How can I overcome my fear of being bitten by snakes..

Well, it's not a fear exactly, but I sure do hate it. I've been bitten 5 times, and in all of those 5 times, I gasp and pull back my hand as fast as I can. All times I have been bitten, never once had it been painful. The most pain I got out of it was feeling similar to a quick pinch. And strangely, the bites have been on both of my index fingers on both hands and no where else. How can I not become scared of being bitten? I don't want to gasp, or anything, I just want to know how to control that. I see in MANY videos people are calm when they get bitten.. so I'm jealous of that lol. I have a mean King snake and he always tries to bite me. He's bitten me 3 times. I'm calm when he strikes at me.. but I'm not calm when one of my other snakes strike at a food item, so I jump a little. So, what do I do? I feel so weak lol.

Just chilllll. Its not unnatural to jump and gasp at an unexpected bite. It happens, and youve been bit so you know it doesnt hurt. Or offer your hand up for sacrifice and get bit over and over and over again till you dont care anymore.

i don't think its something you can get over, its instinct. you can't really get rid of something that is in your DNA.

i remember this story about a bar that had a rattlesnake in a glass jar. For a buck you'd hold onto the jar and when the snake would strike, if you didn't pull your hand away, you got $2 back. the jar was super thick, so there wasn't a chance of actually getting bit. Everyone always ended up jerking their hand back and lost their money. Yeah the brain says that you are safe, but instinct doesn't care about logic.

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Originally Posted by pavlovk1025

Just chilllll. Its not unnatural to jump and gasp at an unexpected bite. It happens, and youve been bit so you know it doesnt hurt. Or offer your hand up for sacrifice and get bit over and over and over again till you dont care anymore.

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Well, I do have a King snake that will bite ANYTHING that's in front of his face. I guess I'll try it with him.. my mom is going to think I'm crazy lol.

You are. :P

Lol ya I guess so. My family is already calling me crazy because I own "too many" snakes. But I can't help it.. they are all so adorable:(

My mom was talking a bunch of garbage about my hobby and then I showed her a picture of a BEL and she was like, Ok, they might be kinda cool. Score 1 for this guy!

Lol that funny
My mom tells me she buys me too many snakes, but she ends up getting one for herself (the Corn snake) and that's just another snake I have to take care of.. She doesn't handle it because she doesnt want to get bitten. Now, if she doesn't handle it, and it gets aggressive, and she tries to handle it.. well.. there's her first snake bite lol. She leaves me to take care of it: Clean the enclosure, clean the water dish, handle it, feed it, do what I do with MY snakes. She doesn't even change the mean King snake's water dish because he's mean and again, she doesn't want to get bit. Gosh.. the things I have to do lol.

Well if shes buying them then thats kind of how you pay her back lol. Dont let her get bit! I had a corn snake once, I renamed him within a month of having him to an obscenity because he would always strike at me.

get bitten by a green anaconda and youll never pull your hand back again I promise!

Getting over the bite isn't the hard part. You deal with snakes you will get bit end of story. The hard part to grow use to is the strike. I flinch almost every time unless I know and see it coming.

Getting bit doesn't hurt it stings and bleeds and you keep going..

Learn to read the snake. A king will butt you with his nose like he's sniffing you, then chew on you... I tend to say, "He's going to get me" and then sure enough... my most recent was a milksnake at the petstore. Big boy, got me... I just stood there and laughed! lol

What gets me is the sudden ones- when a ball strikes without any warning, I jump out of my skin. Never been tagged by a ball, though- mine have bad aim, and I am very careful, too. I use the snake hook, or I only pick up the nasty ones when they're in a ball without their heads visible.

The fun ones are the tubs that are eye level and you have a 2000 gram female have a go at your nose. Those will make you butt pucker.

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Originally Posted by Freakie_frog

The fun ones are the tubs that are eye level and you have a 2000 gram female have a go at your nose. Those will make you butt pucker.

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I hope I don't look forward to a snake biting me on the nose lol. I've only been bit on both of my index fingers, every time. Kinda odd, but oh well.

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Originally Posted by Freakie_frog

The fun ones are the tubs that are eye level and you have a 2000 gram female have a go at your nose. Those will make you butt pucker.

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Oh man that just happened to me on feeding day. I have one of my biggest girls at eye level and I was lowering the rat and she struck and missed and came right at my face. Funny thing though, their strike is super fast in the first like 10 inches but as they extend further and kinda of over shoot, they slow down a LOT and then theyre easy to dodge. If I was in the range of the beginning of the strike I wouldve been tagged for sure.

Just be careful..........I have my snakes together with my rats and when those tubs are opened they go insane due to the smell of rodents in there.I find it funny when thye strike cause i am so used to it.Only been bitten once or twice and barely drew blood.With my set-up I like that since the room is scented the feeding response is great.

I've learned how to read everyone of my snakes body language. Also I know all of their personalities. You just need to go slow and watch them. Bites from smaller snakes and grown adult BP's normally don't hurt. Feels like a bunch of little pricks for a second, sometimes you don't even notice it till you see the blood then you stand there like "I got bit?!" Bites happen and life goes on. Nothing to worry about that a little soap and water can't cure... unless you get a bite from a venomous hot.

I got a little Banana cal king that goes for my finger every time. :snake:

The strike is way more surprising than it hurts. I just avoid the whole thing and don't get bit lol. Kings will get you though, they are just fast.

I just always expect to be bitten, although it has only happened a few times except with my baby BRB, he likes to bite me if he is hungry or in a bad mood. One time caught me off guard and I pulled back, but other than that I try to expect a bite coming at me.

I think its really hard not to get scared when a snake strikes at ya, I have had my little guy for about a month now (he is a mean little stinker) it is getting a little easier for me to get him out but it is still scary when he tries to get me!!!

9 time out of 10 I can see it coming and prevent it. :) You just have to learn your snakes, as others have said.
With mine, if I know a BP is in a striky mood (day before feeding or something), and I have to pick them up I will place their hide over their head (all hides here are plastic) and then lift. Once they're in hand, all of mine settle right down.

I've been bitten once by a BP, a youngster, but multiple times by corns. :) I had a female corn that was so mean she would try to bite every time she saw a hand. She got me good one time, wouldn't let go for at least 20 seconds, but it barely bled. :)

The only time I jump now is if they catch me by surprise with a sudden strike...but that's rare. :D

Get bit...

It sounds stupid, but you'll see that it's not as bad as you're expecting. At least if the snake that bites you isn't real real big :)

One of my newest snakes is a 39" cal king. It's an adult, and it's hungry because it was waaay malnourished by the previous owner. As a result (and purely because it's a king), it bites a lot. Even an adult king like that barely breaks the skin. It doesn't feel great, but it's not a life-altering experience either.