whats with the concept of manliness in letting snakes bite you? LOL

Toxic masculinity... being unafraid of pain (ie stupid) is the sign of a real man. :rofl:

My water python can be feisty when I first take her out, and has a wicked set of teeth, so I use a pair of leather work gloves when I take her out, and slip them off when she has calmed a bit.

I see no reason to expose ones self to harm needlessly, but then again I value intelligence over machismo.

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Originally Posted by redshepherd

And craig, for some reason I've found that the gloves keep them calmer and they don't act up or get as nervous when I handle with gloves, I guess because the temp isn't super warm like my skin. My skin temp seems to be what makes my tanimbar python tick. So they've never actually bitten the gloves.

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Thanks! That makes good sense too. I wouldn't have thought of that. I 1000% say if it works for you and your snakes, keep doing it.

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Originally Posted by craigafrechette

Thanks! That makes good sense too. I wouldn't have thought of that. I 1000% say if it works for you and your snakes, keep doing it.

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Or maybe it's that they get far less of our scent (and some of their own?) on the gloves?

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Originally Posted by Bogertophis

Or maybe it's that they get far less of our scent (and some of their own?) on the gloves?

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It could be that too!

Thinking back, I noticed that even when I stick my hands in the enclosure with the gloves on, she has never struck at the gloves or even seem that bothered by it. While she 100% does at my bare hand. And when I touch her body with gloves, she barely even reacts to it. Where when I touch her body with my bare hand, she literally jumps out of her skin in shock and either turns around to bite or zooms away LOL.

I've never heard of this being a sentiment that is only held by men. I'd guess that there are women who believe this as well.

It comes down to the individual male or female whether you wear gloves, hook train, or even handle in the first place etc. So I can't see it being inherent to any one gender. Just personal preference.

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Originally Posted by Valyrian

I've never heard of this being a sentiment that is only held by men. I'd guess that there are women who believe this as well.

It comes down to the individual male or female whether you wear gloves, hook train, or even handle in the first place etc. So I can't see it being inherent to any one gender. Just personal preference.

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Here in the US at least, it does seem to be a man thing, maybe it's because most snake keepers here seem to be male (although in the last decade or so that has begun to change) or maybe guys here seem to want to prove themselves as being tougher than everyone else by doing stupid things. Either way, I see what shepherd is talking about fairly often, especially among guys who keep the bigger and feistier species.

Me Tarzan! Me like snakes! Snakes bite me! Me Man!

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Originally Posted by hilabeans

I've never felt more manly than when I cried for 3 days and refused to get out of bed because I had a head cold.

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I am truly the biggest baby when it comes to being sick. My wife hates it because all I do is whine and complain.

Being bit is not at all fun. I've been bit by almost everything I have, and my juvenile olive python bite I recently received was the worst. Mere food response, but it was a bite, head twist and coil that left some bruising.

I still jump when someone strikes harder than usual at the rat, so I suppose I should also grow a pair.

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Originally Posted by PiperPython

I am truly the biggest baby when it comes to being sick. My wife hates it because all I do is whine and complain.

Being bit is not at all fun. I've been bit by almost everything I have, and my juvenile olive python bite I recently received was the worst. Mere food response, but it was a bite, head twist and coil that left some bruising.

I still jump when someone strikes harder than usual at the rat, so I suppose I should also grow a pair.

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Oh I'm right there with ya when it comes to being sick. I'm such a whine bag. Such a baby.
Cuts and burns from work (I cook for a living, so they're frequent) don't phase me anymore. I played a hockey game a few years back and broke my thumb in the 1st period, finished the game and after the game I showed my girlfriend (a registered nurse) and she was shocked. I had purposely left my glove on for the rest of the game to try to contain the swelling but it blew up immediately after the game. She just gave me a look, and I knew I was headed to the ER for x-rays (I wouldn't have gone til at least day 4 or 5 on my own).
Yup, the same guy who whines at the first sniffle finished a meaningless hockey game with a broken thumb. Maybe it's the hockey player in me (soccer, baseball, basketball players would have gone down and made a spectical crying like babies) but maybe that machismo is just in our DNA to some degree.

Anyway, I got off topic a bit, but wanted to finish with this thought: men are generally raised to put on a tough guy front from childhood. Men aren't supposed to cry, men are supposed to be rocks. However, that seems to be fading with each generation.
Granted, the world is changing and I think many kids these days are entitled little babies, there's still that stigma that men are supposed to be tough.

Well, all that being said, I'm an almost 40 year old man. I cry, I take baths sometimes and I'm a mega wimp when I'm sick. But I'm having knee surgery a week from Tues and will likely not whine once. I'll be back to work in a week regardless of the pain. So yup, for whatever reason, we put up the facade and act tough, because we're men. We're "supposed" to be tough. But most of us are just stubborn morons.

Lol - I agree that it's a silly macho thing. I don't know why and I'm not a man either so I can't shed light on the inner workings of the masculine mind, but Ive dealt with it for years in the wildlife and veterinary field. I've had men laugh and snicker when I've put on a pair of eagle gloves to deal with red-tail hawks and great horned owls that were down (both instances that we in public were big tough animal control officers, the other times were around male volunteers).
Yes, they seem fluffy and weak, especially the hit-by-car cases, but a great horned owl can crush a box turtle with it;s feet...I like my arms. And I can attest that if a bird really wants to talon you the gloves don't stop it entirely, and it hurts like heck.

As for snakes, I've worn my thin kangaroo gloves when dealing with very feisty large black rats when doing injections or wound treatments - the bites don't hurt but why get bit when you don't have to? I also used them when dealing with rattlesnakes / copperheads the few times I've had to, I doubt it would stop their fangs, but i liked feeling like I had a good grip on the snake hook and moving whatever they were hiding under.

If I had a larger feisty snake that was not ok yet with handling, I'd probably wear them too. The kangaroo is thin enough that I don't feel like I put too much pressure and smooth - I've never has scales stick to the seams or anything.