holding rodents and then snakes...

i have a question... how do your snakes react to you after you've been holding your rats or mice?

since we consider our females rats pets, rather than food... we want to spend time with them daily.

i wash my hands but since the rats climb all over me, will dexter be in 'eat' mode the entire time i'm holding him?

:confused:

I always wash after handling any rodents in my house, and b/c they do crawl all over me, I change my shirt before handling snakes also.

I always try to deal with snakes first to avoid the errant tag - whether its holding/cleaning or just changing their water or feeding them.

I was holding our son's kingsnake once shortly after having handled some of our BPs (up on the shoulders etc) and the little sucker bit me right on the neck, so I don't underestimate any herp's ability to get keen on trace odors lol.

whew... i'm glad i asked cause i was worried about getting tagged... and yet i thought... oh it's probably not a big deal.

so, i'll be sure to change (and of course i wash after holding any critter) between cuddles!

anyone else have any stories to tell?

I have a story!

I used to work at Serpent Safari reptile zoo. I would hold either a burm or BCI out in the hall at the mall and talk to people and they'd take pictures with the snake. I was also a tour guide.

Anyway, one day I was counting the frozen rodent inventory and instead of going over to the restaurant to wash my hands, I was lazy and I just used some hand sanitizer.

Not a good idea.

So I take the snake out there (8' albino burmese python) and a group of brownies comes over to see the snake. 'can I pet him, is he nice?' one little girl asks. 'oh yeah he's super tame, never bit anyone!'

*chomp* wow what an inopportune moment for the snake to latch onto my hand! So I discreetly as possible leave the little girls (not before one asks 'is he biting her?') and I go to the assistant manager on duty and said 'the snake has bitten me' He was a bit surprised to say the least and he was frantically trying to figure out how to get this snake to let go of me. There was a bottle of water on the shelf and he dumped it in the snake's face, but that only made him clamp down harder on my hand!

So he told me to go in the back room and get the owner to help me. I walked back there and told him 'the burm bit me!' and he drops whatever he was doing and runs over. First he tried squeezing the snake's head behind the jaws to try to get him to let go.. but no, that burm wasn't giving up his prize so easily!

Unfortunately he had to spray windex in the snake's mouth to get him to let go.. I'll never forget seeing the poor snake open his mouth in pain. I felt very bad..

So I had a pretty bite mark with 40 tooth holes in my hand. Bad thing was I had to work with a huge bandage on my hand the rest of the day. (the questions I got from customers were hard to avoid.. lol)

So that's your lesson.. wash your hands!

man, was the snake ok from the windex?

To tell you the truth, I never saw the snake again. I hope it is ok, Sammy really was a good boy..

my kids are all sitting here with their mouths hanging open and my son said, "oh okay, so that's scary" and left the room... we won't be holding the snake after the rats anymore!

Haha.. sorry kids! It really didn't hurt much. ;)

i have a quick story. gather round kids! one time i was feeding nessa (and ofcourse i had been handling the rat), i had my hand near her because i was watching her and as soon as she had slurped down the tail she nailed me right on the index and middle finger. she held on and started to wrap around me so i grabbed the back of her neck and she came off pretty easy.

oh man, i'm NOT looking forward to getting tagged for the first time

K before we get all wierd over snake bites here and scare the kiddies.....

Even our more aggressive snake Brannagh isn't biting from meanness or a bad attitude. Brannagh strikes out in fear and that can be dealt with and has been dealt with. Snakes bite from fear, defensiveness, hunger, a feeding error or a confusion of scents and movement most of which end up being a human's fault. Most, if they tag you, will immediately let go and you are likely to do most of the damage yourself when you instinctively pull back and drag their teeth over you.

I tell my kids that the snakes will likely only tag them if they don't follow simple routines that the snake is used to. That they are the thinking humans and the snake is a creature of instinct so it's up to them to think about ways to avoid situations where a bite is more likely. That having snakes is also about the occasional nip and it's not a big deal anymore than falling off a bike is part of riding a bike....it happens...you get back on and ride some more! LOL We are teaching our kids to respect that the snake has no other real way to deal with life other than balling up, hissing or occasionally jabbing at us so not to worry over it much. Most of the time it's a warning strike and the snake doesn't seem to be really trying to bite, just a "hiss off" thing LOL.

Don't let the kiddo's get freaked out. I think my kids are more likely to get nipped by the yappy ankle biter dog that lives down the road then by most of my ball pythons.


~~Jo~~

I was being serious when I said it didn't hurt much. This was an 8' long burm that held on! Your average bite is a tag and release (all of my other tags were like this).

The day after the burm bite I honestly could not feel any pain from it at all.. and it was only a dull soreness the first day. A ball python bite is NOT a big deal.

I get bit by dogs a lot (I am a groomer lol) and I'll tell you a dog bite (even a shih tzu nip) is going to hurt a lot more than a ball python bite!

Getting bitten is not a big deal......from my experience, it seems that there are two kinds of snake bites- one is the result of a feeding response, they bite with the intention of holding on and constricting. The second is more of a "get the ____ away from me!" type of bite, where it's more like they are "punching" you with their open mouth and teeth. Those tags don't hurt so much. Its when they bite and the attempt to constrict that adds insult to injury.

I got hit by a 4-5' boa with a feeding response one time....I've been bit by balls, corns, kings, etc, and that little dude sent some pain my way. Not to mention that it bled like crazy.......

Quote:

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Originally Posted by mr~python

she nailed me right on the index and middle finger. she held on and started to wrap around me so i grabbed the back of her neck and she came off pretty easy.

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So - that's what I should do if/when I get bit (she's only a babe at the moment LOL)? What if water was sprayed in their mouth - would that stop them? Just getting ready here - not panicking :)

Actually I never thought that holding another snake would be a problem so I'm happy to have had this brought to my attention - although if it was an unknown "other snake" I would of course wash and change clothes anyway in case it had an infection.

other snake smell should only be a problem with the more cannibalisticly inclined species like milks and kings.

I've never had trouble with my milks and kings trying to bite me if they smell 'snake' on me (which would be pretty much any time I touch them)

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Bev

other snake smell should only be a problem with the more cannibalisticly inclined species like milks and kings.

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Exactly what happened with that Cali King handling after the BP - was an early learning experience with Kings lol.

oh now see this... i didn't even think snake to snake would matter... i was more concerned with handling their food items and then them...

ah the power of communication... it's amazing what you learn once you get talking (and listening!!!!)