first off, welcome to the forum Snakesick! i hope you have good time reading and commenting on here.

jeff, i always wondered about that. why would a snake...if its calm for a few minutes of handling, decide to go ahead and take a piece out of you. i was always under the impression that if a bite was to happen, it would be during the initial, 'getting out of the tank' process. but when i got bitten, i had mine out for about 10 minutes...but it was entirely my fault. my boa had crawled above my head and was slipping. to make a long story much shorter, alot of hot air came out of my nose in his face and i had to grab him quickly and thats when my pinky got tagged.

so, what was your girlfriend doing exactly when the boa struck at her face? (holding a mouse by the tail in her mouth...maybe?)