Banana~

I was with a buddy of mine about two weeks ago when he got bit by one of my cal kings. We were transferring my breeding group of kings in bags and I was holding the bags. He dropped the snake in the bag, well i didnt get the bag closed quickly enough and the snake turned right back upon touching the bottom of the bag and bit him on the knuckle. He definitely winced, and remarked about my bag closing skills. He continued moving the rest with the other hand, so he was not in any more than mild discomfort. He finally got sick of waiting out the snake and holding its jaws, slid its head forward to get the teeth released without any being broken. He definitely bled and in fact had what looked to be a slight allegic reaction to the saliva. Might have been in his head but he said it burned/itched after for quite a while. At any rate after seeing this, its my opinion its not the worst thing in the world, but it didnt look entirely fun either. Hope this helps. Dave
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2.1 bay of la rosy boas
0.0.8 kenyan sand boas
3.2 ball pythons
1.0 central american boa
1.9 leopard geckos
1.0 convict cali king
1.0 banana cali king
1.3 albino cali king
1.0 greyband king

I've seen people who say they have a 1.1 banded kingsnake or such, what do the numbers mean? Is it age or something?
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~Banana~

(1.1) means one male and one female. Another example would be (2.5) The 2 represents 2 males and the 5 would represent 5 females. Also you might see (2.5.7) 2=males; 5=females; and the 7 would be "unsexed".

Kerby...

A bite like you described, where the snakes grabs you and hangs on, is a feeding response. The snake mistakes your nice pink skin for a pinky and grabs hold and hangs on. A defensive strike is very quick, and the snake does not hang on. In either case, the pain is not real intense because snakes jaws are not that powerful, so you don't get any bruising like you would with a cat or dog bite. The experience is not real pleasant, but it is nothing to get all excited about either.
Jeff Robbe

Usually bites or strikes from kings and milks are relatively painless. Their teeth are so small and sharp that you just don't feel it. If you get nailed on the knuckle or webbing between the fingers it can smart a little. If the skin is broken the bites tend to bleed rather well. The saliva can cause a mild itching reaction. All in all it isn't much of a problem. Get to know your snakes and watch for them getting pissed when you handle them. You should get to know which ones will give you troubles, and which won't.

To answer Banana's question about the numbers:
1.0 = male
0.1 = female
0.0.1= unknown (young)

Bob Bull

if you don't wash them out properly. But they don't tend to get infected. I'm pretty much used to getting bitten now, as I have some illtempered larger snakes. My usual reaction: "Hey! Don't be a player hater!"
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Peter: It's OK, I'll handle it. I read a book about something like this.
Brian: Are you sure it was a book? Are you sure it wasn't NOTHING?

the shock of getting bit than the actual pain. I just got nailed 2 days ago by my 8 foot burm and while the pain was minimal, I bled like a pig. Let me also add that the only bites I've ever recieved were during feeding (which is how the burm bite happened.) My problem is I'm not too careful when it comes to feeding my smaller snakes so bites are sometimes common. At this point I need to start being ALOT more careful with my burm. I also took a really good bite about 2 months ago by my 7 1/2' BCI on the elbow of all places. I wasn't too happy about that one. All in all, as long as they don't get me in the face I don't mind too much. Good luck and stay safe, Scott.
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Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.
Martin Luther King, Jr.

"In any civilized society, it is every citizen's responsibility to obey just laws.
But at the same time, it is every citizen's responsibility to disobey unjust laws."
—Martin Luther King Jr

The worst part of a bite from a 3 ft snake is the sudden motion he makes when hitting you. That's what will get your heart pounding.

The bite itself is pretty trivial. Think a dozen or two pin pricks. They will break the skin, and you will bleed a bit. The best treatment is to wash the wound with soap and water. Or whatever you do to treat a paper cut.

My experience is that a paper cut on the finger bleeds more and hurts worse than a bite from a three foot long snake. A paper cut on the lip or tongue hurts a LOT more.

Sometimes desensitization helps. Every day tell yourself that movement doesn't hurt; only teeth hurt. Pinch a fold of skin on one arm between thumb and first finger. It hurts, right? How badly does it hurt? On a scale of 1-10, with 1 being an itch and 10 bad enough to knock you out, where does the pinch fall? For me, about a 3. A bit from a three foot snake is a 2.

Paul Hollander

I agree that the sudden strike is more alarming than the actual bite itself. One thing is almost certain, you will be bitten sooner or later if you keep snakes. My experience is that there are three types of bites. Some come from out of the blue for no apparent reason, and usually are no big deal. Defensive strikes are also relatively minor occurances, with a quick bite and release (unless you have ahold of the snake, at which time it will latch on with a bite and constrict with it's body...and musk you). It is unwise to attempt to handle snakes while they are in feeding mode (when they have just eaten, expect food every time the cage opens, or smell mice), as they may mistake your moving hand as a food item. Feeding response strikes are also usually accompanied by body constriction, at which time the snake may actually chew on you for a while. Knowing your snake and using common sense can minimize occurence of bites.

I was just bitten yesterday by my brand new female Eastern. Granted, she's only about 16" or so right now, and it really was nothing at all, she didn't even break the skin. I'm just wondering about the bite circumstance. This was the first time really handling her, and she was doing great, had been out for a few mins with no problems when my brother walked up beside me, stood there looking at her for a couple minutes. He made no quick motions or anything like that, was just admiring how well she was doing when wham-o! She spooked, jumped into a writhing ball of musk & rattling tail and almost fell off my arm. I managed to just let her slide down my arm and sit between my forearm and my big pregnant belly while I reached around with other hand to get her. When I hand my hand over her to grab her she nailed one of my fingers, I couldn't see her but knew she had as it felt like someone rubbed a very stiff toothbrush over my finger a couple times. I promptly put her back in her tub, lol. I have no idea what provoked her, as I said, it just came out of nowhere. I've only had her and the male I bought from Will Still for a few days and athey are my first eastern kings. And as I stated was the first time I'd really handled her. I haven't yet handled the male...he just looks nastier in temperament lol. Are easterns like this? Do they spook like that often? Or was this just her and me not being used to each other yet? Never had this happen before with a king.

Also, I have indeed been bitten a few times in my herping career, the biggest snake to get me was a 3' red tail boa once on feeding, she even left a tooth in me. It was a shock, but the bite itself although it bled and bled was nothing at all. The worst bite by a reptile I have had so far *knocks on wood* was by a young Savannah monitor, also on feeding. He was about 2' nose to tail, and managed to nail both my thumb and the small rat at same time. He didn't wanna let go because he had the rat, but he did release after about 5 mins, I don't know who was bleeding worse by that point me or that rat. I still bear that scar to this day, I probably should have had it stitched, it was something to behold I tell ya. The lizard was very upset, he actually sat in the corner and sulked for a while before he went back and ate that rat, lol.
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"Klaatu...Verata...Nicht--cough, cough, cough!"

Not very painful. The snake's teeth are small, but there are a lot of them and they're all hooked inward. (Nature designed them that way so they can hold on to their prey, since they don't have hands and arms to do it.) If he tags you hard enough to break the skin, you'll end up with a set of shallow lacerations, each similar to a mild paper cut. The instinctive reaction to a bite on, say, a hand or finger, is to pull away. Between that and the snake withdrawing the other way, the teeth can rip the skin to produce the lacerations.

Any pain or hemorraging usually is minimal, although as some have noted, bites occasionally can bleed for some time. Complications are extremely rare, and almost always are the result of bacteria or other infection at the site of the wound. I don't know about allergic-type reactions to the saliva, but I suppose it's possible. Treatment with soap and water, or perhaps some peroxide, is normally sufficient to eliminate this possibility.
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MichaelB

Don't know how much it hurts, but just wanted to share a lil story... We have a 3 ft Banana king that likes to bite. She has bitten my boyfriend a couple of times and held on. The last time, he held her underwater, poured alcohol into her mouth, and finally after about 10 min of this, with her not letting go, we eventually got her to let go by pouring vinegar into her mouth. She is the only snake we have that has "bitten" repeatedly.