It is a tough one. I noticed a post earlier this week about a daughter being bit.

I would have never posted or spoken about that in public. But of course I'm a single father with a manipulative ex wife who would use anything to her advantage...

The whole reason why I own a Ball Python is because they are generally easy to tame and as long as you approach them with care and respect, you really shouldn't get bit.

Things happen, but I think we need to accept the fact that we might be bit and if a bite does happen...it's our fault and not the fault of the poor snake trying to defend itself, or feed itself. A lot of these problems could be a result of bad information, some people just do things with their snakes on a set weekly/monthly schedule instead of monitoring the snake and doing what needs to be done. Until you have mastered reading the body language of your snake and what each part of the enclosure means (and can mean) you might want to be extra cautious.

I still haven't had my girlfriend go into the enclosure to pull Damien out, she has watched me do it many times. But her handling is just too careless in my opinion to do so. She might be alright, but the last thing I want to see is her get tagged and pull her hand back because she tends to stink in pressure situations with making decisions. I pretty much hand her a balled up snake and she can somewhat manage the snake as it slithers around. She is still careless with her hand position and very often puts her hand in front of the snakes mouth, thankfully the snake is already chilled out before it is passed to her. She will get better in time, she just needs to focus on the important things.

Same thing with my children. We had a great play session this weekend, the hardest thing is the kids wanting the snake out 2-3 times a day. I prefer to keep handling to every other day at the most. The great part of the glass enclosure is that the kids can "check" on him 4-5 times a day if they want to.

I'll be honest, at 6'2" 225 with an athletic frame...a Ball Python is a bit of a joke.

But every other bigger snake I look into bites. Or is more prone to bite. I'd love a Boa, I have even looked into Hog Island Boas just to make sure I don't end up with a snake that is too big for my local laws. We have a 3 meter max on snakes here and zero tolerance for venom.

But I can't pull the trigger on a bigger snake because a) I just don't want to get bit and b) I don't want one of my kids to get bit and lose whatever custody I might still have and c) there's no guarantee I can find a true Hog Island, I might end up with a cross breed that goes way past the size I am looking for.

Oh this hobby...haha

Bottom line though, if you get bit...you did something to get bit. My hope is to avoid the activities that would get me bit. I just don't see my collection growing at this point as I just can't think of a safe sub 10 foot snake that is tame enough to be a true pet and not just something you observe behind glass and are afraid to interact with.