Snake bite and bacteria?

[paulh]

WOW!!! That's really great news!! Really nice to hear that! Thank you so much! Now I'm ready and confident to get any bites from my new baby suriname boa lol!!! He's not happy recently since I start to treat him with his mites and sometimes he's hissing me lol!!! Wow one year!!! Is the tooth too small to see? Will they lose teeth even we don't move after their bite? Will snakes also lose teeth when they eating? Wow is there anything like anticoagulation will be sent when they bite which causing more bleeding? Wow plenty of ! you must have so many snakes! May I know which kinds of your snakes are responsible for most of the bites lol?

Prognathodon gave good information.

A 1-year old boa probably has teeth about as thick as the period in a newspaper article and ~1/16 inch long. The less stress on a tooth, the less likely it will be lost. Yes, snakes also lose teeth when they eating. A buddy of mine collected the poop from a gaboon viper, soaked it in water and broke it into fragments. By the end of a year he had a nice collection of fangs and teeth.

Bullsnakes have given me the largest number of bites (mostly feeding bites) because I've kept more bullsnakes than any other species. They are great animals! But a nervous 7-foot boa constrictor gave me my single worst bite.

[Sauzo]

I've been bitten by most of my snakes and they range from 4 feet to about 8-9 feet. Caesar hasnt bitten me yet and he is my biggest at 8-9 feet. Rosey did bite me and she is almost 7 feet. It bled all over but i just washed it and rubbed alcohol on and made sure i didnt have teeth in my arm and its fine. It didnt even hurt but it was also a startled bite from her, not a i want to kill you bite lol. The worst bite i got was actually from my 4.5 foot BP who thought my index finger was a bald scrawny rat and tried to drag it into her hide to eat. I had to dunk her head with my finger into her water bowl to get her to let go. Mice and Rat bites hurt a LOT more than a snake bite. I personally wouldnt worry too much about an infection or getting some kind of life threatening illness. Just wash it, make sure there are no teeth in there and rub down some alcohol on it and you should be fine.

[alice40604345]

Wow!!! First time to know! In the past, I thought the teeth may be strong and firm and thick...Really interesting to know these knowledge! Thank you so much!!
Oh Oh! Cactus spine I'd rather been biten by thicker teeth lol! Yeah mine is a scared baby lol! Hope he will grow out of it~
I don't know why when I take him out, he's calmer than when I put him back to his tub. He's so scared when I put him back and close the tub...I'm always quite slow...
Wow! I should be careful when feeding lol! Your woma is so cute lol！ He recognizes it's you not mouse haha. Do you use hook to touch them before grab them? I find many people do hook training here but I haven't.

Teeth can be hair-thin, even from a good-sized snake. If you’ve ever had a fine cactus spine/hair, sliver of glass, or insulation fiber, its kind of like that.

Anti-coagulant is usually a venom component. Bleeding is usually because bites consist of a bunch of punctures, and are usually on or near your hands, which have plenty of circulation, especially when the surprise of a bite gives your blood pressure a jolt.

The snakes most likely to bite, IMO, are scared babies. Which is usually not a big deal, and with gentle, consistent care and handling they grow out of it.

Then there’s the bites that are mostly human-caused, where the snakes
* aren’t handled consistently
* aren’t handled respectfully - startled, handled roughly, not supported, etc. Grumpy while in shed is a small sub-section, as sometimes handling while in shed has to happen
* feeding accidents - like the time I reached into my Woma python’s enclosure on feeding night for another group of snakes. He could smell food, sense warm thing in his enclosure, and went for it, then let go in confusion - Hey! That’s not my mousie!


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[alice40604345]

Hahahahahaha! They'll poop the teeth out?! That's so interesting! I guess that's where my gaboon viper teeth I bought from a reptile expo came from...."a nice collection of fangs and teeth..." Looks like their teeth grows like human's hair.......Oh not sure whether my Suriname may grow to that size...he's a male though... May I know why the bite is the worst? Is it because the boa has more teeth or he/she just bite with all his/her power?

Prognathodon gave good information.

A 1-year old boa probably has teeth about as thick as the period in a newspaper article and ~1/16 inch long. The less stress on a tooth, the less likely it will be lost. Yes, snakes also lose teeth when they eating. A buddy of mine collected the poop from a gaboon viper, soaked it in water and broke it into fragments. By the end of a year he had a nice collection of fangs and teeth.

Bullsnakes have given me the largest number of bites (mostly feeding bites) because I've kept more bullsnakes than any other species. They are great animals! But a nervous 7-foot boa constrictor gave me my single worst bite.

[Stout76]

I’ve been bitten by all kinds of things snakes, lizards, tarantulas, and scorpions, technically a sting and truthfully haven’t always washed them out. Now granted as an adult I’d be more inclined to because as I’ve gotten older I’ve noticed I don’t heal as quickly. The only problem I’ve ever had was a bite from a copperhead and that definitely wasn’t bacterial 😁

[alice40604345]

Wow Thank you so much! that's surprising that ball python wins the bite competition Do most of your bites have something to do with food? So if they don't let us go,spray or dunk their head into water is the best way right? I'll try this if it happens lol!

I've been bitten by most of my snakes and they range from 4 feet to about 8-9 feet. Caesar hasnt bitten me yet and he is my biggest at 8-9 feet. Rosey did bite me and she is almost 7 feet. It bled all over but i just washed it and rubbed alcohol on and made sure i didnt have teeth in my arm and its fine. It didnt even hurt but it was also a startled bite from her, not a i want to kill you bite lol. The worst bite i got was actually from my 4.5 foot BP who thought my index finger was a bald scrawny rat and tried to drag it into her hide to eat. I had to dunk her head with my finger into her water bowl to get her to let go. Mice and Rat bites hurt a LOT more than a snake bite. I personally wouldnt worry too much about an infection or getting some kind of life threatening illness. Just wash it, make sure there are no teeth in there and rub down some alcohol on it and you should be fine.

[paulh]

Hahahahahaha! They'll poop the teeth out?! That's so interesting! I guess that's where my gaboon viper teeth I bought from a reptile expo came from...."a nice collection of fangs and teeth..." Looks like their teeth grows like human's hair.......Oh not sure whether my Suriname may grow to that size...he's a male though... May I know why the bite is the worst? Is it because the boa has more teeth or he/she just bite with all his/her power?

Teeth are among the few things that a snake cannot digest. Tooth enamel is about as chemically inert as a body part can be. So when a loose tooth gets caught in a prey animal and is pulled free, the tooth just goes down into the stomach with the food and on out in the poop. A food rodent's teeth, hair and claws are not digested and become part of the snake's poop, too.

Snake skulls: https://www.google.com/search?q=snak...N6oTNUj16RrFM:

In the pictures, note the gaps between teeth. Those mark where loose teeth were lost during skull preparation.

The 7-foot female boa constrictor that gave me my worst bite was wild caught and had a larger head than most boas I've seen. Her mouth was wide open when she nailed me across the back of the hand. So lots of teeth went into me in an area with large veins and a short distance between veins and skin surface. That's why I dripped blood all over the floor. Most of my other bites involved fewer or smaller teeth going into areas with smaller veins and more padding.

[Lirenn]

If it were a wild snake I might consider a doctor's visit, but in captivity they are unlikely to be exposed to any bacteria you don't already have in the house. So I would focus on keeping the wound clean so you don't pick up an infection post-bite. ☺

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[alice40604345]

Wow that's really interesting knowledge! In the past I thought all teeth in a snake's mouth is like the skull.
OMG looks super painful!! Maybe the strongest and wildest boa can survive in the wild... so she must be a really wild and strong animal...Hope that no scar left on your hand.. Is she much calmer now?

Teeth are among the few things that a snake cannot digest. Tooth enamel is about as chemically inert as a body part can be. So when a loose tooth gets caught in a prey animal and is pulled free, the tooth just goes down into the stomach with the food and on out in the poop. A food rodent's teeth, hair and claws are not digested and become part of the snake's poop, too.

Snake skulls: https://www.google.com/search?q=snak...N6oTNUj16RrFM:

In the pictures, note the gaps between teeth. Those mark where loose teeth were lost during skull preparation.

The 7-foot female boa constrictor that gave me my worst bite was wild caught and had a larger head than most boas I've seen. Her mouth was wide open when she nailed me across the back of the hand. So lots of teeth went into me in an area with large veins and a short distance between veins and skin surface. That's why I dripped blood all over the floor. Most of my other bites involved fewer or smaller teeth going into areas with smaller veins and more padding.

[alice40604345]

Thank you so much lol!

If it were a wild snake I might consider a doctor's visit, but in captivity they are unlikely to be exposed to any bacteria you don't already have in the house. So I would focus on keeping the wound clean so you don't pick up an infection post-bite. ☺

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