Boa Bites

I thought I'd start a thread on boa bites. The probably has been done before but what the hell. I've got a couple of humorous stories on this topic.

The first one involves a female braz. bcc about 7 ft. long. She was kept in a 6ft neodesha with sliding door fronts. I slid the door open and noticed she was in her hide box and not visable. The floor of the cage sits about chest high. I open the bottom cage also. Throw in a f/t rat from a bucket and close the door. Reach into the bucket grab another rat for the top cage and stand up and I remember what happened next like it was yesterday. All I saw was mouth. She hit me right in the face with full force. I had a row of teeth marks just above my eye brows and another row on my chin. Try explaining that to your co-workers. The whole thing happened so fast, and she was back in her cage sitting there so quickly, it was amazing. That one hurt for awhile, not so much from the bite but the force of the strike.

Another one was with an ETB. I used to feed a night. My snake room was lit by a red light bulb. With the ETBs instead of just throwing a rat in the cage I would hand it to them on forceps. This one snake missed the rat completely and nailed me on my forearm. I was startled and looked down and there was no blood. I remember thinking wow she didn't even break the skin. So I continue on with my feeding for another 20-30 minutes. Every-so-often I would need to wipe some "water" off my arm. Finally I finish and go outside the snake room. It's then I notice that my arm looks like someone shot me. It was completely covered in blood. I even stepped back in the snakeroom to watch the blood disappear. Anyway that wasn't really a very bad bite just odd the way it happened.

Heres a bite from my 5' female rtb named Ruby

OOH OOH, I got one.

Well, I got a couple actually. Nothing like the facial Kevin received, but another bloody ETB story.
I was called to go see about an abandonment at the local humane society. It turned out to be an ETB adult, I would guess 6 ft or so never having measured it. Anyway, it seemed tame enough, and fed pretty readily on rats, so I was almost going to keep it instead of placing in new home.

So after a couple months of good luck in handling and not getting tagged (like every other ETB that's come my way has done) the thing just turned into a monster one evening, and tagged me not just once, OR TWICE, but THREE times in the forearm before I could hardly react. Well, the last one got me one the underside of the forearm, and when it let go, I squirted blood everywhere for a couple heart beats till it clotted, but I never seen so much blood before. Sorry I don't have pics though. I had other things on my mind at that moment. LOL

Needless to say, that ETB has nice home in Pueblo, CO now.

Rick

This one is not as dramatic as the others. I had purchased an 8 1/2' boa from an individual who said she would not eat frozen. I let her get a little hungry and offered her a Jumbo. She was under a large shelf at the time and the rat was approx. 8" from her, but I couldn't see her from the top of the enclosure, although I knew she was there. After 30 minutes of nothing I decided to retrieve the rat and try some wiggling. I tried to snatch the rat with my hand as fast as I could, a simple but stupid in and out maneuver. She struck as soon as she saw the movement of my hand. Since I was moving quickly the punctures continued into tares and she waffled my hand. I recommend tongs to anyone new to the hobby.

A few months ago I removed my 9' retic from his enclosure and while handling he just slowly decided to eat me. He pressed his nose to my wrist, opened his mouth and took a full mouth bite and held on. It happened quickly, but it was also like slow motion. He gave my arm a few wraps and I took him to an open area in my basement. It was about 20 minutes before he released and I had blood everywhere. My wife and I were laughing as he was latched on. I rested his body on the ground and relaxed until he finally let go. Blood had puddled under my skin and I had a lump the size of a large mouse. It made for a great bruise.

I pretty much believe that when a snake bites it's the handlers fault. Whether it's from stupidity or inexperience. You can't gig a snake for being a snake.

Fun thread.

Originally Posted by Art Klass

I pretty much believe that when a snake bites it's the handlers fault. Whether it's from stupidity or inexperience. You can't gig a snake for being a snake.

Can't argue with that one. Had I not relaxed, and been paying better attention, I probably would have seen the signs before actually getting walloped. Knowing the nature of ETB's it's totally my fault for letting down my guard.

Thinking back, I believe all my bites were basically my fault. Smelling like food, ignoring warning signs, basic dumb things like that.

Thinking back, I believe all my bites were basically my fault. Smelling like food, ignoring warning signs, basic dumb things like that.

LOL That's exactly my experience as well. We take them for granted and then.........

Heh. I've told this one before, though I can't remember which forum. I've gotten tagged a handful of times by my snakies, but the funniest one was when I was checking on the snakes' water dishes, and I noticed my (at the time) baby hypo female had shed. I looked in the cage and she looked- funny - because she had broken off the tail part of her shed and somehow put her face in the opening, and had it on her head like a sock, muzzle or hat. It was sticking straight out, too. So, I reached in quickly to snag it off of her face, it had covered her eyes so all she probably knew was that something big and warm was coming towards her, and I got tagged a little. Can't blame her, though I still can't believe I didn't take a photo before stealing her "hat" from her.

I got bitten last week by my hateful little male normal.. He is always acts hateful, and I would get the hook(pocket snake hook is the greatest invention ever!).. I never gave him a chance to bluff or not.. Well he was in his little s-curve, and hissing and blowing, and I thought he had never bitten before, so why start.. Yeah, well, I got tagged.. Didnt hurt at all, just gave me some nice little needle marks..