Can it kill you?

[Hamsnacks]

Coming from a household that honestly knew nothing about snakes other than when they watched on Animal planet lol, they thought I was crazy when I first bought my snake. Even my friends thought I was nuts. They were scared to come over.

So of course when I got my first corn snake, the first question was, what if it bites you and you die cause it's "poisonous"?
Then when I got my 6.5' Carpet, it was, what if it wraps around your neck and kills you?

Obviously I'm not concerned with any of the above lol, cause as we all know, owning a snake is probably one of the coolest things in the world and they are absolutely kind creatures. A member on here once told me, Beware, it's an addiction, once you have 1, you're going to want more haha.

So my question is, are Boa Constrictors (not to familiar with all the species) and Anacondas the only snakes that people keep as pets that can over take a adult human? Like my Carpet is very strong but I feel like if she ever went around my neck and squeezed I could over take her What about a Ball Python, or other snakes? Or do you think a Carpet is strong enough?

And of course the chances of it happening or almost close to none but just curious (not trying to be childish by asking) just more knowledge and information to share with people who may be afraid of snakes or want to know more.

[Tonald Drump]

Theoretically, even an adult female ball python can easily kill you if she happens to constrict your neck, but ball pythons are relatively small pythons so they can be easily overtaken. Pretty much all pythons above 1m can probably kill you easily if they constrict your neck AS LONG as you don't stop them. If you know the proper technique, you can pretty much overtake most pythons. The point is, it's all about being careful in handling your snakes, no matter what species, and knowing what to do if they do happen to constrict. You are correct though, snakes constricting humans is very rare, I've had Pylox for about 6 months and she's never even tried

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[EDR]

There are also reticulated pythons, Burmese pythons and their cousins African rock pythons which are usually aggressive cause they seem to be mostly imported. There are some other big species but they are fairly uncommon in the pet trade. As for your carpet python if its a female inland or mainland whatever they call it she could get fairly big but I don't see that a lot at all. I'm sure you have some sort of jungle variant and they tend to be smaller in adult size. I'm sure you'll be ok.

[Hamsnacks]

So the snake would probably have to be around 8feet or larger then hey to really over take a adult human who was trying to get the snake off themselves, without using chemicals or water or whatever other methods people have used.

The title probably should of been breaking bones not killing, but can BP,s Carpets... Break human bones if they were to turn on their owners?

[KevinK]

Look at it this way: Dogs cause far more human fatalities each year compared to snakes and technically a Chihuahua CAN kill you if it would bite your jugular ....odds of it happening? Slim to none. Still, you take precautions though.

There is no set "size" to determine if a snake can be a health hazard but certainly a large snake is more capable of overpowering a human.

Due to size and irresponsible keeping from novice owners, Retics, Burms, and Condas are more likely to have issues in this department. It's why no one here would tell you to get one of these snakes without significant prior experience from years of snake ownership. Unfortunately a far majority of the incidents you see are the result of people who were attracted to the size of the animal without realizing what they're dealing with. In the right hands it's rare to encounter issues however.

[Sauzo]

A boa is not likely to choke you out unless you are an idiot lol. They are pretty relaxed and fairly slow moving unless they smell food. You would stand a better chance of getting choked out by a retic, burm or anaconda. They grow much larger than boas and have much more mass and girth. But regardless, you would kind of have to help the snake along to choke you out. You need to practice common sense with large constrictors like dont roll around on rats or wear a dead rat around your neck. Also anything over 10 feet or what you are comfortable handling alone, have a spotter. Also if you got the snake as a baby, you kind of learn its personality and what to expect. Like my big boas and retic are no joke on feeding day. I take it very serious as they can do some damage if you are careless. They are angels and characters when no food is present but food and they do a 180 in personality. You need to learn, snakes run on instinct when it comes to food.

The people you hear about that have catastrophes with their snakes usually did something stupid or didnt respect them. They might be tame puppies but doesnt mean they cant get startled and constrict if you wrap a 10 foot snake around your neck. It isnt trying to kill you, it is startled and instinct was to tighten up. Then your instinct of getting no oxygen is to try and pull it off. It's instinct is to tighten more and your final reaction from lack of oxygen is to fall over dead.

I startled my 6.5 foot female boa which i got as an 18 inch baby worm over 5 years ago. She has never hissed or bitten anyone but guess what, i startled her a couple weeks ago and she tagged my arm and was all alert and confused. I reached in and grabbed her and threw her over my shoulder and she was fine as soon as she smelled it was me. I had a river of blood coming out of my arm though lol. And she is a giant puppy. Stuff happens. If that had been around my neck or me shoving my head in the cage to say 'good morning!!', it could have ended a lot worse.

Oh and tell your friends snakes arent poisonous, they are venomous. Poison is something like arsenic or cyanide.

[Craiga 01453]

Its not about length, nor specific species. My 700 gram Ball Python COULD kill me if he constricted my neck enough.

It comes down to common sense, proper enclosures and proper handling.

[SDA]

The problem with snakes are lack of education on the owner and/or arrogance of the owner thinking they can take on one or more snakes beyond their means. A qualified snake owner can safely keep a giant like a burmese or a retic their entire life without issue and an ignorant owner can get bit in the face by a boa constrictor leading to nationwide news because some fire fighter had to hack it off their face. If you take your time and learn about these animals and dedicate your time and energy to learning and caring for them, you never need to ask yourself if said snake might kill you.

[tttaylorrr]

The problem with snakes are lack of education on the owner and/or arrogance of the owner thinking they can take on one or more snakes beyond their means. A qualified snake owner can safely keep a giant like a burmese or a retic their entire life without issue and an ignorant owner can get bit in the face by a boa constrictor leading to nationwide news because some fire fighter had to hack it off their face. If you take your time and learn about these animals and dedicate your time and energy to learning and caring for them, you never need to ask yourself if said snake might kill you.

^^^^
from all the owner stories i've read about getting bit by a snake, 99.89% of the time they admit to it being user (or owner/keeper) error. if you're going to own big snakes, you need to know your ****, and don't ever disrespect or underestimate them. there's plenty examples of great big snake keepers here on the forum.

EDIT: i just realized that last sentence sounds like i was calling my fellow forum members giants. they are normal sized people, and they are positive examples of keeping giant snakes.