POLL: Have you been bit by a BP?

Great Poll :)
I replied "Only once" because I raised a young juvenile normal bp to large healthy adult female (named Regina) and she only bit me because she mistook me for the live mouse I had been handling right before I fed her.

I have over 60 ball pythons and yes I have been railed a time or two. I have some that have hit me during feeding time (which definately hurts the worst:gj:) and I have a couple of males that are particularly nasty and try to bite every time they come out of the cage, but people think that cats are so cute and fuzzy they can't possibly be mean right??? I have been bitten by a 8' redtail boa and been clawed and bitten by my siamese cat and I'll take a bite from a redtail any day of the week over the cat. Snake bites happen... it's part of the hobby. If you work with snakes you will eventually get a bite. Wash it off maybe put some peroxide on it if you are worried about it and go on with your day, there are worse things out there that can happen to you!

Not yet but I'm sure it will happen soon! My b.f. on the other hand was handling him & wasn't supporting him enough and he gave him a toothless bite he said, actually had his mouth open and on his hand. After that now he wont mess with him. Then again i've only had him for about a month, so we will see this time next year if i have been bitten or not!

Have one snake. Had it for a year now. Never been bit. I wish I would get bit already, and just get it over with.

To stop me from flinching when I reach into the cage, I imagine Johnny Knoxville, Wee Man and Ryan Dunn in the ball pit wrestling with those huge anacondas, getting bit in the forearm and blood running all over the place.

I was a newb and was removing a mouse out of my pythons enclosure cuz I thought it wasn't going to eat it and was holding the mouse by the tail cuz I HATE the nasty vermin lol and while i was opening the mouse cage with my other hand and my ball struck at it and instantly moved on when it realized it hit me. so it didnt even latch on not really a bite it just left me a crescent scratch on hand from those razor sharp teeth. so again NOT really a bite more a graze and a valuable lesson not to mention one heck of a surprise and adrenaline rush LOL

Twice, both times was during feeding and my ball seems to have bad aim? haha He released immediately, as soon as he figured out, oops this ain't a mouse! Didn't hurt, drew blood though

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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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Your avatar really caught me off guard. I got lost in it for a minute thinking..."what the heck is that?"

LOL......

I don't know why so many of yall have aggressive balls. My wife and I have owned dozens of balls over the years and we've never had one even so much as strike at us, even after handling rats. Closest to any aggression we've seen in our collection is our pastel who will let out a little huff if you startle him in his tub.

However, I worked at a Pet Smart a while back and we did get some wild caught babies that were very snappy. Never got bit, though. That was the extent of me seeing any aggression in a ball.

Other snakes... Well, I could write a novel on what all has nailed me!

I've been bit a few times, never by one of my own, though one of mine stuck at me from a distance when I moved her to do some spot cleaning and change her water, she hasn't struck at me since then. The other few times were from my friends snake Hercules, he inherited Hercules and he had apparently never been handled and didn't like people near the tank. I chose to be the one to try and calm him down and about 2 weeks later and a couple of small tags he was a docile as any other BP I've had the pleasure of knowing.

My ball has only struck at me once (shouldn't have moved my hand in front of his face so quickly), but so far no bites, knock on wood.

However, when I went to the store, the person helping me said he was the 'mean one' and pulled her sleeve over her arm just in case. Guess he likes me more?

I haven't been bit yet but I have been struck at more than once. Twice today when I was feeding my pinstripe. My fault though, he was the 4th one to get fed and I smelled like food and the rat wasn't as hot as it should have been.

One of my ball pythons, Minnie, nailed my as I was taking her out of her shipping bag. That was her method of introduction.

Hahah interesting.. I was bit 4 times in my first 6 months of ball pythons. Then nothing...

ive been bitten on the wrist by a bp which he didnt mean to so i walked around the house till he learned i wasnt food, on the nose by a prego bull snake and on the lip by a juvie red tail boa :(

I have been chomped on by just about every snake in the US short of rattler, cotton mouth, and coral snake. Even copperheads have taken shots at me, though in fairness I did step on him.

Far as bp's go mostly by young'ins. But my big female normal missed her rat once and latched on between my index and middle fingers. And I still won't use tongs, just hard headed I guess. :D

I've never been bitten the three years I've handled BPs, but my previous normal female nearly tagged me one day when I was cleaning out her tank. I put her in a separate tub to keep her isolated in, and she happened to be peeking out over the edge, and reeled back to strike. I was able to get out of the way, but I figured I might have smelled like mice because I was handling one before I went to go clean her tank. Otherwise, I pride myself on handling tame BPs. :)

Been keeping bp's for almost 4 years, never been bit. My boas get me all the time, but never one of the balls.

Bitten once by my pastel the first week i got him, but he was verry small so it didn't hurt at all, did bleed tough...

As for other snakes, the garter snakes i had when i was a kid bit me all the time :D but i pretty much like to get bit by a snake:P certainly when they hang on and try to eat you :D

I have been bitten only once in the past two years of have BP. Currently have 8 and expanding. I've been struck at multiple times including at the neck :snake:. the time i got got was my fault cause she was shedding and mistook my hand for a tasty rats. I have one snake that struck at me almost every i open her enclosure. It all depends on your snakes personality.

I just got tagged for the first time lol. Wasn't bad and was my fault. Dropped the mouse while doing the zombie dance. When I went to pick it back up she nailed me lol.

I voted "Yes, more than once" - but I feel this question is a bit more complicated than the poll suggests... I think there is a "tagged by a BP" vs a "bit by a BP" difference. My bites have been defensive strikes where there is definitely an open mouth and strike, but usually just a bonk on the hand with the snout. In both cases, the snake never actually "bit" me, i.e., never closed down on my hand. I am learning that my cats are actually more detrimental to the health of my arm than my BPs...

BTW, these strikes occurred after a handling session trying to remove a bad shed - my little girl appears extra sensitive when dealing with stuck shed around her tail and vent area. I got a couple huffs and puffs, and then a definite "stop messing with me down there" strike.

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Originally Posted by Helifreak

I got a couple huffs and puffs, and then a definite "stop messing with me down there" strike.

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:8::rofl::rofl:

That definitely makes it into the "Out of Context" thread....

I've got tapped by a large female that was being difficult, and didn't want to be picked up..and then one of her offspring (hatchling) decided to get uncomfortable when I was holding it and nipped me as well. Their bites are a joke. Nothing to worry about, if you've never been bitten.

I was bit by an adult ball i bought when i was a younger kid. shortly after that point it ending up escaping to never be found.. lessons learned since being 12. i've never been bitten by either of the snake i own now but it's been less than a year for both of them

I have been bitten more than once, and I'm sure I'll be bitten again (more than once). As another poster said, my cat is far more detrimental to the health of my arm (and legs).

I've only been bitten once, by an adult female BP. Totally my fault, not the snake's. I reached in to her feeding enclosure to pick her up and put her back into her cage too soon after eating. Can't really say that it was a bite though. She didn't hold on to me. Just grazed me with her teeth. Two tiny puncture wounds on my index finger. Hardly bled at all. Paper cuts hurt way worse...

Afterwards I was so excited and happy. It was my first and only bite ever. My bf thinks I'm nuts because I was all happy about it. LOL

I got bit just a couple of weeks ago for the first time by a BP... (I get bit al the time by my baby Carpet lol) Didn't hurt at all, just scared me haha. My fault too, he had just finished shedding and was hungry and I go in trying to remove his old shed lol

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Yes with in the first mounth but it was my fault and then my friend got taged 2 times to day by my little pastel:P

I haven't been tagged. Yet! Nuwa is such a laid back little girl though. If she ever does bite me it will be during a feed because my sweet little girl turns into a set of acrobatic teeth when it's time to eat. :rage: :D

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Originally Posted by Ballz R Us

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yeah, my cat can't type worth poop either...

Darthie just bit me.....again.

I got tagged yesterday by my little mojave girl as I was unboxing her ><

Well, tonight I was ferociously bitten by one of my rats and he gnawed down so deep and for so long that I yelled out in pain. It bled like mad and now 3 hours later, still hurts like you know what..

I've been tagged by BPs. They are nothing. I got nailed pretty good by my Retic once and years ago I was nailed by an 8ft burm that hit me so hard it caused the muscle between my thumb and first finger to swell up huge.

BUT! Out of every snake bite I've ever gotten, I would much rather be bitten by almost ANY non venomous snake than by a rat or any mammal.

Mammals do a lot of damage and it hurts! A snake bite rarely ever hurts, barely bleeds, and unless it's a hit from a large snake like an adult burm, retic, or boa, it does almost no damage.

Retics are different though.. You really don't want to get bitten by one. They have 2 rows top & bottom of unusually jagged teeth and they have a strange habit of chewing. Avoid a Retic bite and you'll be fine ;)

Rat bites hurt. I would much rather get tagged by a ball. I had the lovely experience of getting bitten by one of the male rats last week. Bit me on the tip of my finger and went down to the darn bone. Stupid rat bled for hours too and still hurts.


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Nope have not been but have had a couple of close calls I'll give credit to my reflexes though my pine snake did get me he is a bit faster moving.

I concur on the rat bites. I'd rather be bitten by one of my balls any day of the week than get bit by a rat. Rat bites bleed like crazy and hurt for days.

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Originally Posted by ChicaPiton519

Never been bit,
but boy have i dodged the bullet on that one...
im hoping to get a couple more baby girls this year, so its quite possible that it will happen....

my bite record shows corns, rats, racers, burms[babies], a carpet at a pet shop, rainbow boa[6ft], red tail[baby], and tons of other random things that i have held.... im sure there is more, but yeah... lol but no balls yet =]

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Did the rainbow boa bite hurt? I just bought 2 today and the person I got them from said it can reach the bone.

ive had two, and niether of them ever bit me, but the one i have now has struck twice at me in the 5yrs ive had him. i did come across a really fiesty ball once though at a petco, it was real young and it kept striking the glass over and over at anything that moved, even if you were ten feet away lol, he probably struck at least every 5 seconds for at least a minute straight:twisted:, i really wanted to buy him just for that reason but i didnt have the money:(

I haven't been bit yet, however one of my het albinos almost got me when I was moving him to his new tub. Struck at me twice. But, I understand why he did it. He wasn't settled in, and I prolly irritated him by moving him so soon. So, it was my fault entirely.

I've been bitten by a lot of BPs BUT...this was back when I was working in a place that got in a lot of farmed animals in really poor shape and we got to spend the first few weeks with each batch getting them parasite free and getting them to feed. Bad times.

AND HOW. I went to cat-sit for a friend of a friend, and she had a ball python. She said, "I dunno, the herp vet said he was obese. But he looks so skinny compared to your snakes? And he's been really cage aggressive lately, espeically after I feed him. Do you think he's hungry?"

And she handed him to me, and he immediately whipped around and bit my arm, then my hand, and then my ring finger. And the he wouldn't let go, and started to CONSTRICT my ring finger. We had to use a pencil to pry him off.

And I said: "Yeah, I think he's hungry."

rat bites are the worst
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I haven't but I've only been doing this for a week :) but on the second day Silas (my snake) struck at me

My adult female tagged me once on the palm as I was putting her in her feeding tank. It felt like getting a shot at the doctor in several locations at once. Little bitty needles that were razor sharp. It stung a little, but more than anything I was surprised. :P Needless to say, she has a separate eating space because she's a wee bit food aggressive. She now eats in the bath tub where she can't reach me after I put her down. The extra space really seemed to calm her down. No problems since! :P

Got tagged by babies a hand full of times, but that's actually cute and funny. I've gotten tagged by a couple sub adults and 2 adults. One was yesterday, a 2000 grm female that had refused food the past 2 times and just finished shedding. I opened her tub and had my thumb over the lip of the tub because that shelf is just a bit snug. When the tub was about an inch open she struck the bottom of my thumb on the inside of the tub and past my knucle with the top teeth. Then made a funny face as if I tasted bad and went back in but struck again as I closed the tub. So I went and got her a rat and she struck it before I could get the whole rat in and coiled so hard that she twisted the rat so hard that the fornt half was facing backwards and the back half was still facing the normal direction. Guess she was hungry.

Never been bitten by a BP. I did have one strike at my face while I was holding it. I had it just out of reach of my face, I remember looking into it's open mouth. :O I have only been bitten a couple of times. My worst and first was a 6 ft RTB when I was 4 or 5. It was my fault, the snake was in shed and I really, really wanted to hold him. My aunt warmed me, but I didn't listen and got bit for it. I had a Kenyan Sand boa bit and coil once, thinking my finger was food. Didn't hurt at all. The last bit was a baby yellow rat snake. I was holding it close to my neck and it slowly bit me, didn't break the skin though.

Never and i've had at least one ball python for over a year. I could stick my hand in a bucket of wet rats and she wouldn't bite me. I've done something similar and didn't get a bite. It might be a different story with my pastel, getting him tomorrow.

I used to get bit at least once a day at the pet shop i worked at about 10 years ago. we used to get farm raised bps in all the time and they were MEAN! they'd strike at the glass if you walked by them.

The other night I had too much liquid courage, I decided to give my Jungle Carpet a look in the eye, while I was holding him (face to face mind you) as soon as I made eye contact he struck at my right eye, and made a nice ring of red dots surrounding the whole diameter of my eyeball. VERY close call.. note to self, don't trust Carpets. Luckily he only got to lick my actual eyeball. lol, Had a nice wound to show off, thank goodness he missed the eyeball. whew.

Had a couple of BP bites. Baby spiders... let me tell ya! too cute to even notice..

I've never been bit by an adult snake. Never. Hatchling balls and BRB's have but never anything else for some reason. The closest I ever came to getting bit was by my burmese. I threw the rat in and he grabbed the enclosure lid and didn't go in. I reached for the rat, grabbed it, and the second I pulled away, the retic struck :O