Kali gets revenge!

Well... almost. I need some help/advice figuring out why this behavior came about. Last night at about 12am I pulled Kali out to hold her for a little bit. All was fine for a little bit. I have my shirt off and was half laying down and half sitting up on my bed. She was pretty much chillin on my stomach (for heat) slithering around a little bit here and here. All was great! She started to head south so I rubbed to tail end a little bit. I would take my finger and rub it down either side of her tail and she would grab my finger and hold onto it.I kept doing that because it was cool! She had her head turned like "huh? what arrrreeee you doing?". Well that was fine for about 4 minutes. Then OUT OF NO WHERE! She hissed... My eyes bulged! (I have never been bitten, and very afriad of it) She hissed again! I quickly grabbed a corner of the blanket and threw it over her head.... she struck twice at it and once in it. I turned myself to the side and dropped her on the bed. I went and put a glove on to pick her up... put her back in her tub and closed her up. I was shaking for about 10 minutes afterwards... I'm such a coward.

Your keeping snakes bucko! Your going to get bit sooner or later. Blood Pythons are pretty nippy as babies. You probably mad her mad or scared and she was trying to defend herself. :)

I have heard of people going years without ever being bitten. I kind of want her to grab me and just chop down. Once it happens I should be fine. But every time they strike either I'm not close enough or I just move...

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Originally Posted by Kilo

I have heard of people going years without ever being bitten. I kind of want her to grab me and just chop down. Once it happens I should be fine. But every time they strike either I'm not close enough or I just move...

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Kilo,try not to "make" her bite you so you can be over your being scared of being bitten.This will stress her out and its unneeded.How would you like to have somebody mess with you when your cruising along? lol That was her way of saying back off chump lol.Out of all the snakes i think bloods rank second on the biting scale and retics are first(they hurt bigtime ;) ).If she hisses or strikes at you while you are holding her try not to react to quickly as you could send her flying thru the air.Then she could be injured:( .I know its normal to react to danger if you will,think of something else instead of jumping up real fast like.

As many snakes as you have I'm really shocked you haven't been hissed at or bitten before. Some are all talk, I've got one, then you have some that will follow through. Then you have the bullys they bite first and ask later.

You might have scared her or she might have just had enough and was like Ok buddy thats it leave me alone.

The best thing to to is not get scared of getting bit. There are worse things in life. And remember that each snake has a personality and that may be part of hers.

Heck my Leo scares the little brown poo out of me when he hisses and lunges at me.

P.S most people that get bit say that they never saw it comming and the shock of getting bit was worse than the bit.

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Originally Posted by joepythons

Kilo,try not to "make" her bite you so you can be over your being scared of being bitten.This will stress her out and its unneeded.How would you like to have somebody mess with you when your cruising along? lol That was her way of saying back off chump lol.Out of all the snakes i think bloods rank second on the biting scale and retics are first(they hurt bigtime ;) ).If she hisses or strikes at you while you are holding her try not to react to quickly as you could send her flying thru the air.Then she could be injured:( .I know its normal to react to danger if you will,think of something else instead of jumping up real fast like.

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Oh I definitely would never "make" one my of babies bite me. I was just hopeing one would finally succeed lol. At first it took me a second to realize she was hissing... so I didn't jump really... just kind of put the blanket over her and slowly rolled and to slide her onto the bed. I definitely did not want to make her more stressed than she seemed to be. I guess I didn't consider her "possible temperment" all I think of when I see Kali is that picture of dannngconcepts huggy her big boy.


Freakie... thats the odd part about it. I know it won't really hurt.. I could definitely handle any bite my babies can throw at me. It's how they bite that is scary lol. The striking! If it would slowely slither up to me open its mouth and just bite it would be different. But they are sneaky and quick lol.

I know how you feel, I think there's always that fear of getting a bite. It's not so much the bite that freaks ya out though. My 4 foot miami phase was horrible and would lunge out of the feeding box I would scream every time! A snake of any size coming at your face with there mouth wide open will scare that crap out of you, I dont care who you are lol. He did make contact on more then one occasion, none of which hurt but scared the hell out of me.

I keep trying to remember to not jerk my hand away.....but really isnt that human nature?

I'm not scared of the Bp's we have chomping down.....now that I said that I'll get a good bite from each and everyone tonight I know it :D

Any way good luck with her...and remember if she is a girl...well we all tend to get pissed off and bite a guys head off...no rhyme or reason half the time. :sweeet:

Kyle , welcome to the world of snakes ...haha

Bloods "hiss" as babies and as adults I am sure other blood owners will confirm this I wouldn't worry about it.

I have never been bitten by any of my bloods but they have hissed alot and had a few attempts striking, its just part of their makeup IMO however I dont agree they are bad biters tbh but some may dissagree I dont know I am speaking from my own experience with them.

I would ranks Retics, Anaconda's above them by a long shot but they are very defensive as babies and can be prone to true and false striking as well as hissing but short periods of handling is best when they are young IMO as in my experience anyway it takes time and patience to get them familiar with handling but they never lose the hissy attitude sometimes.

You should try to remain calm focused and confident around them and keep the handling brief during the training period, I think you will find she becomes more "used" to it as she grows and becomes more confident herself through consistent feeding and shedding.

There is a reason they are not beginner snakes and that to me mainly the ability to read snake behaviour through experience of snake keeping in general.

Whatever you do dont let it dent your confidence , persistence patience and understanding are key factors working with Bloods the way I see it and you will be rewarded if you work on these.

Try and just learn from it, take stock of the situation as it happened and keep it mind an dput it down to just more experience you have witnessed and been part of.

The beauty of these animals like other snakes is learning how they behave and respond and moulding youself to the snakes requirement rather than trying to force the snake to mould to yours.

I am glad to see your gaining valuable experience regardless:sweeet:

No bites here either buddy but I agree with you can't wait to get it out of the way.

Sometimes with problem feeders you rub the food on the side of the snake and thisll annoy them enough(or make them realize they are hungry) and will strike. Maybe as you rubbed her or whatever, she believed it was dinner time.:confuzd:

I've been bitten more than once but a snake showing intimidating posture can still do just that. It is pretty safe to say that if you are keeping young snakes you will get bitten at some time or another. Hopefully it is just a warning tag and not an "attack." When I say "attack" I mean the snake strikes, hits, holds on, and proceeds to constrict. I have been tagged by an 8 foot Boa and "attacked" by a hatchling Burmese, and I'd take the Boa tag over the Burm attack any day.

I wouldn't worry abot it too much. My bloods are consistently "talky" - any reaching in and preparing to pick them up warrants a few loud hisses and sometimes my bigger blood (also kali lol) will even rear that wicked looking head around and give me the eye.

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Originally Posted by Smulkin

I wouldn't worry abot it too much. My bloods are consistently "talky" - any reaching in and preparing to pick them up warrants a few loud hisses and sometimes my bigger blood (also kali lol) will even rear that wicked looking head around and give me the eye.

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hehe ...aye my bloods are very "talky" as you so aptly put it I think its rather endearing that they do this gives them a bit more character I think ..lol

Wow..... thanks to everyone who took the time to reply and offer there advice. I understand comletely what everyone is saying and will take it to heart. Snakey... I will definitley be practicing everything you said... I guess good things come in due time.

TheAudOne: I agree that it's human nature.. I want to leave me hand there and let them know I'm not going anywhere if they bite me... but instinct pulls my hand away.

Smulkin: I'm not worried to much about her... she seems to be doing great (eating and all). She does never come out of her hide though.... kind of wierd (She will about 1/5 of her body but never more!). The main thing that gets me is that evil eye that bloods give. When there facing away and they turn there neck and stare!! :eek:

I will just have to work on my instinct reactions! Thanks again to everyone who has replied.

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Originally Posted by Kilo

She does never come out of her hide though.... kind of wierd (She will about 1/5 of her body but never more!). The main thing that gets me is that evil eye that bloods give. When there facing away and they turn there neck and stare!! :eek:

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Don't be too worried about that - being ambush predators and all they are bound to make generous use of their hides or if given enough substrate will shimmy themselves down into it with just their heads poking out.

They do have mastery of that evil eye though!

Boo!

https://ball-pythons.net/gallery/fil...2/vadereye.jpg

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Originally Posted by Smulkin

Boo!

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Hahaha! That's bootiful!!!

yeah Bloods have mastered the art of the evil eye for sure ..:D

Kyle a good thing about you is your thirst for knowledge and your willingness to emrace it ......you will be fine and I would think you will become very knowledgeable and someone that learns from their mistakes .......thats some good attributes to have as it will ensure you do the right thing from experience.

The best thing a new keeper can do is embrace learning and the best thing some who has knowledge can do is embrace teaching in whatever format.

4ft Corn?! Psshhhha.

18ft retic?!

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Nothing like a snake that can free stand 6ft and look you in the eye as if to say "wwaaazz aup?!"

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Originally Posted by Smulkin

Boo!


https://ball-pythons.net/gallery/fil...2/vadereye.jpg

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Awsome shot~!!!!:pinkele:

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Originally Posted by Kilo

Well... almost. I need some help/advice figuring out why this behavior came about. Last night at about 12am I pulled Kali out to hold her for a little bit. All was fine for a little bit. I have my shirt off and was half laying down and half sitting up on my bed. She was pretty much chillin on my stomach (for heat) slithering around a little bit here and here. All was great! She started to head south so I rubbed to tail end a little bit. I would take my finger and rub it down either side of her tail and she would grab my finger and hold onto it.I kept doing that because it was cool! She had her head turned like "huh? what arrrreeee you doing?". Well that was fine for about 4 minutes. Then OUT OF NO WHERE! She hissed... My eyes bulged! (I have never been bitten, and very afriad of it) She hissed again! I quickly grabbed a corner of the blanket and threw it over her head.... she struck twice at it and once in it. I turned myself to the side and dropped her on the bed. I went and put a glove on to pick her up... put her back in her tub and closed her up. I was shaking for about 10 minutes afterwards... I'm such a coward.

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lol that made my day. you have taken on one of the most aggressive pythons in the world and all you are is provoking your snake to become aggressive when its a 20+pound adult.

ps:sorry for the tough love but someone had to do it :)

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Originally Posted by uro1001

all you are is provoking your snake to become aggressive when its a 20+pound adult.

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How so lol? I'm confused. :P

as a snake gets stressed/aggrivated it will become more aggressive and seeing as you have a blood python it isnt going to help things :)

I think that he is trying to say that the way you reacted towards your python, is going to make her more aggressive towards you, because she is not going to trust you anymore, by reacting the way you did.