Severity of bites

[PeanutButler]

So I was thinking about getting a larger snake (ideally the size of a Dumerils, bigger than a hog island boa but smaller than a BCI). I did, however, read something on this forum about larger snakes being able to possibly cause nerve damage or sever arteries when biting.

How possible is this really, and how large of an animal would you need to be talking about in order to be able to inflict something like that? I did some research and was quite surprised to find that arteries are not always as deep as you'd think they are.

Of course certain types of animals have reputations for being more docile than others, and hatchlings are often nippier than the adults are. I also can appreciate the idea of getting a hatchling so that you can learn to handle them as they grow.

Naturally I'm not talking about a snake attacking and trying to inflict damage with its bite in the same way that an agressive dog might, but I'm very curious to hear people with experience talk about the level of damage that a good, but not huge sized snake can actually inflict, whether it be just a tag or a case of mistaken food identity (again, I'm talking about the size range I mentioned earlier, not something like a BCC or a reticulated python).

I appreciate any information and am very interested to hear from people with experience.

[Sauzo]

Well, out of all the bites I've gotten, 95% of them were from my JCP before I traded her for my Hog Island. With that said, my 7' BCI girl has bit me once in over 4 years and that was when she was a baby and I scared her. I personally wouldn't worry too much about getting bit assuming you get said snake as a baby and raise it up and learn its personality. It's the same as any animal. The rest of the bites I've gotten from my other snakes have been from me doing something stupid which involved food. None of them have ever bit me out of malice or aggression. Even Caesar who is a retic who smelled rats being handed out didn't bite me when I didn't know he was behind me half out of the cage and I turned around and ran into him lol. he just looked at me and backed up some into his cage. I do interact with my snakes a lot so they are well used to me.

[Gio]

If you are able to visit Gus Rentfro's Facebook page you can see a bite he took from a Peruvian, BCC, Female. It was a larger snake and there was very little damage. Typically pythons have more, and longer teeth than boas with the exception of some of the arboreal boas. The worst bites I've seen on the web are ALL from very large reticulated pythons.

I have not read, or personally heard of any boa constrictor bite causing any damage that was severe.

The defensive snake bite is minor. The feeding mistake bite can be much worse however unless you have a very large snake the majority of all snake bites are rather minor.

I have been bitten by 3 of my four snakes. The boa constrictor was young and delivered pin prick blood droplets. It was a feeding mistake on my part and the snake quickly realized I was not food.

My coastal carpet used to defensively bite me frequently and never even drew blood. My Dwarf X SD retic defensively bit me producing pin prick blood drops.

The snakes that did bite me were all very young and the bites were painless.

I used to decoy for protection dog training. Even in a full bite suit I suffered more damage from various dogs than any snake ever put on me.

Only the largest of snakes in the "worst case scenario" situations will jeopardize your physical well being.

If I had to generalize. I'd say arboreal snakes have the longest teeth. The pythons have an extra row of teeth and usually have longer teeth.

It takes a BIG snake with feeding intentions to deliver a really bad bite.

[NJ Balls]

The worst bite I'v had was from a 8' Redtail Boa that I raised from a baby. A friend of mine asked me to bring my snake to her 6th grade science class for creature feature day and it bit me in the head in front of the entire class. Didn't really hurt but there was a lot of blood. Needless to say I was the coolest guy ever to feature a creature and the kids talked about it for years. "Remember your friend that brought his snake in and it bite him in the head".

It was totally my fault I should have known better than to bring him in front of a classroom full of kids when he had never seen more than 3 or 4 people at one time. I was much younger and stupid but she was a hot teacher so it was worth it. LOL

[cchardwick]

I do know that bites from large retics are the worst, or so I've heard, and some people gear up with leather before getting near an aggressive or questionable snake. They can inflict some pretty nasty damage. I actually started working with my super dwarf retic with one leather glove, finally got enough confidence to not use gloves anymore, but I still don't trust him at all. When I open the tub sometimes he comes flying out like a wild snake LOL. Sometimes I think that snake has never been worked with or had some bad experiences before I got him, he acts just like a wild caught snake. I've been working with him for short sessions for just a few minutes every few days, you have to build trust, you need to trust the snake and he needs to trust you. Once the snake it charmed you shouldn't' have to worry about getting bit, other than when they are in feeding mode of course LOL.

I also have a 50% Jampea dwarf retic, that thing is getting pretty big real fast. If she were to bite me now I think I'd have some pretty nasty damage. She almost got me once when I opened up the tub real fast, scared the heck out of me. She is already eating XL rats, almost to jumbo rats. But she has never really shown aggression, just hissed at me once when I was carrying her around the house. I really need to work with her more often...

[Sauzo]

I do know that bites from large retics are the worst, or so I've heard, and some people gear up with leather before getting near an aggressive or questionable snake. They can inflict some pretty nasty damage. I actually started working with my super dwarf retic with one leather glove, finally got enough confidence to not use gloves anymore, but I still don't trust him at all. When I open the tub sometimes he comes flying out like a wild snake LOL. Sometimes I think that snake has never been worked with or had some bad experiences before I got him, he acts just like a wild caught snake. I've been working with him for short sessions for just a few minutes every few days, you have to build trust, you need to trust the snake and he needs to trust you. Once the snake it charmed you shouldn't' have to worry about getting bit, other than when they are in feeding mode of course LOL.

I also have a 50% Jampea dwarf retic, that thing is getting pretty big real fast. If she were to bite me now I think I'd have some pretty nasty damage. She almost got me once when I opened up the tub real fast, scared the heck out of me. She is already eating XL rats, almost to jumbo rats. But she has never really shown aggression, just hissed at me once when I was carrying her around the house. I really need to work with her more often...

That's how my JCP was. She would go from sweet to crazy in 1/10 sec. She was the only snake I didn't trust. Everyone else are mellow and Caesar my SD/D retic is very laid back unless he has food. Then he goes bonkers. I guess even smelling it isn't enough to get him worked up as like I mentioned in other posts, I ran into him while feeding other snakes and he was out half way checking for dinner and he didn't bite me, just backed up some and stared at me lol. I went and got him his F/T rat and then it was game on once he grabbed it. I slide the door closed because like I said, once he has food, he becomes a terror lol.

And even SDs grow like weeds. I got Caesar back on Oct 10th. He was about 2'. Now as of Jan 20th, he is right around 5'. He has grown 3' in like 3 months. He's still fairly streamline but he has put on a lot more muscle and his head has filled out to that raptor look.

[cchardwick]

It's funny, my SD retic is long but super skinny compared to my dwarf retic, my SD is only 12% mainland, the rest is dwarf and super dwarf. My other retic is 50% mainland!

[Reinz]

A Retic breeder near me had to go to in for an expensive visit to the hospital once for a bite on his hand from an adult Mainland.

He also had a 12-14 ft wild caught Retic get away from him and bite him in the face and then take him down with a full body wrap. Fortunately someone else was home to rescue him.

[Sauzo]

A Retic breeder near me had to go to in for an expensive visit to the hospital once for a bite on his hand from an adult Mainland.

He also had a 12-14 ft wild caught Retic get away from him and bite him in the face and then take him down with a full body wrap. Fortunately someone else was home to rescue him.

And that's why I hope Caesar doesn't get 14' and try to eat me I bet all those cute little looks he gives me is just him sizing me up thinking 'that's right, human. keep feeding me. every food morsel is 1 morsel closer to you becoming my next morsel!!'

[Reinz]

And that's why I hope Caesar doesn't get 14' and try to eat me I bet all those cute little looks he gives me is just him sizing me up thinking 'that's right, human. keep feeding me. every food morsel is 1 morsel closer to you becoming my next morsel!!'

Dude, I'm laughing my head off!