Does Hand santizer really work to get a snake off you ?

[dee151]

I saw a video on youtube, talking about snake bites, How to get the snake bite off if it bite you, and they just put put some santizer in its mouth and it let go? is this true? and safe?

[nikkubus]

I've not heard that but I've heard listerine does by several people who keep mainland retics. Never really had a reason to try it as I've only ever gotten tagged by hatchlings.

[Bogertophis]

I hadn't heard that about hand sanitizer either, but personally I wouldn't use that even though it might "work", because there's so many ingredients in it (brands vary widely) that you might be doing some real harm. At the start of the pandemic when supplies ran low & companies around the world raced to mass-produce hand sanitizer, some were found to contain unsafe ingredients, even for HUMANS- so please consider that. Obviously if you're in a life-&-death struggle with a giant snake & all you can grab is hand sanitizer, that's a different thing than if you're just trying to get a harmless snake to release from an annoying but not lethal bite. And if you're just talking about a BP or a king snake or something along those lines, just dunk them in the water bowl (or pour it on them), they'll release.

I've always heard to use alcohol- because it's very harsh & irritating- & either the kind you drink or the rubbing alcohol kind. I've never needed to do this, btw. Mouthwash should work too- at least that's intended for "internal use"- hand sanitizer surely is not.

[bcr229]

Hand sanitizer is gelled alcohol, not something I'd want to put in my snake's mouth. I use white vinegar and it's worked within seconds on half a dozen snakes, ranging from a savu python to a retic, who mistook my hand for a rat.

[Hugsplox]

Agree with all of the above, especially the water bowl trick Bogertophis mentioned for smaller snakes. My spotted python was.. a tad bitey when I first brought him home. A quick dunk in his water bowl got him to turn loose every time. I wouldn't risk hurting the animal with sanitizer, especially if we're talking something small that realistically might leave a mark but isn't going to do any real harm.

[dee151]

Was just asking a question guys , I though it was also weird....

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