BP Bites

So i have never been bitten by my BP, she is very tame. sometimes it amazes me that she hasnt bitten me. but i was just curious, does it hurt when they do? mine is smaller like 22 inches and only eating adult mice(not sure about weight). Would a baby or and adult bite hurt worse?
thanks again
christian

I was bit just one so far.

It was right on the knuckle. It didnt hurt, but I did feel her teeth hit the bone of my knuckle.

Adult bites are worse.

Neither adult or baby bites are that bad. It is more startling then painful.

I've only been bitten a couple times, but it didn't hurt. The shock of the bite was way worse than the actual bite. Holy crap you bit me!

Tried to squeeze up some blood for a good bragging bite shot, but no dice.

Ive been hit a few times. Dont really think about it anymore. lol but about 3 months ago i had a real close call with one of our big girls. Her tub is about shoulder level when i opened it she struck out. It seemed like everything went in slow motion. I threw my hand up and grabed her before it happen. She got about 3 inches from my eye with her mouth wide open. lol

I could honestly see down her throat. That experience really threw me off for the rest of the day. haha

Baby BPs really don't hurt, and many times won't even break the skin. Of course, the strike still get's my heart running every time, but the bite is no big deal.

Once juveniles start getting over 500 grams or so, they can certainly break the skin and you'll know they took a swing at you, but it's not the end of the world.

Big adults with bad intentions can hit pretty hard, but, it's rare for adult pet BPs to bite. A breeder friend of mine got tagged by one of his 4400 gram big girls right on the back of the upper arm. It left a bruise, but didn't even bleed badly.

I've never heard of a BP bite requiring stitches...has anyone else?

I believe the instinct to pull back is way worse (guess you'd call it primal fear?) than the actual bite itself. I finally got bit a few times popping my clutch of mojaves the other day...felt like someone was poking me with their finger more than anything. Felt a little prick from one but I've had fly bites hurt worse than that! That being said, never had an adult tag me...although our Albino girl has come close at feeding time!

My 8 year old sister got bit by my juvenile BP a few years ago - not only did it tag her, but it latched on and wrapped :oops:. I've asked her about it since and she said it really just felt like a hard pinch, that it scared her but after the initial impact/pressure it wasn't super painful. She definitely had a little bit of a bruise going and some teeth marks leftover afterward though :)

I've never been bit but I'm very competitive with my sister... if she can take it, I can take it!

In all my years keeping balls I have yet to be been bitten by a ball yet (a few have tried), but I've been nailed a bunch of times by similar species (carpets, various boas, etc) and practically everything else you can imagine. Like the others have said, the worst part is waiting to get bit. After your first bite I guarantee you will laugh your head off because you worked yourself up over nothing. I've gotten some good bites from a 7ft male dumeril and an 8ft female coastal carpet that didn't even require a bandaid. I can assure you no ball is capable of anything like those two could dish out. Worst case scenario you're looking at a little neosporin and a bandaid. Ooooh! :D

I would take a full grown female's bite over a rodent bite any day! Those are the things that hurt like heck!

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Originally Posted by Rob

I would take a full grown female's bite over a rodent bite any day! Those are the things that hurt like heck!

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My black lab would agree. He got a little too close to mama rat's cage, and she took a chunk out of his ear... took 3 trips to the vet to finally make the bleeding stop. :rat:

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Originally Posted by Rob

I would take a full grown female's bite over a rodent bite any day! Those are the things that hurt like heck!

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This x 1,000!!! :O

I've been bite once or twice by the bp's. They usually miss cause their aim is horrible. And when they do get you it's usually a small hit and rarely do they latch. They really don't hurt much at all. Now a retic bite is a whole different thing.

Was bit by a 1500+ gr female a month ago or so. Drew pretty good blood and pulled about three teeth out of my hand. The third was a week after the fact. My fault though. I handled my dachshund right before, and got my hand in front of the hungry girl. I think the scent and the heat were the right combination to invoke the attack. Smarted a bit. But such a dumb act on my part. Always wash the hands before and after handling. :colbert:

When I first got Dannie she was very fussy and about 2 months or so after I'd had her, she struck at me when I was picking her up to change the paper towels. She didn't bite but her teeth skimmed my finger and it bled a little but didn't hurt. Probably not the answer you were looking for though, and a lot of other people seemed to have answered it anyways lol :)

Although not to hijack, but I have a question about it: I just remembered that when Dannie skimmed my finger it probably barely broke the skin but kept bleeding for a little while (maybe 15 or 20 minutes), longer than any normal cut I've gotten, but not a lot of blood. Maybe it's just my skin or something but is it possible BP's have something in their saliva, like leeches, that temporarily prevents clotting? Probably a dumb question but I can't figure that out :P (Edit: although when I think of it there's really no reason they would need to keep their prey's blood from clotting...)

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Originally Posted by Rob

I would take a full grown female's bite over a rodent bite any day! Those are the things that hurt like heck!

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Same here!

It feels like paper cut, the only bite that was slightly more painful was from a Large female, she got my knuckle :rolleyes: but still nothing compare to what some other snake can do, and I'll take a BP bite over a rat bite any day :gj:

Paper cuts are NOT ALL SET!

If I ever need to feed a stubborn/baby bp a live rodent, I'm going to be wearing some serious thick leather gloves. It's unlikely I'll ever do that with my snakes.

The few times I've been struck at I was like this:
http://i.imgur.com/Bp9an.gif

I haven't been bit yet, but I'm thinking there is nothing to fear but fear itself in this case.

I had a female rat for a pet once and she took a good chunk of my skin off one day when I was holding her. Worst bite I have ever encountered. I would totally rather get bitten by one of my snakes any day over a rat!

I just got a black pastel and she snapped at me, it scared the crap outta me, lol. It was a close call, but I'm it was the first of many, lol.

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Originally Posted by Rob

I would take a full grown female's bite over a rodent bite any day! Those are the things that hurt like heck!

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Yes, those little vermin will draw blood! They are the ones you really have to watch. Been tagged by my she devil female pastel. Scares the crap out of you more than anything.

Trust me, if you have ever been bitten by a cat, even a kitten, it's far worse! It does hurt, but I think it's much more startling than painful.

My bite by a 2 year old male, top teeth on the left, bottom on the right.
http://i157.photobucket.com/albums/t...Isis/003-8.jpg

Retic bites are worse than cats.

http://img.tapatalk.com/6272e0ed-b6fb-e9b7.jpg

http://img.tapatalk.com/6272e0ed-b70f-ad46.jpg

Sorry for the not so great pics.

I agree with pretty much everyone else.

It's the strike that's bad, not the bite. The whole "Oh my gosh the snake just struck at me what if it bites me oh holy cow" and then, when it's all over and you need a magnifying glass to find the teeth marks, you start laughing like crazy because you can't believe you got so worked up over THAT.

I have been bitten numerous times now, some by hatchlings, some by sub adults, once by a pretty much full grown male. None really hurt. I don't even flinch at the strikes most times now. The only ones who worry me at all are my big females. They are big enough and strong enough, if they ever bit me, I'd know I was bit. Good thing for me the only thing they get snappish over is their food.

So tell yourself, yes it is going to happen, but it's nothing to worry about. You'll still jump a mile the first time it happens. Oh, and by the way, you are required as part of your membership here to provide photographic evidence of any bite that draws blood. I'm still waiting to fulfill the requirements.

Gale

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Originally Posted by Rob

I would take a full grown female's bite over a rodent bite any day! Those are the things that hurt like heck!

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Exactly what I came here to say. I have yet to be bit by any snake but I'm pretty sure there's no way it can be worse than a rat bite.

Baby-juvie bites arn't bad, and haven't been tagged by any of my big girls or boas so can't comment. My worst bite (lol) was from my pastel girl when she was roughly ~300-50 or so grams, when she was in feeding mode (nom-ed on me a bit before she realized I wasn't a feeder):

http://i68.photobucket.com/albums/i3...s/DSCN0918.jpg

Culprit (at ~500 grams):

http://i68.photobucket.com/albums/i3...ril2120126.jpg

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Originally Posted by SlitherinSisters

Trust me, if you have ever been bitten by a cat, even a kitten, it's far worse! It does hurt, but I think it's much more startling than painful.

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I know that feeling! One time I was playing with my cats belly and she wrapped both arms around me with claws fully dug in and then kicked me a few times with her back claws and one big bite to finish it off. nothing like pulling a cats claws out of your skin ripping it as they go.

After being bit by lots of animals including adult ball pythons (2 foot alligator, green tree python, cat, ferret, hamster, squirrel, dog, snapping turtle and probably more) I would have to say that I'd take the ball python bite 100% of the time. The worse thing is the fear of waiting to get bit. It will most likely happen if you have a pet that has a mouth.

I have a male normal that's just a flat out jerk... he's bitten me at least 12 times now and its to the point where it doesn't even draw blood. BP bites are pretty mellow as far as what they're capable of doing.

I have never been bit by any of the ball pythons but last week the large five foot red tail managed to get me pretty good. The bite itself didn't hurt, it honestly is the shock of being bit. I didn't see it coming and it was my own stupidity that I was bit. However jumping back was not my brightest idea ever :oops: and I did have to pull a few teeth out of my hand :( Ball python would probably not be worse than that.

Right after getting bitten.
http://ball-pythons.net/gallery/file...854_188619.jpg

Two or three hours after the bite.
http://ball-pythons.net/gallery/file...9/imag1855.jpg

That night about 6-8 hours after the bite
http://ball-pythons.net/gallery/file...imag1857_1.jpg

I have never been bit, my girl is soooo mellow, nothing gets her worked up except rats. She goes from chill, mellow, sweetest snake ever to a complete psychopath as soon as she smells her rat defrosting. Someday, she will tag me when I am trying to feed her, I am sure of it, her feeding response is insane.

In fact, today I wasn't sure where she was in her tank when I slip open the glass. I usually just toss the rat in and let her find it, which takes her all of about 12 seconds just because I know she will tag me if I dangle it in front of her. Well, I opened the glass not knowing where she was and she came FLYING out with her mouth open right at my nose. Didn't get me, I leaped back on the floor, but holy crap, my heart skipped a beat. I closed the glass and opened the other side, threw the rat in, and she struck for my face again, smashed into the glass, spun around, saw her rat and lunged at it. It's like a horror movie, she just strikes at ANYTHING until she hits rat. Nutcase. :P

Wow. I didn't expect such a responce. Thank you. I really like all of your stories. One other question. Do they give you any signs that they are about to strike? Or do they just go for it?

Christian

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Originally Posted by Orangephoner

Do they give you any signs that they are about to strike? Or do they just go for it?

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In time you'll start being able to read each of your snakes, and you'll kinda' have an idea they might be ticked enough to take a swing.

If the bite is a feeding response (if you have rat smell on your hands) it can come out of no where.

BTW, try not to have rat smell on your hands ;)

I got tagged the other day by my adult spider due to SFE. (Stupid Feeding Error) She got the webbing between thumb and finger pretty good, as well as the knuckle of that finger. The bite stung...the bruising on the knuckle afterward hurt for a couple days....but it's a really small sort of hurt. Not a big deal. It's the ITCHING after a bite that drives me nuts. LOL That can go on for several days.

I'll concur with others that the adrenaline rush from the strike is far more dramatic than the bite itself actually is. I've got two snakes that will furiously launch themselves out of their tubs on feeding day (the spider is one of them! LOL) and they always get my heart to racing.

Does that count as aerobic exercise? :rofl:

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Originally Posted by JLC

furiously launch themselves out of their tubs on feeding day (the spider is one of them! LOL):

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X2.....I think it's safe to say spiders are nuts! In a good way of course ;)