Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I dont post here often but i have a story so decided to post it. I was at my friends house and he had brought some of his bloods down from college to take care of over the summer. He has 5 bloods. 3 sumatrans and 2 blacks. The story begins when our friend came over and wanted to see the big female blood. Kepp in mind all these snakes are really mean. So he uses a snake hook and coaxes it out of the rubbermaid. I tried to grab it behind the head so it wouldnt bite me or anyone else. But my hand was off and it got its mouth around my thumb. after about a minute of failed attemts to spray the snake with water we filled a bucket up with water and put the snake underwater she let go almost instantly. This experience left me with a nasty wound and a new found respect for these large constrictors. By the way the female was about 3-3.5 feet.

Aaron

Aaron,
Hopefully your thumb is healing up by now. That really sucks. Here is a trick I learned (I think from a zookeeper, but I'm not totally sure where I picked it up). If you want your snake to let go of something immediately, use a cotton swab dipped in alcohol and they will give up their grip fast. I think pretty much any alcohol will do, but I use Jack Daniels or tequila (no joke). Rubbing alcohol would probably work as well, but that even smells harsh to me. I've used this to get my snake to drop things he's accidently tried to eat during a feeding response (like a towel from his cage). Wierd, but it seems to work.

Don't grab it behind the head...better to take a hit sometimes instead of traumatizing the snake. It's hard to establish rapport with angry/defensive blood pythons...grabbing them behind the head guarantees it isn't going to happen. I realize that it's a "last resort" thing sometimes...just also happens to be a big pet peeve of mine. Ok. Off my soapbox now.

Good luck in the future!

K

Aaron you should of known that you don't pin or hold these snakes by the head. Not only do they spaz like no tomorrow but they are wild snakes as you stated and should be hooked. Talk to ya later,
John

I almost hate to say it, but it serves you right man. You don't ever want to grasp these guys from behind the head as they can very easily injure them selves in their attempt to escape your grip. Don't Throttle the Blood!!