Substrate

[Kaorte]

I handle my snakes a lot after handling rats and smelling like rats, funny thing is they never bite me when I do?
I smell a wives tale...

Maybe you have never been bit after handling a rodent but many many people who have been bit have only been bit when the smell of a rodent was either on them or in the air.

This is not a "wives tale" it is fact. If you snakes smells a rat, and it is hungry, and it sees something warm, it will most likely bite. Not saying that it happens 100% of the time but your risk of being bit goes up greatly when the smell of food is near.