Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hello everyone. I just had an interesting idea and wanted to get others thoughts on this. When I worked with the carnival shows years ago, we had three Burmese. One was a very large girl and then we had a medium and small one as well.

My question is this: If a large Burmese coils up on you, how does one get it off safely without killing the snake? Now we all know that NO ONE should handle a large snake alone and by all means I do not mean if this were to happen alone. But with other people there to help, how would you do it? My old boss said what they used to do was toss a bucket of cold water on the snake if it ever coiled up on a performer. I'm not sure how true this is, but would that work? I'm just curious to hear what you all think about ways to get it off you without having to kill it. I just thought this might make an interesting thread.

Circusfan

First off there is absolutely no reason one should have to resort to killing the snake to remove it after a bite and coil. There are several accepted practices that have been proven to get a snake to release a bite. First off, Don't get bit. Know your snakes and their personalities and this wil go a long way in the prevention of getting bit. Always use proper handing techniques whenever dealing with large snakes. You should hook them out of their enclosures. I use a golf club to slide the snake to the opening of its enclosure and then remove the snake. It knows that when the club touches her then we are getting her out. But if you do get bitten then these are the proven methods I have found that will work. Dumping hot water on the snake will almost always get the snake to release. Not scalding water but hot hot bath water. It should turn your skin a litte red but not really burn you. Pouring alcahol into the snakes mouth. This causes a lot of irritation to the snake and it will almost always let go. The tail bend will also usually work. You grab the snakes tail as if you were going to "pop" it and you bed the tail slightly backwards. This will cause some discomfort to the snake and they usually also let go. In my experience I personally sacrifice a hand. Lets say that the snake has bitten my leg. I will slide my fingers into its mouth. As my hand slides into its mouth it release its teeth from my legs. This is a little painfull but is much easier and quicker then the other methods. It is much easier to remove the snake form my hand then it is from my leg. Anyway, this is just what works in my opinion but the best thing to do is as I stated at the beginning, know your snakes well enough and utilize proper procedures and avoid the bite to begin with. Todd

This is third hand info, but I've heard that giving the snake a taste of vinegar or Mountain Dew works. I'd suspect that vinegar would sting the bitten part horribly, (still would be worth it to safely remove the snake) but Mountain Dew would certainly make me let go!
I've also heard of cold water but have heard varying reports on it's effectiveness. Of course there's alcohol, but I read concerns over it's safety in case the snake swallows it.
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Just so you know, I am a competent snake owner and I handle my snakes with great care. I hook them to take them out and handle with ease. The only reason for this thread is I am interested to see what others think about getting a *big* snake (more than 10 feet or so) off of a person. My old boss told me about one snake that had latched onto a performer in his old show and coiled up around the man. He said the guy started to turn blue and unfortunately they had to kill the snake. So this is what set off my curiosity to find out what ways they could have handled it differently.

Circusfan

I'm new enough with burms not to have had to put any of this into practice, but I've got a question about the last story. Could someone have at least unwrapped this snake so as to give the poor guy some air? I think I would have risked it.

That's exactly why I posted my question. My boss said the snake was too strong and they tried, but I just don;t think they tried hard enough. So in the unlikely case that a snake couldn't be unwrapped, I was just curious what else they could have done...

Circusfan

Never had it happen but from seeing how the snake reacts to different handling techniques it seems to me if you start to unravel from the tail you could give a slight twist. If you have your arm around someones neck and I grab your wrist and twist it you will lose some of your grip. Granted it would be hard to get a good grip on your wrist but we're talking about the tip of a tail, even on a burm is not THAT strong. If I pull downward while I twist, your natural grip is now going in a direction that is not natural and you will not be able to hold on as good. Continue until your arm is loose. Granted with a human we can simply use the other arm. Any snake that could use it's other tail and I'm calling mommy! Again, not science, just thinking out loud.
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DZ

"People sleep peaceably in their beds at night only because rough men stand ready to do violence on their behalf." -- George Orwell