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05-23-2018, 10:45 PM

Gosh, is this a memory test or what? I've known hundreds of snakes, I guess, in about 33 years of keeping & breeding some; most nips are avoidable, while those that aren't are mostly not memorable. The silliest ones are when hatchling corn snakes try to bite, but their teeth aren't long enough for me to even feel. It's like being pecked by sunflower seeds, lol. By the time I can feel their teeth, they have no desire to bite.
Rat snakes get a little more notice, but not much...

In a reptile shop many years ago, the owner proceeded to show me a young adult albino cal king (a potential mate for my female), but as he opened the shoebox it was in, it sprang out & bit the bridge of my nose, which then bled profusely as there isn't any "padding" there. It made for great customer relations, me walking around the store with a bloody kleenex held to my nose & joking about being the "future owner of the place" (an empty threat of lawsuit- joking!). I didn't actually hold it against the snake either, he went home with me, calmed down (in suitably-sized cage) and made nice hatchlings with my female. (A snake that size did NOT belong in a shoebox, & he was obviously hoping it was dinner time...and maybe it was, but I was a big let-down.)

I've kept mostly snakes, but also some lizards: never had any bites from lizards, not even the tokay geckos, several of which I could hold, nor the male bearded dragon I took in, who displayed fiercely at his own image in a mirror, but liked to snuggle on my shoulder.

Took in an unwanted yearling BCI many years ago, after she kept being re-homed for biting everyone. She even scared off a vet tech who kept snakes-? When she wanted to bite me (at first, in fear & self-defense) I didn't give her a chance, & after I worked with her for a month or two, she never once tried to bite me, not in all the 12 years she was my snake.

I think in some way most of us have earned the bites we get...by rushing a shy snake, by confusing them at feeding time, etc...silly & preventable things. Some of us are more trainable than others, lol.

05-23-2018, 10:45 PM	#213
hotlips	Gosh, is this a memory test or what? I've known hundreds of snakes, I guess, in about 33 years of keeping & breeding some; most nips are avoidable, while those that aren't are mostly not memorable. The silliest ones are when hatchling corn snakes try to bite, but their teeth aren't long enough for me to even feel. It's like being pecked by sunflower seeds, lol. By the time I can feel their teeth, they have no desire to bite. Rat snakes get a little more notice, but not much... In a reptile shop many years ago, the owner proceeded to show me a young adult albino cal king (a potential mate for my female), but as he opened the shoebox it was in, it sprang out & bit the bridge of my nose, which then bled profusely as there isn't any "padding" there. It made for great customer relations, me walking around the store with a bloody kleenex held to my nose & joking about being the "future owner of the place" (an empty threat of lawsuit- joking!). I didn't actually hold it against the snake either, he went home with me, calmed down (in suitably-sized cage) and made nice hatchlings with my female. (A snake that size did NOT belong in a shoebox, & he was obviously hoping it was dinner time...and maybe it was, but I was a big let-down.) I've kept mostly snakes, but also some lizards: never had any bites from lizards, not even the tokay geckos, several of which I could hold, nor the male bearded dragon I took in, who displayed fiercely at his own image in a mirror, but liked to snuggle on my shoulder. Took in an unwanted yearling BCI many years ago, after she kept being re-homed for biting everyone. She even scared off a vet tech who kept snakes-? When she wanted to bite me (at first, in fear & self-defense) I didn't give her a chance, & after I worked with her for a month or two, she never once tried to bite me, not in all the 12 years she was my snake. I think in some way most of us have earned the bites we get...by rushing a shy snake, by confusing them at feeding time, etc...silly & preventable things. Some of us are more trainable than others, lol.