How do you get over the fear of being BIT?

[Sirensong26]

I was rather cuirious about this question myself. I have yet to get tagged by Nagini, and I doubt I will. She's extremely docile and won't even look sideways at anything that isn't her food

[rlditmars]

When I was a kid, my buddy and I would go out catching Garter snakes. It was always nerve racking grabbing the first one because of the fear of being bitten. However, the fear was always worse than the bite. I figured out pretty quick if I let one bite me, I didn't care after that if I got bitten or not. While a ball is a little bit bigger, the same still holds true. That doesn't mean I don't flinch when they strike

[MrBrute]

Cool lol

[Darkbird]

If we're strictly talking bps, then its practically a joke when they get you. Surprise accounts for most of the reaction. Had a grumpy hatchling in one hand andnwas doing something else andnnot paying attention, felt a thumping against the side of my arm and realized she was repeatedly tagging the arm holding her. It was quite amusing. Now my boas, or the burms I used to have......

[MrBrute]

Really?

[CptJack]

I've been bitten by a lot of animals. Even my 900/1000 gram male biting and constricting is not a particularly painful experience. In fact, I'd say it ranks lower than a skinned knee (by a lot) on the pain scale. Defensive strike and gone? LOL. Their teeth are CRAZY fine/thin. Sharp, yeah, but not like they're big old dog/cat/shark teeth or something that are leaving big puncture marks.

Like everyone's said - the worst part of it's that it's fast and makes me startle.

[bcr229]

Now my boas, or the burms I used to have......

Good point. I've been tagged by baby BP's and boas, small kings, garters, and the most I felt was a little pinprick, or maybe like I was rubbed with velcro. OTOH my large female boa nailed my hand and wrapped my wrist instead of the rat when I stupidly used the short tongs instead of the longer ones when feeding her, and that HURT. What made it worse is I had to wait for her to let go, which took a few minutes. Most other bites are the defensive/go away quick nips.

[MrBrute]

I'm still nervous for some reason! So i assume you shouldnt feed it where it lives right? It will always have the smell of food in it's enclosure right?

[Darkbird]

Feeding in or out of the enclosure could be a long thread on it's own. I feed in the cage, both for convenience and because I've never seen any animal that was handled regularly have issues always being in feed mode. Main thing is to know your snake, and learn to read it's body language. I know the instant I open a tub if the snake is already I feed mode. And I still make the occasional mistake, and get bit. I will say that I have NEVER been bit when it wasn't my fault. Mostly stupid feeding errors, and not paying attention to what the snake was "telling me". Like getting tagged with a defensive bite by my 14' female burmese, because she was in shed, and I didn't heed her extra loud and long warning hiss. Thank god she didn't hang on, I was being a further idiot by trying to work with her alone.

[MrLang]

Feeding in the enclosure is fine. Being bit by a 3000g BP DOES hurt but it wont require medical attention. Think about stubbing your toe... you don't even consider that it's a possibility until it happens and by then it's already over. That's kind of how it works with BPs. The fear of it happening just isn't worth your time because it won't happen often and there are ways to reduce the risk. I have a small snake hook that I keep around in case I need to gently touch them on the head to knock them out of a defensive strike position or a feeding strike position. The rest of the time if you pick them up gently from behind you'll never be bit.