How do you get over the fear of being BIT?

You all give me honest answers? Should you wear gloves? Handle daily? I'm getting one next month sometime..I had one about a year ago and she was great..I had to get rid of her..but I still had that fear...Now i'm back to gain knowledge! lol

Honestly most of the fear should disappear when you actually get bit because then you'll realize that the bites are nothing but a quick pinch. I still do get startled when they move quickly though, but I've learned their movements so I can pretty much tell who is going to strike and who isn't as soon as I open up the tubs.

Now if wearing gloves is what makes you comfortable then by means. Eventually I'm sure you'll get over that fear factor. Another way to avoid getting bit is to grab them either from behind or the side. If they're snappy, trying to grab them head on is a great way to get bit. But I promise it's nothing. It's more blood than anything.

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Originally Posted by TheSnakeEye

Honestly most of the fear should disappear when you actually get bit because then you'll realize that the bites are nothing but a quick pinch. I still do get startled when they move quickly though, but I've learned their movements so I can pretty much tell who is going to strike and who isn't as soon as I open up the tubs.

Now if wearing gloves is what makes you comfortable then by means. Eventually I'm sure you'll get over that fear factor. Another way to avoid getting bit is to grab them either from behind or the side. If they're snappy, trying to grab them head on is a great way to get bit. But I promise it's nothing. It's more blood than anything.

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cool!! lol how many times have you been bitten?

Fear is all in your head and the best way to get pass that is to face it really. Bites are annoying but they're not that bad to make you avoid you precious babies, but if you feel like wearing gloves to make you "feel" comfortable then by all means do it. You might also want to invest in an adjustable snake hook though I only see those being useful on larger snakes, and try not to smell like something that would be considered food. Try not to go after them head on that spooks them so best come from the side. =3 but once you get them out they should be fine and the more you handle the less likely they should get defensive.

And always be confident, like they say animals can read emotions and will react to it on occasion.

I agree with SnakeEye, and would perhaps add getting a snake hook if you're really having trouble getting your snake out of its tank/tub. Another thought, let him bite you and be done with it. It will demystify the experience in your mind.

you all are awesome lol

i guess if you get bit enough times, you eventually loose the fear of it... despite being very careful, i've been tagged a few times, not really painful, but it's not fun either.

I have only had that fear from one bp, my normal when I first got her. The fear stemmed from her behavior of always being in feeding mode and striking at anything that moved. A hunger strike/constriction really freaked me out, as she was decent size of 1000grams. I just spent extra time during feedings with her, for one month I would tap the left side of her enclosure with feeding tongs (3 times), open it up and tap the floor on left side (3 times), then offer her the f/t meal. Then any time I wanted/needed to get her out I would approach from the right (no tapping). She picked up on this very quickly and even if shes in hunger mode she quickly realizes daddy just wants to hold her. Worked wonders with my initial fears, and now were best friends :) (I still do the taps even tho she doesn't need it anymore)

As for defensive strikes/tags... Up until 3 days ago I could have said never happened to me nor ever worried about it. But my beautiful enchi baby girl dang near jumped out of my hands striking at my gf. And I guess since she missed she got mad at me and turned around and tagged my finger. Actually took a few seconds for me to realize she tagged me, just felt like a pinch, absolutely nothing to be worried or afraid of :) Actually my bearded dragon who thought my thumb was dinner hurt way more and drew way more blood. lol

Yup. You get over the fear of being bit when you get tagged the first time ans realize it doesnt hurt.

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Thanks for the replies

I was rather cuirious about this question myself. I have yet to get tagged by Nagini, and I doubt I will. She's extremely docile and won't even look sideways at anything that isn't her food

When I was a kid, my buddy and I would go out catching Garter snakes. It was always nerve racking grabbing the first one because of the fear of being bitten. However, the fear was always worse than the bite. I figured out pretty quick if I let one bite me, I didn't care after that if I got bitten or not. While a ball is a little bit bigger, the same still holds true. That doesn't mean I don't flinch when they strike

Cool lol

If we're strictly talking bps, then its practically a joke when they get you. Surprise accounts for most of the reaction. Had a grumpy hatchling in one hand andnwas doing something else andnnot paying attention, felt a thumping against the side of my arm and realized she was repeatedly tagging the arm holding her. It was quite amusing. Now my boas, or the burms I used to have......

Really?

I've been bitten by a lot of animals. Even my 900/1000 gram male biting and constricting is not a particularly painful experience. In fact, I'd say it ranks lower than a skinned knee (by a lot) on the pain scale. Defensive strike and gone? LOL. Their teeth are CRAZY fine/thin. Sharp, yeah, but not like they're big old dog/cat/shark teeth or something that are leaving big puncture marks.

Like everyone's said - the worst part of it's that it's fast and makes me startle.

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Originally Posted by Darkbird

Now my boas, or the burms I used to have......

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Good point. I've been tagged by baby BP's and boas, small kings, garters, and the most I felt was a little pinprick, or maybe like I was rubbed with velcro. OTOH my large female boa nailed my hand and wrapped my wrist instead of the rat when I stupidly used the short tongs instead of the longer ones when feeding her, and that HURT. What made it worse is I had to wait for her to let go, which took a few minutes. Most other bites are the defensive/go away quick nips.

I'm still nervous for some reason! So i assume you shouldnt feed it where it lives right? It will always have the smell of food in it's enclosure right?

Feeding in or out of the enclosure could be a long thread on it's own. I feed in the cage, both for convenience and because I've never seen any animal that was handled regularly have issues always being in feed mode. Main thing is to know your snake, and learn to read it's body language. I know the instant I open a tub if the snake is already I feed mode. And I still make the occasional mistake, and get bit. I will say that I have NEVER been bit when it wasn't my fault. Mostly stupid feeding errors, and not paying attention to what the snake was "telling me". Like getting tagged with a defensive bite by my 14' female burmese, because she was in shed, and I didn't heed her extra loud and long warning hiss. Thank god she didn't hang on, I was being a further idiot by trying to work with her alone.

Feeding in the enclosure is fine. Being bit by a 3000g BP DOES hurt but it wont require medical attention. Think about stubbing your toe... you don't even consider that it's a possibility until it happens and by then it's already over. That's kind of how it works with BPs. The fear of it happening just isn't worth your time because it won't happen often and there are ways to reduce the risk. I have a small snake hook that I keep around in case I need to gently touch them on the head to knock them out of a defensive strike position or a feeding strike position. The rest of the time if you pick them up gently from behind you'll never be bit.

Being bit is always a possibility. Personally, I find it more important to keep my own reaction in check to make sure I don't accidentally drop the snake or flick it away on reflex. The bites really don't hurt a person, but it's very possible whatever your reaction is could hurt a young snake. That being said, BP's are traditionally very docile and not usually prone to biting. Sure, you may have a few nippy individuals but you'll recognize those ones pretty quick, and then there's the feeding response that may herald an incoming bite. Honestly, whenever Kirby or Chelsea look at my hand like food, I just use the other hand to pick them up from around the middle and they calm right down.

As others have said, after your first bite, you lose the fear big time.

A bigger snake biting you will hurt, but it's not any worse than the stubbed toe example, and as long as you stay still and do not yank the snake off you, it'll heal up in a day or two.

We often train new staff out of their bite fear by making them stick their hand in a cage with a bunch of new baby carpet pythons. Lots of angry and potentially lots of biting, but little actual injury, especially if they stay still. Just takes one and most people are able to get past the fear - it's not an unknown anymore. :)

-Jen

lol thanks folks

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Originally Posted by LLLReptile

We often train new staff out of their bite fear by making them stick their hand in a cage with a bunch of new baby carpet pythons.

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Video please!

the bites are more startling than anything, and they're so quick that you wont even realize it until its over with. they're not painful at all, in my opinion. especially babies; their bites feel like a pencil tapping your hand lol. getting popped isn't anything to worry about, the snakes aren't powerful enough to do serious damage. ill be honest, i used a thick knee high sock over one of my hands to pick one of my babies up when i first got it because i was super afraid of getting popped. he didn't to anything at all, just coiled up and stared at the sock like "the heck are you picking me up with?" some tips would be to just reach in at a constant speed, nothing sudden, nothing too slow, and scoop the snake up. don't wave your hand or hover it above them. THAT is what makes them nippy. reach in with confidence. its a little scary at first and the babies may suddenly jerk back or hiss, but that's about all they will do. after a few handling sessions, all that disappears. i still jump out of my skin when mine are sleeping and i reach in to get them and they wake up and jerk back really fast because they didn't know whats reaching in to get them! in all though, these guys are one of, if not, THE most docile snakes to own. they're like tiny puppy dogs (without the painful, annoying teething period- thank god) and are by far my favorite snake species. good luck! :gj:

I was bit by a reticulated python. Scared me more than it hurt. I hate that it didn't leave a scar, though. That woulda been pretty cool. But yeah, all the little teeth make for a good bit of blood. After the shock is over, though, it kinda feels more like a bruise than a bite. At least to me it does.

As has been said by many others the best way to get over the fear of getting bit is to simply get bit. I would rather get bit than stub my toe but I dont walk around with shoes on all day out of fear of stubbing my toe.

You name the creature...I'll tell you how much more it's bite hurts compared a bp bite!
Pound for pound, they're at the bottom of the list!
Any mammals going to hurt way more!

Itll spook you!
As mentioned above, I always worry more about the snake than than myself, it really isn't hard to jerk back and really hurt your snake.

Just accept it's going to happen and try to be ready...

(I don't know if someone already said this because I didn't read all of the comments) but ball pythons are very docile most of the time. I don't know if that's the type of snake you're getting but they're great! I got my first BP about two years ago and the fact that I could just pick her up and she wouldn't mind made me love them and start my passion for them. I was still careful because I know they CAN bite, but usually won't.
I've never met a "mean" ball python. Baby ball pythons are most likely to bite because they're so small and still scared of everything. Maybe get a sub adult or adult BP from a breeder? The breeder can sell you a BP that he knows isn't prone to biting.
One of my bps bit me for the first time the other day (I scared him) and it didn't hurt too much. It just felt like a little pinch.

But all that is just my opinion/experience


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Ive been bitten and wrapped a few times. Honstly it doent hurt much at all. If you have tattoos or piercings, those are more uncomfortable than a bp bite (especially a baby).

I found the hardest part was re establishing that trust for the animal after it bites but thats more of an issue of beimg able to identify the signs of aggression before it happens. Its more like trusting yourself to umderstand the snake. Now if i get snapped at, the first thing on my mimd is "im glad she didnt get me because i would hate to not trust her".

Youll learn it. It doesnt always come naturally but usually itll come with practice, as in all things. Good luck and happy herping!

thanks!