Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Only in this forum did people have a great oportunity to get their questions answered by a highly respected professional and still seem to forget everything. I understand the magic occurance of post being re-entered into the forums over and over (ex. ball pythons not eating, snake has mites, burmese making noises when it breathes) but I continue to see the same names on this forum and the same bad advise. The topic of getting a snake off you was on here not long ago. I am willing to bet the same people contributed. Vinegar was a good way to get snakes off you, warm water worked for some species, alcohol usually works but is highly dangerous to the snake (can kill it). We also mention all the time how burmese pythons are a neglected species and how most of them will not reach adulthood and especially not with one or two owners. Yet people keep proving the abilities of the hobby are not there by dumping off these snakes. Even the "high end" ones. I am sure I am going to take some heat for this post but believe me....I have plenty of fire I am holding back so be prepared to get a hard second dose.

I`d have to agree. I do not consider myself to be an expert on reptiles by any shape or form. I have been (un)fortunate enough to witness and make a lot of mistakes so its easier for me to say what not to do

As far as what to do if.........? Why let it happen? Todd said it best in his previous post, JUST PLAIN DONT GET BIT!
If you smell like food you`ll get treated like food simple, if you are making stupid mistakes like that then boids are not for you. Whenever I defrost food for any reptiles they do not get handled in the same day regardless of defication etc. Just because the food is in another room defrosting doesn`t mean the snake cannot sense it is there, you can smell bacon being cooked from your bedroom?

Although on the other point raised, i am guilty of re-homing a burm. I bought myself a female late last year to breed with my male, i was convinced that it would work out ok. WRONG, there is no place for more hatchling burms AT ALL!! I couldn`t trust myself to have kept her and not bred them together at one point, so i sold her on to a friend. I am not proud of that, just wanted to prove my initial point of saying that i am no expert i have seen and made mistakes, thats all.

It is depressing for me to say, i feel that some restrictions on the number of burms available has to be made, i know that this is impossible to enforce, i dont want to see them banned but who is kidding who? I am sorry to say, its going to happen!!
Realisticly it is going to be a case of damage limitation and fight for animals that everyone can care for; gecko`s, corns, kings etc

Phil

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1.0 Albino Burmese ,

Well,,, I do agree with you. I just want everyone to know the purpose of my post was only to ask about getting the very large boids off of a person, and not because I am afraid of getting bit or anything like that, but rather for sheer curiousity. I know the question has been posted before about how to get them off you when they bite, but my actual question was not about the bit, but rather if a large Burm coiled up on a person. As I said before my old boss said they had to kill a snake, claiming it was strangling one of his performers. I don't think that was necessary and just wanted to find out what people thought about removing a coiled boid, not removing his bite. I know it may have sounded the other way around, but I just meant how to release its coils. I hope this cleared up my post.

Circusfan
PS- I hadn't seen any posts about removing a coiled Burm from a person, so I thought I would just try to start an intersting conversation.

coiled bites are feeding response...defense strikes they will let go on their own so it really isnt a problem.

that I stuck my foot in my mouth by mentioning reliable vinegar and dubious soda in the same breath.
I can even grudgingly appreciate the harshness of your post because A. it caused me to realize that my foot was in my mouth and B. it reminded me of the care and thought that must go into my replies that many may read.
With that said, the topic of getting a snake off someone was a post from 2004 (late 2004 admittedly). I can comprehend the aggravation of 'leading horses to water and still ending up with a thirty herd' so to speak. And seeing blameless animals mistreated and/or discarded pisses the hell out of me.
But currently I am ruffled and must swear off checking this forum before breakfast.
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0.2 chickens (Falcon & Condor)
0.2 dog mutts (half ownership, only mine when they misbehave, Lucy & Amy)
0.1 Halflinger horse (Crissy)
0.0 Arizona Mountain Kingsnake (coming soon)
1.1 parents
Still searching for 1.0 WC human