how bad is being bitten? never happened to me

okay so heres the question... how bad is it to get tagged by a snake? (saying roughly between 4-7') ive never been bitten... i kinda wish i have been because of the slight fear of the unknown. the problem i have is all my snakes are larger than what i desire to be my first bite and are wayy too puppy dog tame to bite me unprovoked. i was responding to another thread and it got me thinking. so before i gather the question to let my brothers or a friends snake bite me i figured id ask you guys and hope to get an honest response.

Originally Posted by Grimaldi123

okay so heres the question... how bad is it to get tagged by a snake? (saying roughly between 4-7') ive never been bitten... i kinda wish i have been because of the slight fear of the unknown. the problem i have is all my snakes are larger than what i desire to be my first bite and are wayy too puppy dog tame to bite me unprovoked. i was responding to another thread and it got me thinking. so before i gather the question to let my brothers or a friends snake bite me i figured id ask you guys and hope to get an honest response.

I can only speak from my own experience. I've been bitten a time or two by ball pythons and midsize boas. It hurt but it was no big deal, sort of like when you skinned your knee when you were a kid. It did not happen often, I think once it was because I handled a rat before feeding time and so my hands were scented, always wash your hands.
I imagine very large boids and some of the tree snakes might have a nastier bite.

I've never owned a hot, but the idea there is to be so cautious as to not ever to get tagged at all, and that's an entirely different kind of conversation.

The largest snake that has bitten me is the Taiwan beauties my roommate has. Those things LOVE to bite. Honestly it surprises me more than hurts, oh and it will bleed and bleed. Being tagged by a baby ball is hardly noticeable. Have you ever been bitten by a rat or mouse? Then getting tagged by a snake is not as bad. LOL, now getting bit by my Tokay geckos HURTS a LOT!

I would never own a hot as I don't keep my guard up all the time and one slip up and your tagged

I got bit by a 6 foot red tale about a month ago. Its not that bad it kinda feels like a bunch of shots all at once. when i got bit he let go right away so i would imagine if you got bit by a bigger snake like this one and they didn't let go it might sting a lil. or if you got bit by a tree boa or python that would really hurt cause they have huge teeth. then Just yesterday i got bit by one of our 4 foot corn snakes and that was nothing. She didnt even pierce my skin. hope this helps you out some.

how bad is it to get tagged by a snake?

It's horrible! The blood, the pain, the bruising, the stiches......................Just horrible.










Actually it's not as bad as you might think unless it's a really large snake (10 ft plus) or a chondro. A seven footer would probably draw some blood and cause a bit of buising but most bites are finished by the time you realize what happened.

It depends on the type of bite. If a 7ft.er thinks your foot, does a sink and wrap, then its gunna be kinda painful. Its gunna be a lot worse if you yank your hand away while there dug in. Most bite tho are painless. Getting bit is complicated lol. I hope I helped, doubt it tho! D:

Unfortunately I've been bitten twice, both by Burmese over 12 feet (one 14) both times based on foolishness on my part (Of course, feeding was in progress). However, both times the snake did not let go, my hand had over 30 holes in it, she pulled and attempted to wrap. I was more p.oed than anything, the end result was a swallen hand and wrist. Lot of infection and it was very painful during and for a few days after. The bigger snake, weighed over 100lbs at the time and she was insistent that I was her food for the day. Anyway, she hung on for about 10 minutes. I finally removed her teeth using the old wooden clothes pins and attaching them to her upper lip to make a handle to pry her mouth open and roll my wrist out. Fear was never an issue, pain from the bit and p.oed was (by my mistake).

Keith, try popsickle sticks. They work really well, keep a big pack above/close at hand for "oh s#i*" moments another good trick (I've heard) is a spatula. No one wants to be bit, its how you can deal with it, don't pull your hand away. That's the worst thing you can do. If you wanna get bit, get like a texas rat, or a tai beauty so you can "train" your reaction not to pull your hand away. Hope this helps more then my last post lol

If your educating me on what not to do, thanks, but I learned that a long time ago. I will say, trying to pull away was the last thing I did. With the size I was bit by, the issue was keeping them from pulling your hand into a coil. I actually had to knee on the snake to keep her body off my arms while I worked on the release. My feeding techniques are considerably different now anyway, no "what this" stuff anymore. The questioned posed was, more or less, is it bad or painful? The answer is YES, especially if it's big snake and even more so if it does not let go on it own.

I agree with Keith, the strike and wrap bites when they think you are food are the worst. I was grabbed and wrapped by an 8'+ boa and IMO it hurts (I have a fairly high pain tolerance). A normal strike bite where they don't coil isn't nearly as bad, like getting punched. All snake bites seem to bleed a lot but I've only had bruising and swelling from the big bite. I've heard retics tend to slash with their teeth which can do some damage (don't own a retic, so I don't know first-hand). It's always the shock of it that gets me more than anything. My next thought is always 'where's the camera?'.

Basically, don't be nervous of it, if it happens, it happens, but it's not going to be terrible and no where near as bad as a cat or dog bite (again, IMO).