Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hello everyone. I've recently purchased a year and a halh old Mexican Black Kingsnake (Nigritus). I had him out of the cage and handling him...just kicking back watching the Basketball game. Then WHACK, he latches onto my finger and won't let go. I gave him a few days to get acclimated to his new surroundings, and this wasn't a SFE. i even use a solution to wash and sterilize my hands before and after handling. I'm very careful about not making fast moves, or hands smelling like something of a prey item. I don't know why he bit and was wondering if anyone might have an idea. There was no pain just a tingling feeling. As a matter of fact, I didn't even know he was biting me until I looked. He had been making jerky movements sooon after I took him out of his cage. Did he not settle into his surrounding long enough? Are nigritus usually like this? Thanks for any ideas...
Brad

Lots of kings do that as they get older. I think that they are always so hungry that they just do it to make absolutely certain that your hand isn't food. I call it the test bite.
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Martin Whalin
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Quotes from guys named Carl:

"Science stops at the frontier of logic. Nature does not, she thrives on ground as yet untrodden by theory."
-Carl Jung

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All snakes can bite without warning. They are after all still wild animals. Like the other post said King Snakes are ALWAYS hungry! King snakes are really aggressive feeders and when feeding them most people put the mouse or whatever other prey in their feeding enclosure with our hands. The snake will associate a human hand with food and like the other poster said,give it a test bite.

There is one way to get the snake from not biting your hand. If you wear latex gloves while handling your snake and the snake test bites your finger he will think twice about testing again. Snakes HATE the taste of latex. This method actually worked with my yellow rat snake when he was a hatchling. He use to bite my finger all the time then someone told me about the latex gloves. I wore em twice and he bit me both times and NEVER bit my fingers again. I can only assume it was the latex. I mean the snake is fairly tame now but still can be nasty once in awhile. He never bites me any more but let anyone else try to pick him up and he will definately give you a knaw.