POLL: Have you been bit by a BP?

[Bogertophis]

I've been bitten by (two specific) babies, but never adults. My brother has had snakes for 6+ years, and was only once bitten by one of his adults, and it was because she missed her prey and got his arm instead.

It's very common for "baby" snakes to bite- it's just their instinctive self-defense, & they're so tiny- I can't blame them. But by the time they grow up knowing us, it's uncommon for most snakes to bite (not just BPs, but rat snakes & boas & many others) assuming they're well-treated & not teased by clueless owners. And not counting accidental "feeding bites" which are preventable by us- oops! Not really the snakes fault.

[Zincubus]

Just found this on my old mobile.

I don’t recall this bite specifically but it looks like one of my Royal Python bites ..

They have always been at feeding time and always when I wasn’t concentrating or just got too complacent.


If this is the one I’m thinking of .. the wife pulled out some teeth using tweezers and was just a littke tender for a day or so BUT a week later it was really sore and itchy and I noticed that some teeth had worked their way to the surface of my skin and had to be pulled out with tweezers then I applied a little Sudocrem antiseptic healing cream


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[Big Red]

Ive been bit by one adult and two babies. My adult was an absolute sweetheart and she missed the rat and tagged my hand. Then my dad made the mistake of tank feeding our newest ball for a while and I paid the price. The other was a freak occurrence by my big pied when he was small and he has never showed aggression since.

[Bogertophis]

...The other was a freak occurrence by my big pied when he was small and he has never showed aggression since.

Some snakes look as though they'd like to wash our taste out of their mouths after an accidental bite, don't they? Like "Ew, what was that!? No thanks!"

[DatBoiAJ_]

Yeah the only times ive been bit was when i first got my girl shipped from florida, so that was bound to happen, being so stressed. I think she bit me once after i was trying to settle her in(this was after the week waiting) and yk how theres so many different methods for trying to calm them down. So i think she bit me once then, and once when i accidentally put my hand in her hide wayy to fast, so she lashed out(she was still a juvie) and hasn't bit me ever since.

[Harri]

Not once.

[Kryptic]

I've had my BP for about 3 months now and have been bit once and false struck once.

He has a ferocious feeding response. The first time he struck, I was putting back the fresh water bowl in his enclosure, and he had his head poking out of his hide. I had just previously thrown out an old cardboard box I brought a feeder mouse home in. As I was moving something, he starts coming up to my hand. "Oh, neat, this is the first time he's coming up to me," I thought. Haha, nope, as I'm watching him, I notice he's moving just like he does when he's hunting. I don't want to make a sudden move, so I ball my hand into a fist, hoping he'd realize it was too big to eat. As I do that, he [positions] his head back into a strike pose and takes a shot that catches me between the knuckles. I don't move. He recoils back, seemingly confused that what he bit obviously was no mouse. He looks left and right for a few seconds then slithers backwards into his hide. Definitely my fault for having mousy-smelling hands.

The day of the false strike, I was having a party. Again, my fault. I had taken him out of his tank about three times to show him to groups of my guests, let them hold him, touch him, etc. The fourth time I went to get him, he seemed stressed, like he was fed up with being handled so much that day. He struck my hand with his mouth closed. Not wanting to reward that behavior, I took him out anyway, but kept him in my hand to show my guests, didn't let them touch him, made it quick, and left him alone for the night and a couple days after.

[Edited to replace a word that was censored]

[Zincubus]

It’s fine , it’s fine .. I’ll LIVE !





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[Bogertophis]

Yes, I think you'll survive- Sometimes our snakes need to remind us to slow down & show some I.D. instead of barging in on them- When they have nothing but visual cues to go on, they often make mistakes.

[Argentum]

I've never been genuinely bitten by a ball python. Someone else's ball python nicked me, but it wasn't a genuine bite, more of a feint that unexpectedly scraped skin. The only snake I've ever been actually bitten by was a little tiny baby garter snake that I was relocating out of a horse stable so it wouldn't get trampled. It did not appreciate my concern, and was hilariously serious about expressing its objection. Little bugger musked me, too.