Suddenly Scared?

[Slashmaster]

My hatchling phantom bit me. It doesn't hurt at all, don't worry

[pigfat]

I'm kinda in the same boat, after feeding, I went to pick mine up to put him in his cage and I got a REALLY strong sensation that he was going to try and bite me...I was really hesitant to put my hand in there, specially since this is my first snake.

[RestlessRobie]

Snake bites arent bad at all. Now rat bites hurt I worry more about getting bitten by my daugthers rats then any snake.

[AK907]

Snake bites arent bad at all. Now rat bites hurt I worry more about getting bitten by my daugthers rats then any snake.

Although I don't normally fear bites from our pet rats as they are far more intelligent and predictable than snakes, I was bitten by one of our old pet rats when he had a seizure. I ended up spending three days in the hospital on antibiotics because infection set in overnight.

So, I rest my case. Fear your snakes food more than your snake because this can happen:

[angllady2]

It is completely normal to be jumpy a little after a near miss. We always fear the unknown.

I was a little nervous about getting bitten at first, but once it actually happened, I burst out laughing. Scared the poor snake even worse. I could not believe that's what I was so scared of. There wasn't even any blood, you almost needed a magnifying glass to even see the bite.

Once I got that first life-altering killer bite out of the way, now I couldn't care less about being bitten. I had a 700 gram pastel I was checking out at a show nail me in the palm. She was in blue and really cranky. I knew she had struck at me, but I didn't jump because I knew it was nothing to worry about. Half an hour later, I happened to notice a tiny red spot on my palm, which I wiped at and finally figured out it was blood. I showed it to my husband, and started laughing. He asked what was so funny, I told him apparently that pastel had bitten me and I never even felt it.

So don't beat yourself up about being jumpy, that is normal. Bottom line, if you can't get used to it within a few days of trying, it might be time to find a willing snake to bite you and help you realize there is nothing to be afraid of.

Gale

[meowmeowkazoo]

It's much easier once you are bitten for the first time. You really don't even feel it, all it does is startle you.

[Crawly's Mom]

I feel like I just keep getting startled. Its funny because right now I twitch and the girls just ball up. Some killer snakes I have, right? They don't seem interested in striking me at all. If its anything like when Parker eats I will know when she'll strike, she acts like a rattle snake. Gets in an s-curve and flicks her tongue a lot, even shakes her tail a little before she attacks her rats. Its kinda funny. I still jump when they strike the rats and I'm using tongs. I swear, I just need to get bit lol.

[lasweetswan]

It doesn't hurt at all. I've been bitten by both boas (small!) and ball pythons, and it's so quick you don't even get a chance to realize you were bit. Now a feeding response bite....those look painful. Make sure you never smell like rat

The one time that I ws bitten was a feeding response bite and even then I laughed and showed my teensy bite mark off to my boyfriend. To the OP, you'll live it's not a huge deal to get tagged by a little guy!!!

[Lolo76]

I agree with the others... you WILL eventually get bitten, it WILL get you over the fear, and you WILL laugh at how insignificant & painless it truly is. That doesn't mean you're weird to be jumpy, as it's human nature to jump when something's lunging at you with teeth bared - but at least with these smaller snakes, it's really no big deal if/when they make contact. Now a Burm, on the other hand, could probably do some major damage (so thankfully they're quite docile by nature).

As somebody else already mentioned, rodent bites are so much worse - I fear them much more than my snakes! My cats can also do some damage, especially my evil 10yo Persian who feels we need permission to pet him. I have scars from that kitty, while the snake bites have never left a permanent mark.

[Lolo76]

P.S. My 2010 Mojave girl, Juliet, has terrible aim when I feed her (f/t) on tongs... even knowing it won't hurt from such a little snake, I still have a minor coronary whenever that wide-open mouth comes straight for my arm. I've learned not to flinch, though! I also have a little corn snake who's MEAN as all get-out, and tries to bite me whenever I go near her. Once I held her for a few minutes, and just let her go to town on my arm (in an attempt to calm her temperament). She eventually got tired of it, and I was left with nothing more than a few pin-sized drops of blood. Wanna borrow her to get over your fear? LOL