Bite question

I had my little burm outside to try getting some quick pictures earlier when my 4 year old decided to spray us with the hose. He instantly freaked and just started swinging his head around with his mouth open and latched onto my hand. I'm not jumpy and just waited for him to relax and let go so I didn't hurt his teeth. Now my question is, should I give him a couple days to relax before handling again? I've been holding him every day just for a minute or two and before this he had really calmed down from when I first got him and I hope this didn't set us back a couple weeks. Before he would keep huffing and puffing as soon as I'd look at him and after a week or two of short handlings he was fine just being picked up.

http://i82.photobucket.com/albums/j2...819_105826.jpg

http://i82.photobucket.com/albums/j2...819_105955.jpg

I don't have burm experience specifically, but my 2 cents: Open up his enclosure and see how he reacts - if he seems jumpy just pat a coil away from his head and then let him be. If he seems cool, handle him but make it short and non-stressful either in his enclosure, or right next to the door so he's not far from his safe space. Probably best not to go outdoors again for a few days.


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Yeah I figured I'd mostly go by how he acts. I just don't want to reinforce "bad" behavior if I open his enclosure and he's back to being huffy if he thinks that's what he needs to do to avoid being handled. I always kept handling to just a minute or two so he knew he could relax because he'd be back in his home shortly.

Dumb question but was the water in the hose warmed up from sitting out in the sun? If so that bite may have been a food response, if your burm thought something warm was moving by his head really fast, he may have snapped at it believing it was fast-moving prey, and nailed you instead.

I have a retic that gets so wound up he will sometimes bite the RHP - because it's warm - if he thinks he's getting fed.

No it was cool water since it had been running for a few minutes. It kind of made me want to bite the 4 year old too lol

I find it weird that it initiated a food bite, rather than a defensive bite.

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Looks like 2 bites? I'd think it was an 'angry' bite, not a food bite. My ATBs when agitated will sometimes start swinging their heads around mouth open, like 'argh Imma get you! I'm so annoyed I don't know where you are but Imma get you anyways!'

It wasn't a food bite, 2 defensive bites. The top one for just a second and the bottom he got his teeth stuck pretty good for a couple minutes so I let him twist and work them out on his own. Rather have him get it out of his system now than in a year!

I just assumed it was a food bite because you had enough time for a pic.

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Just wanted to update that he's back to normal and didn't seem to regress with the incident. I just gave him a day to relax and went right back to the short handlings every day. Phew!