My Snake Randomly Bit A Friend- why?

[DaveIsMySnake]

Thanks for all of the feedback everyone! This is my first snake, but the whole "animals bite" makes sense. I was bitten once, but it was totally my fault, so I wasn't AS shocked by it. He was not displaying any aggressive behaviors before he bit my friend, but like many said, he's a snake. Anyway, thanks for responding.

~DIMS

[angllady2]

We had something very similar happen once.

My husband was holding our big female, and I noticed that instead of loosening up like normal, she stayed curled up. Not in a ball per-say, but just a loose coil. I told him to be careful, because that was not normal for her.

Minutes later, she was rubbing her nose along his wrist, then in slow motion she opened her mouth and closed it over his wrist again. Thank goodness he didn't freak out, but he was more than a little shocked, in over 4 years she'd never done anything remotely similar.

She refused to let go, so I had to carefully pry her loose, one tooth at a time. We got her back in her enclosure, and she was none the worse for wear. Hubby's wrist bled for a minute or two, but within an hour you could barely see the mark, by the next day it was invisible.

Unfortunately, hubby never got over the experience, and to this day is afraid of being bitten, even by a hatchling.

Me, I was scared until I got bit, and mine was a pretty hard strike-and-release, I had to laugh at myself for being scared of nothing, and now I don't even flinch when I get tagged.

Gale

[Hilltop]

Dave is savage killing machines and qleverly lured you and your into a false sense of security so he could get into position and Bam Nope, lol Just couldnt resist, could have been a front pager.

I only have the one Fiesty little girl, so I havent had a BP bite me full on yet /crossfingers. My kids 1.1 8/12 that have been handling snakes since they could crawl, neither has been bitten, yet. But there have been times when its been close, like the other day my girl was hold my little lesser, the fiesty one and logan leaned over to have a closer look and a small striking fit did happen. Good thing hes got daddy reflexes but got a better view then he expected, never got touched though.

We have a couple little rules, one about sticking our faces in theirs, one about always washing hands, one about not pulling away if you do get bite (so far this one is more a ideal then a rule), and one about comfort, if either you or the snake seem nervous the visit is over, and we make our guests follow these as well.

I wouldnt write old dave off just yet, he can still be a trusted family pet, as far as you can trust a pet completly driven by instict

chris

[anatess]

The lesson is, snakes shouldn't be put into these situations. Right?

More like... if you put a snake into this situation there's a strong likelihood he will bite.

Eh, they still play jungle with them. One of their favorite past-times actually. Minus the screaming girls.

[Jasnik]

Same thing happened to us my wife has never got bit but when we first got our new ball we were inexperenced with his moods.
We had him out everything seemed fine until we put him on the ground.
He seemed a bit jittery and went into a shoe box I went to pick him up to put him back in his enclosure he struck my hand and wrapped him self around my arm.
He was in feeding mode would not let go in the end we had to pry him off as I was bleeding. He was fine I was a little light headed.
We now know the signs , but we must have a few mice in the house as he sometimes he reacts when he is at ground level.
We know now and since then none of us have been tagged .

Think this is standard for beginners learning their snake.

We had something very similar happen once.

My husband was holding our big female, and I noticed that instead of loosening up like normal, she stayed curled up. Not in a ball per-say, but just a loose coil. I told him to be careful, because that was not normal for her.

Minutes later, she was rubbing her nose along his wrist, then in slow motion she opened her mouth and closed it over his wrist again. Thank goodness he didn't freak out, but he was more than a little shocked, in over 4 years she'd never done anything remotely similar.

She refused to let go, so I had to carefully pry her loose, one tooth at a time. We got her back in her enclosure, and she was none the worse for wear. Hubby's wrist bled for a minute or two, but within an hour you could barely see the mark, by the next day it was invisible.

Unfortunately, hubby never got over the experience, and to this day is afraid of being bitten, even by a hatchling.

Me, I was scared until I got bit, and mine was a pretty hard strike-and-release, I had to laugh at myself for being scared of nothing, and now I don't even flinch when I get tagged.

Gale