My Snake Randomly Bit A Friend- why?

So, I fed Dave three mice less than a week ago, and handle him regularly. I had some friends over, and one asked to hold him. I took Dave out first and held him for a few minutes, then handed him over to my friend. She draped him over one of her arms, and then had let go of him with her other hand. He put his face near her arm that he was draped over, and I thought he was going to smell her, but instead her BIT her! It was not a strike. He didn't coil back and strike at all - he was totally relaxed, and then just bit her and held on. As soon as I grabbed him, he let go of her. When she draped him over her arm, I was getting ready to tell her that she should use two hands to support him, because I know that is how to hold a snake. Is it possible that he bit her because he was trying to hold on and did not feel supported enough? He was not behaving aggressively at all - it REALLY shocked me. I have a 7yr old daughter who I allow to hold Dave all the time (with my direct supervision). I would really like some thoughts on why he bit her, so that I can prevent it in the future, or so that I can know if I need to stop allowing my daughter to hold our snake.

Any thoughts? Thanks so much for any feedback.

~DaveIsMySnake

It's an animal...they are all unpredictable and you WILL get bitten over time if you own snakes. Judging by the way you described her "hanging on" it sounds like she may have been hungry? If it is in defense, they will strick and let gow. I have also never heard of one biting so they wouldn't fall.

A similar thing happend to me at a show this weekend. I held a blue eyed lucy that a breeder i regularly buy from produced...out of nowhere she tagged me. it's to be expected.

Maybe she smelled of rodent ??
Sorry, but there is no knowing what goes on in those tiny heads, but I can understand your shock. Its kind of embarrassing when that happens, esp. to friends and family whom we are trying to show how "cool" our snakes are...
Never heard of one biting to "hold on". Technically that would work I guess, but I'm more inclined to think some smell or heat or a combination of it triggered his feeding response...

We've had the bp's since my children were 5 and 7 year olds. They handle the snakes a lot. They even play "jungle" with them (putting hides, branches, etc. on the coffee table and put the snakes there while they pretend they're in the jungle and they had to fight for territory.

My 5 year old got bit once. Jumping on the couch while the snake was on the couch - scared the bejeeezuz out of the snake.

No big deal - lesson learned. Their girl cousins came to visit, they join the jungle game but they were screaming like how girls are (I don't have girls, thank God!) so of course one got tagged. No big deal - lesson learned.

One time they got tagged for taking out a snake in shed.

I don't know why your snake tagged. But there are myriads of reasons they strike - most of them user error.

No big deal - that's just part of owning a snake.

As everyone said, there's just no way to be sure. Different families of humans have different scents, though, so complete speculation says: Maybe your friend smelled different enough that the snake wasn't sure what he was, and warmth and an unfamiliar scent triggered a defensive response.

Unless he bit and wrapped, this probably wasn't about feeding. I have had some baby ball pythons bite me in the fashion you described when they were unhappy with the way they were being handled (posing for photographs). (Rather than a strike, or a bite and wrap, it's more of a 'find a good spot and sink your teeth in, then let go').

Maybe he was just not in the mood, and didn't trust the situation, and wanted to make that clear, lol.
Cats do the same thing--if they've had enough of handling, they may turn and bite. All animals will bite, it's one of the few ways they have of signaling their displeasure.

I have done probably 10-15 school, summer town celebration etc presentations with my ball pythons. The one question that is always asked is...."Do they bite?" Yep, they bite. Then the response is ewwwww shiver shiver shiver lol. Then I ask if they have a cat or pet. Ahhhhh Yep they usually say. Has it bitten you? Ahhhh Yep. Then i go ewwwww shiver shiver shiver...lol just kidding on last part, but the point is simple all pets, ones we consider domesticated or ones we dont, can bite and do bite. I know humans that bite:P Just like us, animals are unpredictable and i would chalk it up to that.

Now if I had a bp that was defensive all the time, struck all the time, cage aggressive etc, then that one doesnt get held by others or taken to presentations. But even the ones we think would never bite, or over the years have never shown any signs of aggression or nervousness can bite. And unfortunately they wont tell us why:( So as long as the animal is not one of those that we like to say is fiesty I wouldnt worry too much about it:)

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Originally Posted by anatess

My 5 year old got bit once. Jumping on the couch while the snake was on the couch - scared the bejeeezuz out of the snake.

No big deal - lesson learned. Their girl cousins came to visit, they join the jungle game but they were screaming like how girls are (I don't have girls, thank God!) so of course one got tagged. No big deal - lesson learned.

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The lesson is, snakes shouldn't be put into these situations. Right?

I think he did it because he can. We must remember these aren't dogs or cats. Well I guess they bite too. I take my snakes to schools to teach children about snakes and let them ask questions. They always want to know if I have been bitten. Of course I have and I know I will get bitten again. The odd part is that most kids that are scared of snakes want to pet their head. I have never figured that one out.

Just to answer your question... this does happen sometimes.

http://ball-pythons.net/forums/showt...ighlight=teeth

or the direct youtube link

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h9_6b_RZ1pg

If it has teeth it bites.

All animals are capable of it, it's the only way a snake can defend itself, it's not like it can push you away or tell you to stop.

As for your children getting bit I understand it's a scary thought and goes completely against all you own instinct's, to even think of something harming your children. The only thing you can do to prevent it is teach your kids what behaviors to look for, even then it can still happen, be thankful it’s a snake that is only going to leave a few teeth marks and not a dog that can rip a face off or a cat that can transmit zoonotic diseases via its bite. Snakes are relatively clean and a small one will do very little harm.

Thanks for all of the feedback everyone! This is my first snake, but the whole "animals bite" makes sense. I was bitten once, but it was totally my fault, so I wasn't AS shocked by it. He was not displaying any aggressive behaviors before he bit my friend, but like many said, he's a snake. Anyway, thanks for responding.

~DIMS

We had something very similar happen once.

My husband was holding our big female, and I noticed that instead of loosening up like normal, she stayed curled up. Not in a ball per-say, but just a loose coil. I told him to be careful, because that was not normal for her.

Minutes later, she was rubbing her nose along his wrist, then in slow motion she opened her mouth and closed it over his wrist again. Thank goodness he didn't freak out, but he was more than a little shocked, in over 4 years she'd never done anything remotely similar.

She refused to let go, so I had to carefully pry her loose, one tooth at a time. We got her back in her enclosure, and she was none the worse for wear. Hubby's wrist bled for a minute or two, but within an hour you could barely see the mark, by the next day it was invisible.

Unfortunately, hubby never got over the experience, and to this day is afraid of being bitten, even by a hatchling.

Me, I was scared until I got bit, and mine was a pretty hard strike-and-release, I had to laugh at myself for being scared of nothing, and now I don't even flinch when I get tagged.

Gale

Dave is savage killing machines and qleverly lured you and your into a false sense of security so he could get into position and Bam :O Nope, lol Just couldnt resist, could have been a front pager.

I only have the one Fiesty little girl, so I havent had a BP bite me full on yet /crossfingers. My kids 1.1 8/12 that have been handling snakes since they could crawl, neither has been bitten, yet. But there have been times when its been close, like the other day my girl was hold my little lesser, the fiesty one and logan leaned over to have a closer look and a small striking fit did happen. Good thing hes got daddy reflexes but got a better view then he expected, never got touched though.

We have a couple little rules, one about sticking our faces in theirs, one about always washing hands, one about not pulling away if you do get bite (so far this one is more a ideal then a rule), and one about comfort, if either you or the snake seem nervous the visit is over, and we make our guests follow these as well.

I wouldnt write old dave off just yet, he can still be a trusted family pet, as far as you can trust a pet completly driven by instict:P

chris

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Originally Posted by jfreels

The lesson is, snakes shouldn't be put into these situations. Right?

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More like... if you put a snake into this situation there's a strong likelihood he will bite.

Eh, they still play jungle with them. One of their favorite past-times actually. Minus the screaming girls.

Same thing happened to us my wife has never got bit but when we first got our new ball we were inexperenced with his moods.
We had him out everything seemed fine until we put him on the ground.
He seemed a bit jittery and went into a shoe box I went to pick him up to put him back in his enclosure he struck my hand and wrapped him self around my arm.
He was in feeding mode would not let go in the end we had to pry him off as I was bleeding. He was fine I was a little light headed.
We now know the signs , but we must have a few mice in the house as he sometimes he reacts when he is at ground level.
We know now and since then none of us have been tagged .

Think this is standard for beginners learning their snake.

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Originally Posted by angllady2

We had something very similar happen once.

My husband was holding our big female, and I noticed that instead of loosening up like normal, she stayed curled up. Not in a ball per-say, but just a loose coil. I told him to be careful, because that was not normal for her.

Minutes later, she was rubbing her nose along his wrist, then in slow motion she opened her mouth and closed it over his wrist again. Thank goodness he didn't freak out, but he was more than a little shocked, in over 4 years she'd never done anything remotely similar.

She refused to let go, so I had to carefully pry her loose, one tooth at a time. We got her back in her enclosure, and she was none the worse for wear. Hubby's wrist bled for a minute or two, but within an hour you could barely see the mark, by the next day it was invisible.

Unfortunately, hubby never got over the experience, and to this day is afraid of being bitten, even by a hatchling.

Me, I was scared until I got bit, and mine was a pretty hard strike-and-release, I had to laugh at myself for being scared of nothing, and now I don't even flinch when I get tagged.

Gale

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