dish-washing gloves for handling snakes?

My baby hognose thinks he can eat me.:D He is secretly a titanoboa, he told me so. I'd like to tame him down but I'm nervous about the venom. Basically what the title says are dish washing gloves safe for snakes?

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Originally Posted by Smaug

My baby hognose thinks he can eat me.:D He is secretly a titanoboa, he told me so. I'd like to tame him down but I'm nervous about the venom. Basically what the title says are dish washing gloves safe for snakes?

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I find that gloves are really awkward for doing anything with fine motor control- I’d imagine dishwashing gloves would be even worse than leather. Double layer of disposable gloves like acrylonitrile is good against tiny bat fangs while keeping most of your mobility so would likely do well vs hoggie. Dunno how wiggly your hognose is but I’d never try to handle my garter snakes with reduced hand mobility- little wiggle worms are way too fast and squiggly for that.

By "dish-washing" gloves I'm assuming you mean rubber gloves? Your hand dexterity & grip should be pretty good (unless they fit loose?) but while they'll
"help" prevent snake bites, I can't promise that tiny sharp snake teeth cannot penetrate the rubber. Mostly, I think the actual smell of the rubber would be
unappealing to them, or at least to MOST snakes, so in that way they might be helpful? Some snakes go more by "feel" than scent, not sure about your
"titanboa". :rolleyes:

If it makes you feel better I'd say go for it. But I honestly don't know how much protection yhey would offer if they're tight fitting. If they're loose fitting I'd be afraid that I couldn't feel the snake as well as bare-handed and wouldn't feel confident handling that way.

You say baby, but how old is baby? Still a tiny hatchling?

He was 18 g last time I weighed him. I think he's grown a little since then.

Hoggies would have to naw on you a pretty good time before anything was to happen. I wouldnt want to use the rubber gloves. Seems like you have a youngster and they can be nippy but also they bluff alot too. Maybe limit your handling for 5-10 mins at a time. Make sure you wash your hands before handling because anything that smells like food to them and they are gonna wanna take a bite. But to tell ya the truth, they guys arent monsters and are going to kill you, if you did get any venom into your system all that might happen is swelling of the area bitten. Really nothing to be freaked out about!!

I find the best person on this site to ask about hoggies is Deborah. She helped me with my little guy and I couldnt be more thankful! But if I may ask, why did you get a hoggie if you are fearful of getting bit? Did you not know that they carry venom?

The more I think about it, I wonder if using rubber gloves might work, since any venom that a hognose has actually must trickle down the outside of their enlarged teeth- so in other words, it's not really injected the way that rattlesnakes & cobras & such do. I would try the gloves if I were you (OP), & have
them fitting fairly snug so you don't lose the snake with a poor grip: I think you might still be able to feel the tip of their teeth thru the rubber glove, but
I have a feeling that any venom would stay on the outside of the glove. And I don't think that the taste of a rubber glove will appeal to a snake that's hungry anyway...but you never know I guess? Maybe if he tries it he'll decide they taste awful & learn?