Ok, i REALLY need to stop this

My reaction has slowed a whole lot since I have worked for two reptile breeders and got bit 10 times a day. I still jerk a little, not nearly as much as I use to. Now it's just a little jump, and then a though that there's a snake latched onto my finger LOL :D

I feel you man. I jump every time my snakes jump at the rat. Good thing most of the times I can just leave the f/t rat in the tub and they will just go up and snatch it. Less jumping but there are times when I have to feed off tongs. It sucks. Not afraid, but still jump.

I plan on voluntering for a local reptile shop so i KNOW im going to get bit a couple times a day, so hopefully it will help my mind calm down and just get used to it. Everytime one of my snakes strikes i jump and think to myself "damnit, stop freaking out. You've been bit before, stop jumping!" lol but it just doesnt work.

I've heard people call it the 'flinch factor'. I think most keepers have it to some degree. I flinch when I'm struck at, and I don't fear getting bit at all. I've been keeping snakes for 5 years and I've been bit plenty of times, a couple of pretty bad bleeders but even then it's no big deal. I don't care about getting bit, but I still flinch every time! Drives me nuts.

Actually I have a story. I used to have a rough scaled sand boa. He was a TINY little thing and absolutely nuts. I got bit all the time, but he never broke skin and often I could barely feel it. Sometimes I'd be holding him and not paying attention (checking temps or cleaning or something) and I wouldn't even realize he was biting me until I looked at my hand. No pain involved whatsoever. I never hesitated to scoop him up out of his cage, I had no rational fear of him, but I'd often flinch and get chills down my spine when he bit me.

I think it's an instinctual thing, because it's certainly not a rational or even a conscious fear. I mean, I absolutely adore all of my snakes and I've never been afraid of them but there's some impulse in me that fears them. Or something like that. In any case, I find it extremely fascinating.

I think it would help to mentally EXPECT to get bit before you put your hand in. If you're ready for it, you're less likely to flinch as badly IF it happens.

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Originally Posted by FalconPunch

I think it would help to mentally EXPECT to get bit before you put your hand in. If you're ready for it, you're less likely to flinch as badly IF it happens.

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Yeah i naturally expect to get bit whenever i reach into any of my snakes enclosures but it doesnt work, they strike and i jump lol.

i catch snakes in louisiana ive been taged so many times by water snakes i dont even flinch any more it will stop after awhile but its a natural reaction for a human to try to retract from a snakes bite.

It's a hard reaction to break.

I don't flinch when small geckos chomp me, because it's a relatively slow action I guess. Gargoyle geckos like to chomp me when I hold them on their backs to loupe sex 'em, and it's not like it's 100% painless like many tiny snake bites.

I still flinch from snake strikes, but then again I've only been tagged a handful of times in recent years.

Haha this thread is great

I have a delayed reaction, after they strike, a second later it registers, and i get my hand out of the tub XD

I still flinch when my snakes strike at me...big or small.

It's not that I am scared...just quick reflexes...