Ball Python bit without striking first

[kathleenwdwrd]

So my ball python bit someone without striking. He just started rubbing his nose against his hand and then started biting him pretty slowly. I've had a similar situation happen with a fuzzy blanket that he thought was a rat and then acted like he was going to bite me. He didn't just stayed with his nose right against my wrist and was hard to pry off. He's generally pretty friendly and always comes to me when I go to handle him. Now I'm scared he might bite me. I know it's to be expected, but would like to avoid it if I can. He is a Killer Bee and has a pretty intense head bobble and a strong feeder. I'm just wondering if there might be a reason he bit in such an unusual way...? Does his head bobble have anything to do with it?

[KMG]

I've been bit several times just like that. It seemed to me that my snakes did not like the feel of my arm hair. More of an exploratory bite.

[dakski]

Sounds a little odd, but there could have been a food like smell on the person as well. Who knows?

Look, no one wants to get bitten, by anything, especially larger snakes! That kind of bite sounds pretty harmless, almost exploratory, as KMG said. I wrestle with my dogs and play bites from them hurt more than a BP bite. However, I am not afraid of them. I think sometimes we are afraid of what we don't understand, or can't read. Snake bites seem to scare people more than much more painful things. Frankly, I am probably more worried about getting bitten my one of my snakes (during feeding for example) than I am about many other things that are far worse. I don't let it get to me, but in thinking about it I am more cautious about feeding my snakes than many other things. It's the quickness/unpredictability that potentially bothers me. However, as you will see below, I have had many worse things happen to me (and painful things - I had a kidney transplant and follow up surgery 6 years ago) than getting bitten!

The reality of owning snakes is you can get bitten. Knowing you snake, handling you snake, etc. helps cut down the risk, but mistakes happen during feeding, or they can get confused, or are having a bad day. I race cars and they say if you race long enough, you will crash. I had a transmission failure at 100 mph and went into the wall. That hurt! A BP bite does not, comparably. If you own snakes long enough, you may get bit, it happens.

Having said that, I have had BP's, corn snakes, and now Boa's for much of my life. I have suffered one bite from a baby BP - and it was totally my fault. I slipped and slammed my hand down in front of his hide and he struck quick and then coiled up. I scared him more than he scared or hurt me.

First, try to learn your snake and not be afraid. A bite can be scary if they strike, especially if you are used to chill snake, but it won't be the end of the world. It also sounds like your BP is not aggressive, but rather, scared or had a food response. I wouldn't worry about that as much as a snake that strikes when you walk by or put your hand in his/her enclosure.

Secondly, learn snake language. Sudden and sharp movements can mean scared or defensive. In these instances, be cautious. I would balance that with letting the snake know you are in charge and not afraid of it. My albino spider BP used to hiss when she was little. I called her bluff the first few times and picked her up. She realized I was not afraid of her and hasn't done that since (she is 5 now).

Happy snake or curious snake equals slow and wide/long tongue movements. Tasting the air, taking things in. Short fast tongue movements can mean hungry, scared, defensive, etc.

I am not trying to be difficult and trivialize your fear. I understand, as I said above, and don't want to get bitten either. However, as Alford Hitchcock said, "the anticipation of the bang is worse than the bang itself." He made a living on fear/anxiety over actual event.

In this case the fear of a snake bite is probably doing more harm than the snake bite could. Additionally, although snakes DO NOT "sense fear," if you are nervous, he could become nervous and defensive too. Be chill and he probably will be as well.

I used to tell myself when I started racing cars that I would freak out and quit racing if I got in an accident. I didn't. I got back on the horse and set faster lap times.

If you get bit, you'll keep enjoying your BP, but I doubt it will be a common occurrence, if it happens again.

Enjoy your BP! Don't let the fear of getting bit take away from how awesome your BP is and how much enjoyment you get from him/her.

[kathleenwdwrd]

Thanks for your input! I know a lot of the fear is mental and I could experience far worse bites from my other animals.. He's never struck at me in aggression before but he is very curious when I come by his cage. Like I said he would just come out to me when I stopped by and opened up his doors. Both of these times though he was totally chill and normal until I'm guessing something triggered him. Mostly just wondering if anyone else has experienced something similar, I've just never seen a snake bite the way he did.

[dakski]

Yeah. I realize I rambled on there after re-reading. Lol.

Glad it was helpful though.

I have heard of bites like that but never seen or experienced one.

Probably a one time thing.

How old old is your BP?

[Forgotten]

I find this very interesting, I have no advice but simply my opinion on snake bites and my experience.

I've taken a few bites from my 100+ lb german shepherd / rotty mix (unintentionally) as him and my other dog sometimes get too rough playing and I have to separate them and those bites hurt and do a lot more damage than a ball python ever could but it doesn't scare me off of letting my dogs sleep in my bed or play with me.
We are naturally scared of what we don't know and with public perception of " the big bad snakes" we associate them with danger and don't take the time to get to know the animals and understand them like we do with dogs, creating a fear of them.

Ball pythons don't hurt when they bite but the thought of being bit by a snake is intimidating and I feel like it comes from the overall perception of snakes being dangerous and bad. Of course no one on this site believes that but, personally, I think it goes back to your natural instinct and what you were taught of snakes being dangerous.

When I was living with my parents they wouldn't allow me to have snakes and they were terrified of them so I didn't handle a snake until I was 17 and living on my own.
For 17 years I was taught that snakes were bad, leave them alone, and now sometimes when I see one of my snakes (who I know is friendly) coiled up or looking defensive I start to get nervous about being bit and I think subconsciously its your brain telling you what its been told for years: Snakes = Danger

I just picked up a large adult female bp (largest snake Ive ever handled) and seeing how big she is does make me nervous to get bit but as Dakski said, its the anticipation of being bit which can lead you to be more timid and more likely to get bit, the bit itself isn't so bad.

I'm very excited to start handling her once she's settled in, despite my intimidation, because is anything fun if it doesn't get your heart racing?

All in all, don't be worried to get bit, it might happen, it might not, you're not gonna die or even be hurt. Try to get to know and understand your snakes body language and signs of when its scared or defensive because its not biting out of aggression, your snake isn't sizing you up and planning an elaborate jail break to devour you in your sleep.



Or atleast thats what they want us to think

[kathleenwdwrd]

Yeah. I realize I rambled on there after re-reading. Lol.

Glad it was helpful though.

I have heard of bites like that but never seen or experienced one.

Probably a one time thing.

How old old is your BP?

Lol it's all good, I've never been bitten before but I've heard it's like a paper cut. He is very hard to get off once latched on, strong lil guy. Felt bad for the guy he bit though, we were all just talking about how friendly he is and then that happened lol

He's around 2 years old, closer to 3. I've had him for about 2 years.

[dakski]

If he latches on again, and doesn't let go, cold/tap temp water is a good remedy. You could hurt him more than he's hurting anyone else trying to pry him off.

If you've had him 2 years and this is the first bite, I would think you are in pretty good shape!

I hope the guy who was holding him wasn't, or isn't now, afraid of snakes! I let ambivalent people hold my BP and they usually end up liking snakes after. Shayna is a sweetheart.

Best of luck and keep enjoying him!

[Reptilius]

This is not unique to Ball Pythons, I have had a King Snake, a Corn Snake and a Rosy Boa do the exact same thing to me.
Obviously not on the same day, at different times over the years.
When a snake starts that slow exploratory sniffing, I immediately stop them by moving them to another position.
More often than not, I think that the slow innocent sniffing and almost nuzzling, is the pre - cursor to that exploratory bite.
I must say however, that in the case of the Rosy Boa, it went into a full feeding response with constriction of my arm as well.

Just my two cents worth.

[Tila]

The only determined bite I've received was after an egregious error I made. I was still new to herping and my only ball python had gone off food that winter for the first time. That early spring day she seemed hungry again so I thawed her rat. I was holding her and talking on the phone, and then I brought her over to "sniff" her almost ready rat to "keep her enthusiasm up" (when I learn a lesson the hard way, I go ALL in.)
As I walked away with her, she just calmy turned her head around and latched onto my knuckle with her whole ravenous face. Then she threw some coils around my hand for good measure and gave it her all. Yes, it hurt.
My voice went up an octave as I kept chatting on the phone. I tried to start peeling her off. She bit harder so I stopped. I tried running her under a neutral stream of tap water. My purple finger paid for that, too. In the end, I just waited until she was finished. 6 minutes later I got my finger back none the worse for wear besides like 40 or so pin pricks.
Lessons I've learned: don't chill with super hungry snakes, don't chill when rats are a'thawin', it hurts to get a feed bite, but not so much that I've purchased any mouthwash for the occasion since, and you're all but healed up the next day.
If your snake bites maybe out of hunger, try using hand sanitizer before holding and a few days after food. Good luck!

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