Do You Think He'll Bite My Nose?

[rabernet]

Any animal can and will bite - it's up to you to decide the level of risk you want to take. Me personally? I don't want or need them near my face.

[waltah!]

It's kinda funny because I always steer mine away from my face (especially my BCI). She is a sweetheart, but I tend to trust pythons more for some reason. A couple of weeks ago I was at a friend's place with his retics out and I let one of them come face to face with me (at 13ft) and he flicked against my cheek and then went about his business. His retics are so amazingly tame that I took the chance and it was a pretty cool feeling. Will I do it again? probably not.

[missi182]

LOL, thanx everyone. I don't think Ill make a habit out of letting him do that but it is amusing. I wanted to get a picture of him licking my nose but that would probobly cause a lot of "dont complain when you get tagged" comments He is such a sweet little guy but Ill try and keep him away from my face

As for my dog, I dont mind getting close to her face when Im petting her enthusiastically behind the ears but no licking ewy LOL. (4 yr old pit bull, also a sweetheart)

[rabernet]

BTW, they're not licking you - they are flicking you with their tongue to "taste" you.

[MelissaFlipski]

We do that as an alternative to kissing our snakes. But we only do it with the ball, the kenyan sand boa, and the rosy boa (all very docile). When we put their nose to ours, we say, "Kiss, kiss," and let them smell our nose. Sometimes the tongue touches the tip of our nose, but not always. We only joke about doing this with our jungle carpet python b/c he is still nippy and jumpy.

I'd say #1 thing is like someone else said, watch the body language. If they are coming to you, it might be safer than you bringing them to your nose.

Get someone to take a picture. It might be fun to see.

[missi182]

BTW, they're not licking you - they are flicking you with their tongue to "taste" you.

Yep! I know, it just is easier to type "lick" then "flicking me with his tongue." but thanx for the tip nonetheless.

[spix14]

It's kinda funny because I always steer mine away from my face (especially my BCI). She is a sweetheart, but I tend to trust pythons more for some reason.

I do too...no idea why, though. Come to think of it I've only been bitten by one boa (and a mexican rosy at that...I was having a retarded moment and stuck my hand in the cage about 30 seconds after he'd eaten, so entirely my fault) but baby balls/burmese/retics have all tagged me.

I guess I'm just weird.

[JoshJP7]

My RTB comes right towards my face everytime I take him out to get a taste. I dont mind em doing it bc theyre associating the smell/taste of your face/skin with a non preditorial threat. My balls dont really seem to do it as much as my RTB but I usually give em a couple tongue flicks then slowly move them away. I havent been bitten in the face and I'd like to keep it that way.