How can I avoid getting tagged?

I would say frequent feedings (7 days or so) and handling once a week at least. but still, expect the unexpected. I have 9 bp's and some are really defensive and some are really docile no matter what you do. 2 are especially calm and docile, even after no handling fo months , they don't seem to have an agressive side at all (aside from feeding). 1 of my other calm ones gets real cranky without regular feeding and will try to get me if she's hungry, other than that shes fine. from personal experience, I beleive that each snake has a personality of its own. my spider will attack anything and everything no matter what you do. I caught a nice one from my pastel the other day (she was hungry). It's like she was telling me "hey you, FEED ME!!" left a nice bruise around the bite the next day. she hit me hard. I guess my bottom line is, with time and experience you can pretty much tell that your BP's gonna strike, but accidents happen to all of us, the key is to minimize the incidents. good luck

You probably had the mouse scent on your hand. They usually strike at the scent and movement, so if you carried the mouse (in a critter box), you probably became finger food for your snake. I feed all of my snakes in their enclosures.

If you don't want to get "tagged". wash your hands before going into the enclsoure. Don't present your fingers to the snake during feeding time. Just having prey in the same room can trigger a feeding response.

If you want to continue feeding in a seperate enclosure, move the snake into that enclosure before going to get the mouse. I personally don't feel the need to feed in another enclosure, unless you've got a finicky eater.

Good Luck!
Jim Smith

My house in 3200 sq ft. and the snakes are upstairs. I swear I can walk in the front door and by the time I get upstairs with the "bag-o-mice" my Elizabeth's head is out of her hide in strike mode. They smell a mouse a mile away.

IMO...feed in his tank, maybe feed him every 4-6 days. Wait 48 hours and then take him out and handle him.

He is still young so typically they are pretty fiesty still!!

first off take off the mouse suit :rofl:
secondly i would just feed him in his enclosure just put the mouse in and watch and wait.
thirdly it could be that he needs to be fed more often or larger prey.

typically also they are more active at night and some tend to be in feeding mode more often at night. this goes on with most snakes

i also have super human reflexes. im about 1/1000th of a second faster than a baby jungle carpet (threw my sholder out on that one lol)