What to do when things go wrong? Discussion.

[zina10]

I'll go.

The only bite I've ever had that HURT!

Totally my fault. Of course.

The mistake I made ? I was distracted.

The culprit was a 6 foot BCI, common redtail boa. I was going to grab the water bowl to give him fresh water. The bowl was not far from the opening of the hide.

Background story. It was a rainy day and I had a worker come to my house to install a satellite dish on top of the roof. I told the worker it would be ok if he came on another day, given it was beginning to rain. But he insisted it would be alright. He put the ladder on my back porch (on tiles) and proceeded to do his thing.

As I was reaching for the water bowl I suddenly heard a GOD AWFUL racket. It sounded like my roof was coming down. Then a loud crash. During all that I turned my body and looked up. My arm was still in the cage and I guess I moved that as well, right in front of the hide. And in a very quick motion. I guess my boy figured there is a rat running past my hide, I better grab it quick. Or..he was startled. Either way, he hit. And HARD.
Already freaked out by racket, and then that sudden pain, I instinctively pulled my hand back. And drove his teeth deeper. His upper jaw was in the top of my hand, lower jaw in the bottom of my hand. Right in between thumb and index finger. His teeth hit the big vein on top of my hand.

Thankfully he released pretty quickly. There was quite a bit of blood running down my arm and pooling under the skin on top of my hand. In no time I had a golfball sized swelling on top of my hand, all blood under the skin.

I ran to the door leading out to my back porch and found the guy and ladder laying on the ground. On his way down he ripped off my gutters and also broke off the umbrella on my table. Then he looked up and saw me standing there with blood running down my arm.
Oh it was a lovely scene Of course all that happened while my mom and grandma were visiting from Germany.

So, what did I learn ? NEVER be distracted when dealing with those animals. Have your eyes and mind ON THEM always, when dealing with them. Even if a guy falls off your roof, taking down everything in his path..

My hand turned all kinds of colors during the next couple of weeks. And I picked teeth out of it even days later...

I forgot to mention. The first words out of his mouth (the guy laying on my porch) were "I hope you have good insurance". What a donkey butt. I told him I didn't think it was a good idea to put a ladder up to the roof (on wet tiles) on a rainy day, nor to climb on a wet roof. He insisted it was fine. And I got bit