Where have you been bitten?

[Alter-Echo]

A handful of times on my hands and fingers from an assortment of things, but the worst was easily a bite from a 7ft mangrove snake. He nailed me on the back edge of my left hand and I needed to pry him off. Over the next few hours I had extensive swelling and jolts of pain and tingling up that arm with a numbness in my lips that lasted two days and heart palpitations that lasted a few hours. A few days after the bite the swelling receded but the bite was numb and there was some dark blistering that took a few weeks to heal and the skin to peel off.

Fun stuff indeed.

[Bogertophis]

A handful of times on my hands and fingers from an assortment of things, but the worst was easily a bite from a 7ft mangrove snake. He nailed me on the back edge of my left hand and I needed to pry him off. Over the next few hours I had extensive swelling and jolts of pain and tingling up that arm with a numbness in my lips that lasted two days and heart palpitations that lasted a few hours. A few days after the bite the swelling receded but the bite was numb and there was some dark blistering that took a few weeks to heal and the skin to peel off.

Fun stuff indeed.

That's what I'd call a memorable bite for sure. Glad you recovered OK in time.

[dakski]

That's what I love about snakes, really...if you take the time to communicate & don't rush or scare them accidentally, the fiercest snakes when it comes to food are
still "puppy dog tame" about handling. When I've used mine for "meet & greets" with people (-many who've never met a snake before) I often think to myself "it's a
good thing they don't see this guy being fed" -they'd never feel safe holding or touching him, LOL!

Yeah, I know! I showed my 7 year old niece, Meghan, Figment eating the other day. First time she had seen a snake eat and it blew her mind. Didn't scare her at all though. She's been handling all the snakes for years and loves them. Luckily it didn't turn her off. However, I could see if you show them a snake feeding first, before they got to meet the snake, that could be a huge turnoff.

She said, "Wow, he moved so fast!" When he struck and coiled the F/T mouse. Then she said, "How does he open his mouth that big?" when he was downing the mouse.

She thought it was cool and seems to like the snakes even more now that they have cool tricks up their sleeve (metaphorical sleeve of course; no arms, no sleeves).

I have to tell myself sometimes, like when Behira (BCI) is nailing the acrylic doors in anticipation of a rat, that "A Snakes feeding response is not indicative of their behavior towards me or how they act when being handled."

Kind of like in the financial industry (where I work). "Past performance is not a guarantee, or necessarily indicative, of future performance."

[Alter-Echo]

That's what I'd call a memorable bite for sure. Glad you recovered OK in time.

Yeah, it's rather amazing to think how bad these rear fanged snakes could be if they had a better delivery system. I'm fine now but my hand had a weird tingling sensation in it for months after the bite, especially if it was exposed to hot or cold.

[Bogertophis]

Yeah, it's rather amazing to think how bad these rear fanged snakes could be if they had a better delivery system. I'm fine now but my hand had a weird tingling sensation in it for months after the bite, especially if it was exposed to hot or cold.

You had to have been wondering if it was ever going all the way back to 'normal' again. I would have been, anyway.

[ontariosnakelover]

My bps never bitten or struck at me. My Boa Hestia on the other hand I have to read her mood since she was sold to me as a nippy aggressive baby and I was pre warned pre sale. I thought it was cute as hell. Took me awhile but I got a hand on her now. When shes jumpy or I cant read her great I have a thickish pair of work gloves on her enclosure when I dont have time to mess around. I love em <3 <3


0.1 Het VPI Boa ,Hestia
1.0 yellowbelly , Kronos
0.1 yellowbelly, Rhea

[Craiga 01453]

That's what I love about snakes, really...if you take the time to communicate & don't rush or scare them accidentally, the fiercest snakes when it comes to food are
still "puppy dog tame" about handling. When I've used mine for "meet & greets" with people (-many who've never met a snake before) I often think to myself "it's a
good thing they don't see this guy being fed" -they'd never feel safe holding or touching him, LOL!

Such a great post...

...and soo, sooooooo true. If some of my family and friends who were new to snakes or apprehensive about them had seen my snakes eat, there's no way they would have gone near them.
I always love the inevitable "do they bite?" question too. Yes, yes they do. But I always tell them "not typically, but they are animals, so I can't 100% say no." Then I go on to explain that all animals bite. Your dog does, my cat does, my ferrets do, my fish do, hamsters do...they are animals. And that animals typically only bite when they feel threatened, so I go over the do's and dont's.
Then I tell them that I've never been bitten by any of my snakes but Django. And I'm honest. I explain that I spooked him and it was defensive and my fault. I teach them what I did and "why" I was bitten.

But yeah, if they saw them eat FIRST, it would have been much more challenging to teach them that my snakes aren't "scary" or dangerous.

[Bogertophis]

It's so ironic, because the pets that people are more familiar with (dogs, cats, small mammals, birds) ALL routinely do more damage with their bites & claws than
our snakes ever do with their tiny teeth...but perhaps the big difference is that most of our snakes pounce aggressively on food instead of taking it gently from
our hands. Even that sweet horse that eats from your hands can easily kill you, mostly unintentionally, but instead people maintain their irrational fears of being
strangled & consumed by a snake.

[Tessellate]

I've only been tagged once, on the finger, resulting in a single drop of blood. Felt like being flicked. My BP was in a friend's lap chilling and when it was time to take her off, I quickly passed my hand over the snake's head. She immediately jerked back into a defensive pose. Then, like and idiot, I reached DIRECTLY FOR HER and she struck out, tagged me, and Immediately curled into a tight ball. It was entirely my fault and I still apologize to her over it.

[miechBIG]

ok i was just inspired by a read through of Red FiFi's manly thread here: https://ball-pythons.net/forums/show...s-bite-you-LOL

so where on yo body have u been bitten by a snake? maybe u weren't wearing gloves and got bit on the hands or fingers. or maybe u were out herping and got bitten on the ankle. where were u bitten and what bite u?


Edit: i've been bitten plenty of times by my BP's and Colubrids on the hands and phalanges.

i haven’t made it that far yet.. many strikes but no bites but I’m sure when the hatchlings come along I have plenty in store..