POLL: Have you been bit by a BP?

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Originally Posted by SiscoReptiles

I have been bitten by Ball Pythons a couple times over the years. They were my fault. One was worse than the other, to a point where I went to the ER and then was sent to a specialist to make sure there was no permanent damage.

Rick

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haha you just provoked my curious side, how do you say something like that and not add great detail? :rofl: so please lets here the ER story :)

https://ball-pythons.net/gallery/fil...2004_thumb.jpg The answer to that question would be yes.:snake:

I read this thread, and it was a yes, went to post my new thread with some questions, and it turned into two times lol.

I don't doubt I'll get tagged at some point, but honestly I can't see my ball Naga doing it. She's super relaxed and I feel like I'm pretty good at reading snake body language. I also make sure to wash my hands before and after handling dead mice. If she starts to get tense, I back off and go slower, or leave her alone.

I have only had my girl a few days, but I've handled several snakes since I was a kid and I've never been bitten.

*knocks on wood*

New BP owner here. before I knew better I was handling mine when he was in shed and hungry! No problem with tagging. But this morning 48 hours after a meal I went to take the hide off and pick him up and he came around and gave me a love tap on my left knuckle. :confused:
One little dot of blood. No big deal.
I put him back and I'll try again tomorrow.

Come to think of it maybe I did the wrong thing and let the nip prevent me from handling him.
What do you all think?

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Originally Posted by vjb

New BP owner here. before I knew better I was handling mine when he was in shed and hungry! No problem with tagging. But this morning 48 hours after a meal I went to take the hide off and pick him up and he came around and gave me a love tap on my left knuckle. :confused:
One little dot of blood. No big deal.
I put him back and I'll try again tomorrow.

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I am at 50 plus ball pythons, having just completed my first year in this hobby. I find that very few actually bite, maybe less than 10%. But there are a few, that will bite on command. I have one normal female that I dont pick up with out a hook, unless I just feel like showing off the outline of her jaws on my hand that day.

I always grab all snakes from behind the head. Except that once......

Never under normal circumstances, but once over extraordinary circumstances, haha. I grabbed an escapee very suddenly as she was coming out of the wall of my apartment before she could slip back into her endless labyrinth of walls, haha. I completely startles her and she whacked me a couple times. It was a bloody mess but I didn't even feel it, so no harm done--this was about a year ago.

Cheers,
-Matt

is it true that if you hold a rat or mice before holding your python you will most likely be bitten ?

i never tried it yet :colbert:

My new Spider just tagged me last night. Though it was my fault for startling him. He's just a baby though, so I don't blame him. x) Bled like crazy but actually didn't hurt so much as it startled me.

I think the real question is, have you ever been bitten BADLY by a bp?

And was it because of a feeding error?

My nicest snake bit me square on the thumb last week because I tried to take his mouse away after he dragged it through his water bowl and dropped it. He seemed more horrified about biting me than I was, and it took some coaxing to get him to take the mouse again.

And most of the baby snakes I've acquired like to chew on me a bit for a few days/weeks after I bring them home. Mostly it's just gumming--I think they really don't know yet what's food and what's threatening and what's none of the above.

First, and only, bite was from a prospective "adoptee" that I was just about to look at. He struck at the owner as he handed him to me, and just as I said, "Hey, be nice, mister!" ... He bit me. And coiled. lol

Must've been that pet Ring-Tailed Lemur of his that I had just pet. :rolleyes:

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Originally Posted by West Coast Jungle

Babies are most likely to bite as a self defense mechanism.
With that in mind I have bred and handled many babies and have been tagged a time or two(ok maybe more than that:D).

I brought some babies to the vet today for a health exam for shipping abroad and one tried tagging both of us several times, good fun.

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LOL YES!! IN fact I have been tagged by three of my youngsters in the last 6 months. They have great feeding response and you can not reach in to take out a water bowl without being seen as food :D :O

I laugh at myself and them every time it happens. I have not been bitten by an adult BP though.

yes by my yearling het for pied female but shes a bit flighty any way ive been bitten more than 6 or 7 times by my lil cal king

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Originally Posted by gerbster1

yes by my yearling het for pied female but shes a bit flighty any way ive been bitten more than 6 or 7 times by my lil cal king

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Cal kings are probably the worst colubrid for biting. Beautiful, so they get away with it, I guess.

Jim Smith

we just got our baby today.. and thats the ONE and ONLY fear i have is being bitten.. im scared that it'll hurt and i wont want anything to do with her/him again. she is just a baby though and only 16" long

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Originally Posted by toddsbabygirl

we just got our baby today.. and thats the ONE and ONLY fear i have is being bitten.. im scared that it'll hurt and i wont want anything to do with her/him again. she is just a baby though and only 16" long

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If you keep snakes for any amount of time you are going to get bitten. Well, that's not entirely true. Your snake is going to strike at you. Maybe something you did was wrong, maybe he does something like mistaken you pinky finger as a rat pup. That's why it's REALLY important to keep washing your hands. Most of the time it's going to be a closed mouth strike which is his way of telling you to get away and give him his space.

HOWEVER, anything with a mouth has the ability to bite. So, there may be a time where you DO get bitten. Be prepared for it. Most of the time, the strike is the scary part and the bite is not that bad. If you screw up and handle a rat/mouse, then reach in to move something or do something around the snake, he may mistaken your hand for a rat/mouse and bites and wraps around your hand. Don't panic, uncoil him and usually they let go and crawl away knowing they did something wrong.

If for some reason, the snake doesn't let go, fill the sink with water and dunk your hand (along with the snake's head) into the water. This will usually make them let go. You will probably never see this with a Ball Python. They don't usually clamp down and chew like the BIG pythons.

The heartbeat will rise at the time of the bite, but after it's all over, you'll see it's not that bad. Even a real bite from a Ball Python isn't all that bad.

Take Care,
Jim Smith

non of my BP's have ever bitten me, a few strikes when they were babies, just had to gain their trust.

Now my Retic and one of my RTB's nail me good now and then,,not so funny from my point at the time,but wife loves to luagh while i sit down holding the snake till it lets go,can't bring myself to force them to let go, they usally let go quickly enough

Had my big girl for two years, my little girl for almost a year. Dunno if she'll last a full year, she's a nippy one. So far just strikes and a lot of hissing, but some day she'll get tired of putting up with me. :rolleyes:

Actually, I haven't been bit by any of my snakes (though I'm bound to get a good one from the blood, too), just a NWS I caught in Wisconsin.

Finally got tagged Christmas day by my red tailed boa... Felt like someone poked my hand. Not scared of getting bit anymore, that's for sure!

Yes,yes I have:)

Yep, i was looking over a new girl that ups just dropped off and got my first bite... Right in the face! A little line of holes down the center of my nose!:D

Ive had mine for over 5 years..never been close to getting bit. Not even charged at.

about a week ago i got tagged by one of my normal females who is going into shed while removing her water bowl to was\refill. ive been keep ball pythons for around 10 years now so ive been tagged quite a few times over the years.
http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y34...on04/014-2.jpg

I can finally say I'm a member of the club.

The other day, I was cleaning tubs and my hubby's little neurotic normal managed to tag me. Little beast!

I did feel his teeth, and there was one teeny, tiny pinprick of blood. I've done worse with a sewing needle.

But there it is, I'm a member now.

Gale

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Originally Posted by angllady2

I can finally say I'm a member of the club.

The other day, I was cleaning tubs and my hubby's little neurotic normal managed to tag me. Little beast!

I did feel his teeth, and there was one teeny, tiny pinprick of blood. I've done worse with a sewing needle.

But there it is, I'm a member now.

Gale

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That wasn't a bite, that was a snake kiss.

Jim Smith

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Originally Posted by j_h_smith

That wasn't a bite, that was a snake kiss.

Jim Smith

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I guess that would be a snake hickey then? :D

No, this is a snake hickey.

Jim Smith


http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b2...snake-bite.jpg

to add to this i have been bitten 2 times in the last week. Presenting a room will do that hahah. At this point i dont even flinch i just wait till they let go and calmly put them back in there tub.

Oh, you mean those aren't kisses? :(

I've had my BP for almost two years and she's never even come anywhere near biting me. She's a very nice girl. :)
My king, on the other hand...

I was tagged just once when I first put him in his tank and I moved his substrate near him and he didn't care for that. I got it lightly and deserved it....My Bad!

I have not been tagged by a bp...yet but i've been tagged twice by boa constrictors in the past

Had two BP's for around a year, luckily never been bitten or struck at.

My parents had two RTB's when I was growing up that they had for years and years, and my mom was only bitten once. It was when it was an adult and it happened during a feed and was an error on her part. She said pain-wise in her experience it was second only to a horse bite.

Ive been bitten twice by ball pythons from pet stores, they were I would say yearlings at the oldest and I'm guessing the husbandry was quite poor or they just had aggressive attitudes, but never by one of my snakes.

I was bit only once but i don't' even really count it as a bite. My feeding tongs had broken so i was lowering the mouse in with my hand when she went to strike she was a bit off the mark and got my hand. She didn't hang on(im guessing she knew she didn't get the proper target hehe) or attempt to constrict but just went back into strike position and got the mouse the second attempt lol.

No, I never got bitten before.
But my stinger bit my mother once.
Maybe she was a bit hungry after shedding just before.... :)

lol well after about what seems like a few months I got my membership renewed this morning. I had taken allthe water bowls out yesterday while cleaning sinceI had plann on soaking them over nght in a high bleach mix. ( do this every month) and rinsed them, washed ,rinsed again and allowed to dry this morning. I refilled them and placed back an hour or 2 later. asI was sticking the bowl in one of th new snakes( i purchased 3 breedable sized females in may.for next year ( hoping to hav large clutchs next year) and the one females didn't like the ideal of me handling the bowl and promptly chomped my hand.

I let my baby that was just shipped from AL to PA bite me because she was striking and I wanted to know what it felt like, barely felt her even touch me. Was bite by a baby lemonblast at a show, he was definitely stressed out barely felt it, and was also bite by one of my baby pastel males (I had a rat in my hand trying to feed him....he missed) =]

I change my vote to YES...just got my first blood draw today! YAY :banana:

I have never been bitten by a ball python but one of my 2 juveniles has that defense attitude going so that might change within a few days. I have been bitten by a 4ft green anaconda that wasn't to pleasant and bitten many a times by black racers, corn snakes etc.

Never been bitten by a ball python, but was struck at once and was missed by a sickly lookin Petsmart ball python, poor little guy was scared...

However I have been simultaneously bitten by 5 king snakes, all on one hand, and they refused to let go and attempted to swallow some of my fingers...

From what I have heard you're most likely to get tagged by a female who just laid, so this could depends a lot on if people have bred before.

Just got nailed twice the other day cuz I was feeding with big feeding tweezers from petco, and my hand got too close. First my boa, then my bp adult male. Both got the same finger too lol. My male tried coiling me but he let go once he realized.

Never been bitten. Have been struck and many times by my adult female.

Never been bitten by my BP, but i'm always aware that it could happen and it probably will, one of these days.

I haven't been bitten by my ball but we got her when she was fully grown as a rescue. I've known people that have gotten bitten by ball pythons but they only got bitten by babies that were either getting fed, or the babies were being defensive.

I have been bitten by every snake ive ever owned at some point. My female BP is very aggressive and strikes every time I get her out. She was a rescue and was very mistreated. My male is pretty tame but has bitten me twice so far...My red tail is just mean and bites me every time he gets out and even strikes at me through the tank when I walk by it..he is a baby nic red tail tho so he will tame down with more handeling.....I hope

I initially answered only once when I took this poll a while back but now I have to change my answer to more than once since Chopper tagged me the other day.

Yeah, I no longer belong to the only once club either. I've had four of my own tag me, and then had a pastel female I was looking at during the last show get me.

I'm starting to feel like a real snake owner. :D

Gale