If the snake is a biter, you can wear the kind of latex gloves that come in cheap disposable boxes (like you wear in janitorial or health-care fields). It actually can do two things...When the snake bites, supposedly they don't much care for the "taste" of the latex, and it is a negative consequence to biting. Also, if you tend to "hesitate" when picking up a biter, the gloves can give you a little more confidence. This will allow you to do more frequent handling (important for calming down the feisty young snake) and also give you the quick, confident grab that is less likely to induce a strike.
Since many snakes (including my little leucistic when I first got him) often just strike when first picked up, I just used one glove...on the hand I used to pick the snake up with. I would pick him up, let him bite the glove and then calm down, then transfer him to my ungloved hand. I would then take the glove off of my other hand (using my mouth or foot sometimes!!!) and proceed to handle the snake. This worked great for me, and now my little leucy never bites. They usually calm down anyway, but I think that this helped us both through the process. Duffy
