I was food??? bitten and wrapped!

Hey everybody, first post here..

Just wondering how many of us have been bitten and constricted? It happened to me tonight, this is my first bite from a ball python as well. This came from a snake who was never aggressive, and wasn't scared either. Pretty much the common among the ball python stereotypes. He wrapped my hand up and didn't let go for about 4 minutes or so.....

Has this happened to many of you guys before? If so what were the signs leading up to it?, I had just picked up my snake and was transfering him into my left hand when he struck my middle finger of my left hand, and wrapped me up! He seemed very anxious before I picked him up, I suppose looking back I had a hold up sign at 3rd base, but I kept running for home....

Any info is appreciated...
thanks!

Forgot to mention, the snake ate two days prior, about 54 hours to be exact. It was a smaller rat pup than he is used to. The snake is 3.5 months old and probably 170-200 grams.

Many times ball pythons react strongly to certain smells. Were you handling rodents or even frozen rodents beforehand? Also, were you doing anything to cause your hands to smell funny?

My female ball is an angel, and the one time she has EVER hissed at me was right after I got home from a doctor's office and stank of "doctor smell" :rolleyes:

hatchlings are somewhat unpredictable. be glad it wasn't an adult. defensive strikes are nothing but a feeding strike really sucks

You say he was anxious, thats a sign your going to get a bite.

I could have smelled like chicken? possibly?
Would this snake still be considered a hatchling at nearing 200 grams? He definately wasn't acting normal.

Will he forget about this and be fine in a day? Should I wait? I figured he could see me and obviously feel me picking him up and not strike based on that alone..... I guess I was wrong!

To answer the questions, no I wasn't handling rodents of any kind.

I guess I just want reassurance, it was obviously a feeding strike...right? Otherwise he wouldn't have wrapped my fingers like he did. He clearly thought food was around. Assuming I just pay attention next time, and heed the writing on the wall, everything should be just fine?

it could have been the chicken smell

lol i would say either u fed him a smaller prey and he was still hungry or the chicken smell. im not sure if you are aware of this but they seem to love chicken broth? alot of people that has snakes that get stubborn and not eat or some other similar or odd reason will dip the rodents head in chicken broth and the snake will usually take it then. i use it myself when mine are stubborn lol.

I walk into my room where the snakes terrarium is....and his head is resting on the top of his hide (a clay pot). As soon as he sees me enter the room, he perks up like its feeding time, and alertly follows my every move. Just like he is interested in food. I always feed him in another seperate container though....

hopefully he is over this in the morning!

Well, I guess that's it, he's tasted human blood, he can never go back. *hands you a gun* Well, looks like it's time for you to go out and get him some food my friend.

<3

Probably the chicken, chicken broth is supposed to make a snake more likely to take a mouse/rat so it could very well have been that.

Ive been bitten by a 700 gram spider and constricted, stupid me was moving her from under her newspaper after feeding some other snakes so this was a full blown attack. Didnt really hurt, I just stayed calm and let her be until she let go.

One of my large males (6 lbs.+) got me once, I had him around my neck while cleaning his cage, walked over too close to one of my rat racks to get a trash can, and I was sunburned. He decided my arm looked like a big rat and got me good! He bit, twisted, bit again and pulled HARD! It ended up being a nice bruise...he goes nowhere near the rats now.

I got bitten, wrapped and partly swallowed once - by a shoestring of a hatchling corn snake who thought my pinkie finger was a pinkie mouse.

It was pretty funny watching him try, and realize that he'd bitten off a bit more than he could chew.

"High Hopes!"

~Bruce

LOL thanks for these replies.

Like I've said before, the pain isn't any issue here, although i'm definately glad it wasn't an adult python.....

After my snake finally let go, do you think he was still in "feed/attack" mode and that is why he kept hanging out by his pot, and alertly following my every single move? He looked as if he was ready to strike again, obviously i've given him some time to cool off, and hopefully a couple of days and it won't matter. He did just eat 2 days prior to this though, which is why it sort of boggles me....

Just once by a king...silly me should not feed kings by hand! He missed the pink and got me instead. Walked around the house like this for about 10 minutes. He just kept squeezing and squeezing, waiting for my finger to die! It was so funny!

http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b2.../100_1333b.jpg

Quote:

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Originally Posted by FloridaHogs

Just once by a king...silly me should not feed kings by hand! He missed the pink and got me instead. Walked around the house like this for about 10 minutes. He just kept squeezing and squeezing, waiting for my finger to die! It was so funny!

http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b2.../100_1333b.jpg

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wow.. what a picture!! sure is holding on tight!!!

I just got my first bite about a week ago. It was my 5 foot, 2500 gram girl that is not aggressive at all. I wasn't feeding her enough (2 small rats is not enough for this huge girl), and she wanted to let me know...lol. I hve several 'dots' on my arm from where her teeth dug in & a bruise. But it honestly didn't hurt anywhere near as much as I thought it would. Also, I placed my arm under running water to get her to let go. Worked like a charm.

just make sure to wash your hands very well. i had a steak last night and must not have washed the smell off good enough. i had her tank open to change her water and she was smelling around more than usual.

i scrubbed up and she seemed to calm down a bit. of course, it could have been all my imagination though but it doesn't hurt to make sure you wash b4 handling. i can't stess this enough to my kids who love to pet her when i have her out.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by FloridaHogs

Just once by a king...silly me should not feed kings by hand! He missed the pink and got me instead. Walked around the house like this for about 10 minutes. He just kept squeezing and squeezing, waiting for my finger to die! It was so funny!

http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b2.../100_1333b.jpg

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:rofl:man, that's awesome! great pic!

Well its been the better part of two day since my snake thought I was a meal. He hasn't left his warm side hide this entire time. Whats weird is everytime I enter the room, within 1 minute he pops his head up, and then positioins himself for a strike at something near his hide. If i get close enough, my movements interest him fully, and he acts as if he is about to eat.

It almost seems like he knows he "missed a meal" in his home tank, and now wants to wait it out, for it to return!!

Any ideas? ideas on how to get him out of strike mode/feed mode.
Normally when he used to be relaxing in his tank, he would notice outside movement, but never really gave a damn. If anything he might retreat to a hide......but now he is all business...

my corn snake got to the point where she expected food every time I opened the cage. I was never struck at, but there was just a certain body language she gave off as she was trying to smell for food when i was around.

Once she realized that she didn't smell food her body language changed, and seemed less predatory.

Showing my friends one of my corn snakes after showing my ASFs. She was hungry, and it didn't hurt or anything, it didn't bleed for like 10 minutes, but I kept her from constricting with my other hand.

:]

Just get him out and hold him for a while, for a couple of days in a row. He should forget that he wanted you for his dinner!

You sure he is a he? Some of my girls go crazy hungry seasonally, and want food everytime their cage is opened.

yeah he is a he.

I sort of wanted to let him cool off before handling him again...Its really obvious that he thinks I'm the food... He has never been so interested in me ever, since this little incident.

Thanks for all the replies, I suppose I'll just give him another day or two then see how he does

You could just feed him, and see how he behaves after that.

I suppose thats a reasonable idea.
His last feed day was wed. night...

thanks, maybe i'll give him another rat pup on monday

I've actually seen it mentioned on here before that some people notice their BP "hunting" when they cook chicken - and I watched Stan while I was the other day and he did see more active and interested than usual - so that could possibly be it.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by what_stanger?

It almost seems like he knows he "missed a meal" in his home tank, and now wants to wait it out, for it to return!!

Any ideas? ideas on how to get him out of strike mode/feed mode.

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Maybe try feeding him in his enclosure. He could definitely eat again; being that small a 5 day feeding schedule is about perfect. I would say to try feeding him in his normal enclosure. Maybe you'll trick him into thinking he got that pesky elusive mouse after all... Either that or he may just be less stressed when fed in the enclosure. Meh, either way, I'd give it a try...

Anytime I've noticed that look, I present a fist. I can see how a finger coming into the cage could kinda sorta look like warm dinner. The fist shows size and they get rid of that look pretty quickly, realizing that it's not food.

Also, I have a little bottle of $0.50, dollar store hand sanitizer on the cabinet right next to their cage. I use that every single time I touch my snakes just out of habit. I'm too absent-minded to remember if I ate some type of meat, or touched my dogs or my bird in between my last hand-washing and getting my snakes. It's got that alcohol smell, so while I can't be certain, I'm pretty sure it masks and/or gets rid of any smell that was on me before.

I've never had my balls strike, but with my old RTB, who thought I was food fairly often, this worked.

Thanks for everyones replies!

Everything is back and in check, I'll mark up the chicken smell as a major no no.