Reptile & Amphibian Forums

My girlfriend was holding my new super red estern. I think she was looking at it wondering why I bought istead of buying HER something nice. Anyway, it reared back and bit her on the palm. She freaked. Even drew blood.

Rudy
-----
0.1 Rubber Boa
1.0 Eastern Hognose 2003 super red
0.2 Eastern Hognose Snakes
3.3 Western Hognose Snakes
1.0 Durango Mountain Kingsnake
1.1 Woma's (new!)
Spadefoot
Black Knobbed Sawback
Northern Diamondback
Florida Redbellied Slider
Western Painted
Southern Painted
1.0 African Hedgehog
1.0 Sulcata
1.1
1 Pleco
2 Silver Dollars
3 Bosemian Rainbows
1 Cory Cat
1 Upside Down Catfish
2.0 Fire Guramis

uhh... I think that is it.

..

thats because it was a eastern! I have never herd of a western doing that.

And I have never had an eastern do it either, and that is all I work with. So you can't just blame it on the snake being an eastern because it simply is not natural for either species. Andy
-----
Andy Maddox
Houston Herp Key
The Reptizone

Burgundy baby, With your blue eyed soul, You play the hits and I'm on that roll, Capricorn sister, Freddie Mercury, Jupiter Child cry

Or did it just rear around with its hood spread and snag her with a tooth? A bite suggests it opened then closed its mouth on her. That seems very unlikely, based on my hog experience.

I have handled hundreds of easterns, dozens of westerns and a handful of southerns, and I have never seen a hog BITE. I have seen them lunge/strike, but they don't actually attempt to engage their mouths (they may snag you with a tooth, but that is not their goal).

There are lots of cases of hogs biting in feeding accidents (confusing the hands/fingers with food).
-----
Chris Harrison

...he was beginning to realize he was the creature of a god that appreciated the discomfort of his worshippers - W. Somerset Maugham

That is what was so surprising. I was standing right in front of her with my hand out to take the snake. She was holding the hog, not even squeezing it. We were OOOing and AAAHHing about how pretty it is. The snake was in her left hand facing me. I went to take it out of her hand and it did a 90 degree U-turn to the left and bit down and latched on to her palm right where the palm, dorsal skin, and pinkie knuckle meet. The snake let go in one second and I took it from her. We went to the bathroom and washed the area and cleaned it with peroxide. There was one small pinprick on the skin and a single drop of blood.

Surprised me as much as it surprises you.
She said it burned but no other syptoms were noted. It never got red or swollen or anything.
At least she can say she's been bit by a snake with fangs now.
I've been bitten by an Eastern Before but I had toad on my hand and it was a feeding response. This was different. Maybe the Eastern liked the smell of hermit crab on her hands, and was tired of scented pinkie.

Who knows.

Rudy
-----
0.1 Rubber Boa
1.0 Eastern Hognose 2003 super red
0.2 Eastern Hognose Snakes
3.3 Western Hognose Snakes
1.0 Durango Mountain Kingsnake
1.1 Woma's (new!)
Spadefoot
Black Knobbed Sawback
Northern Diamondback
Florida Redbellied Slider
Western Painted
Southern Painted
1.0 African Hedgehog
1.0 Sulcata
1.1
1 Pleco
2 Silver Dollars
3 Bosemian Rainbows
1 Cory Cat
1 Upside Down Catfish
2.0 Fire Guramis

uhh... I think that is it.

>>That is what was so surprising. I was standing right in front of her with my hand out to take the snake. She was holding the hog, not even squeezing it. We were OOOing and AAAHHing about how pretty it is. The snake was in her left hand facing me. I went to take it out of her hand and it did a 90 degree U-turn to the left and bit down and latched on to her palm right where the palm, dorsal skin, and pinkie knuckle meet. The snake let go in one second and I took it from her. We went to the bathroom and washed the area and cleaned it with peroxide. There was one small pinprick on the skin and a single drop of blood.
>>
>>Surprised me as much as it surprises you.
>>She said it burned but no other syptoms were noted. It never got red or swollen or anything.
>>At least she can say she's been bit by a snake with fangs now.
>>I've been bitten by an Eastern Before but I had toad on my hand and it was a feeding response. This was different. Maybe the Eastern liked the smell of hermit crab on her hands, and was tired of scented pinkie.
>>
>>Who knows.
>>
>>Rudy
>>-----
>>0.1 Rubber Boa
>>1.0 Eastern Hognose 2003 super red
>>0.2 Eastern Hognose Snakes
>>3.3 Western Hognose Snakes
>>1.0 Durango Mountain Kingsnake
>>1.1 Woma's (new!)
>> Spadefoot
>> Black Knobbed Sawback
>> Northern Diamondback
>> Florida Redbellied Slider
>> Western Painted
>> Southern Painted
>>1.0 African Hedgehog
>>1.0 Sulcata
>>1.1
>>1 Pleco
>>2 Silver Dollars
>>3 Bosemian Rainbows
>>1 Cory Cat
>>1 Upside Down Catfish
>>2.0 Fire Guramis
>>
>>uhh... I think that is it.
-----
Chris Harrison

...he was beginning to realize he was the creature of a god that appreciated the discomfort of his worshippers - W. Somerset Maugham

And the differences is .......... ??? In one of of our recent papers, we not only got rid of the term duvernoy's gland (its the same vennom gland as the elapid and viper venom glands) but also showed that aglphous and opisthoglyphous are two totally contrived groups that shoehorn a lot of vastly unrelated animals together based on arbitrary distinctions in dentition.

In the hognosed, they certain do fullfill the criterion of being a proper fang of some sort in that they are enlarged and formed into grooves to conduct the venom.

Cheers
B
-----
Dr. Bryan Grieg Fry
Deputy Director
Australian Venom Research Unit
University of Melbourne

www.venomdoc.com

>>And the differences is .......... ??? In one of of our recent papers, we not only got rid of the term duvernoy's gland (its the same vennom gland as the elapid and viper venom glands) but also showed that aglphous and opisthoglyphous are two totally contrived groups that shoehorn a lot of vastly unrelated animals together based on arbitrary distinctions in dentition.
>>
>>In the hognosed, they certain do fullfill the criterion of being a proper fang of some sort in that they are enlarged and formed into grooves to conduct the venom.
>>
>>Cheers
>>B
>>-----
>>Dr. Bryan Grieg Fry
>>Deputy Director
>>Australian Venom Research Unit
>>University of Melbourne
>>
>>www.venomdoc.com
-----
...the oldest task in human history: to live on a piece of land without spoiling it."
Aldo Leopold (1938)

"Sometimes I think the surest sign that intelligent life exists elsewhere in the universe is that none of it has tried to contact us."
Calvin and Hobbes (Scientific Progress Goes 'Boink', 1991)

Keep it coming! Great work you're doing!

A.C.

www.gradeareptiles.com

Fangs for that.

Cheers
B