I just recently rescued an adult black mexican kingsnake. She/He (how do I sex?) is a very nice/tame snake, but I've been bitten twice now.
First was TOTALLY my fault. I also have an african house snake who never strikes at anything and I got complacent when feeding the black last week. Even though I disinfected and washed my hands after taking a mouse out of the freezer, the black STILL smelled it (I'm kinda amazed it still smelled that) while I was handling it.
The second time I was doing some spot cleaning in the tank (just 5 minutes ago) and it struck. It wasn't a defensive strike and she wasn't incredibly enthusiastic at it either, but it did graze me.
Now I rescued the snake from a middle man who took it in temporarily from the original owner. I have the sneaking suspicion (but I'm not sure) that they only fed live and thus the second strike was more a reaction to movement???
I WAS told that the guy neglected the snake a bit and never gave regular feedings (usually every 3 or 4 weeks). So my guess on the first bit was one of extreme hunger (it bit and wouldn't let go as soon as it smelled food)???
So my real question here is: is it possible to calm a snake down? I always feed frozen/thawed, so will this help to calm it down a bit so it won't strike at something moving when she's hungry? I'm not a complete newbie to snakes...but all the ones I have and keep don't tend to bite 
I'd like to make this mexican black a part of my classroom, so any help would be appreciated.
