Yesterday, I got my third snake bite in over 20 years of keeping snakes.

Want to guess who it was?

Here are some facts about the bite:

1. The snake was clearly distressed. Something was bothering him/her.

2. I was holding the snake at the time.

3. The snake was distressed prior to being picked up. Not sure what spooked him/her, but he/she came out his/her hide and struck the tank door and then went back in the hide when I went to open the tank.

4. The snake continued to show signs of distress after touching gently with the hook to see if I could snap him/her out of it.

5. The snake began calming down when picked up and handled very gently.

6. It was a quick defensive strike - bite and release.

7. I made a mistake that encouraged the bite.

8. The snake calmed down after the bite and smelling/tasting me (rubbed his/her snout on my arm and realized I wasn't going to hurt him/her).

9. I had 2 other snakes out within minutes and no one else seemed stressed at all. So not sure what was bothering this individual.

10. When checked on later in the day (in tank and without opening door - just observing), the snake appeared back to normal and there were no visible signs of injury or pain on examination.


The potential culprits:

1. Behira. Female Boa (BI) at 5 years and about 2.4kg and 5 1/2-6FT long.

2. Feliz. Male Boa (BC) at almost 4 years and about 1KG +/- (dwarf species).

3. Jeff. Male Boa (BI) at 2 1/2 tears and about 600G.

4. Solona. Female Corn Snake at 3 years and about 360g.

5. Figment. Male Corn Snake at 8 years and about 575G.

6. Yafe. Male Carpet Python at 4 years and about 1KG.

7. Shayna. Female BP at 9 years and about 2kg.

I didn't want to do a poll here, but give me your guesses and I'll post shortly on who it was and what the complete circumstances were.

I will also say I should have left the snake alone, but I was concerned as this was highly unusual behavior.