Quote Originally Posted by Bogertophis View Post
Reading the animals well, & planning every move (never making dumb ones- like snakes encircling your neck, lol) is a big part of it, yes. Using the safest methods whenever there's an option.

And I agree that "tags" are avoidable- I never got bit working with hots. It means being focused, & never working w/ them when tired, distracted*, feeling poorly, or anything less than 100% sober, & not under any "influence" legal or otherwise. (*distracted includes showing off, having too much going on around you, etc)

But so is not working giant snakes alone- over-estimating your own KSA's. For example, keepers have gotten in trouble being alone when opening an enclosure to feed. Or I remember some years back, one guy was found (dead- constricted) in the outbuilding with one of his large snakes he'd been trying to medicate for something- the snake "objected" & he had no one else there with him. I think it's safe to say that arachnids don't have the physical power that giant snakes do- therein lies the big (pardon the pun) difference.
conpletely agree, and i have noticed that i unconsciously get in the same sort of zen focus that i get in when climbing that i do when i work with my “top tier” hots - i also think this comes down to species, size and the physical capabilities of the keeper themselves in addition to avoiding negative situations

eg: personal capabilities - i regularly curl 75 lbs, sometimes 100 lbs per arm as part of my lifting routine, so outside of reckoning with length, i am perfectly capable of supporting a 50-60 pound animal with 1 arm or 150-200 lbs with both arms combined and this is likely to increase overtime (insha’allah)

eg: species - scrub pythons may be long but they’re extremely thin and not girthy in the slightest and I’ve read that “fat” scrubs are still only like 60 or so odd pounds - so provided it doesn’t coil your neck, it’s extremely unlikely to be a fatal thing and i am unaware of any deaths attributed to BCCs, scrubs, D/SD retics, yellow anacondas, etc

eg: size - i think the size of BCCs 6-8 ft or exceptional specimens 8-10 feet, is in the range of it being safe for 1 person to work with them - i think once you get past that, with some species, then this might be an issue which would require additional people but to the same token, a 11-13 foot scrub is vastly different in capabilities to a female yellow anaconda of the same size (perhaps i am wrong but i feel this is correct)