Bite Club

Rule #1 of BITE CLUB is: We never talk about bite club (since we all know that there is an action for every reaction when it comes with dealing with our reptiles. They don't bite because 'they're mean' or that they 'hate us', It's a natural defense for them when they get startled, or feeding, or stressed, so with that in mind, this poll is not to make them sound 'nasty' but more of a personal experience poll to see where we satnd in the rankings of the BITE CLUB!!

Rule#2 of BITE CLUB: All of us must participate...that means you!! If you're a keeper, it's your duty to report.

Now, on to the poll!!

Just as long as you don't make me stand on your front porch for days to join Bite Club, I'm in!

I have been bitten (probably not hundreds of times) too many times to count by my "more placid" cornsnakes. It doesn't hurt at all, so maybe they don't count for actual Bite Club enrollment, but it wasn't because they weren't trying!!!

Too funny...I promise not to make you blow anything up either!! You're in!!

I must be special, I get bit all the time. It's almost become a family joke and I own several T-shirts that say "Bite Me." I did Day Care for years, and toddlers BITE, I switched to a job at a dog kennel, yep, I got bit on a regular basis, and now I keep snakes as a hobby~ and yep~ I still get bit on a regular basis.

On the bright side, with all this expierience I'm pretty good at predicting when a bite is coming and dodging it, and if I do get bit I don't bother with all the whimpering and whining most people have to go through.

~Unfortunatly, that would also be why I got bit so often at the dog kennel~ "That dog looks mean~ go get Cheryl to give him a bath!"

I don't get bit every day, but I have been bitten hundreds of times by most everything. At most I haven't been bitten by maybe 5 species I've kept. I've been bitten by snakes from every continent and a few islands haha.
Oddly enough, I've never had a cornsnake bite.
I have been bitten by ball pythons though, both defensive and feeding strikes. They can be tenacious little buggers when they think your hand is a rat.

How many have taken facial bites? We should have a group within the club for those of us that have taken a hit to the face.

about 3 or 4 years ago, and before I knew it, she got me in the face. It happened so fast I didn't even feel it, it was pretty crazy. She was small (under 3') but I was shocked at how fast she was, and how much range she had perfect shot, needles to say I liked her even more after that!!

I'm lucky, I guess in that I rarely get nipped anymore. But, I've been keeping and working with snakes for many years. From catching and keeping when I was a kid to having my shop and breeding to working with an importer. I've had hundreds of thousands of snakes go through my hands. Pretty cool actually.

I've been bitten by many different species. I had on ruby eye cal king bit me as she was pipping her egg. Still got her and she's almost 6 feet long. I still have to be careful of her when she's hungry. I've had the big burms and boas bounce off a food item and hit my hand thinking it was a rat or snake too, lots of fun there as well.

The weirdest bite I had was a dumerils boa I'd had for about 10 years. Sweet snake. I was holding him one day and he just reached up and nailed my cheek. Out of nowhere and not really a full on bite, just got me with one side of his mouth but he had to mean it. Then he was fine again.

There have been countless little snake bites over the years, corns and kings and rosies and gophers and coachwhips and on and on.

I can say there are far fewer I've held and NOT been bitten by than have bitten me. Of course, now that I've said that my next round of cleaning and feeding should be fun.

Wes Pollock

I have been bit many times, from every species type I keep/kept, including ball pythons, cali king, bci, burmese pythons, and the largest one to bite me was a wc 9' retic that would bite me every single time I had him out, or opened his enclosure and was in range.

The sad part is the most painful bite I got was from a california kingsnake that measured approximately 4' and she bit me, locked on, and started grinding into my hand (between the thumb and index finger) it took around 20 minutes to get her loose, and when I did she whipped around and nailed me on the back side of my hand..

What an ill tempered little snake.

Later

For as long I have been keeping snakes I have only been bitten 5-6 times . The most part there a STUPID mistake on my part but the worst bit I have received was from a 10-11 ft albino burm in 2000. ( I will get president for this one bite lol )I had just bought thesnake from the local show here and took him home to put him in his new home.The burm was very placid and didnt lead on to the outcome of the following minutes.I had placed him on the floor in the room in which his cage was waiting and had the door shut ,I had a remarkably brilliant Black Lab at the time who knew how to open everydoor in the house with her mouth if she wanted to find her daddy lol .Well as I was readying the cage to utthe burm in I hear her at the door.. I knew what was comming so I sat the water bowl down in the cage and as i turned to go lock the door she opened it and walked just inside the door , the burm who was new and didnt know the smell of the house must have sensed the dog and took offensive action.As i was squatted down between the burm & dog i pushed her out of the room and shut/locked the door and as i turned around there is 10-11 ft of coiled burm looking face to face with me as he had assumed the postion.I knew i didnt want to take one in the kisser so i instinctively hopped up and he instinctively struck catching me on the hand and wrapping me hand up ,of course first reaction by me was panic, and i stoof all the way up and its tail hit my leg and held on and from here it got very scary.He proceeded to constrict hand - leg and wasnt having any ideas of letting go i was home alone and grabbed my nextel to call my friend who lived a few minutes away and in a panic stricken voice yelled out to what was going on. Now once i was calmeddown and ( didnt think i was going to be eaten) i manage to have to crawl like a baby down the hall with burm wrapped around arm & leg first thought was hot water ( i know but at the time it was a thought as i couldnt fully walk /stand due to the grip he had) so as i ran the bath water keep in mind from the bite there was a ample amount of blood dripping from his mouth & my hand.I then shoved his head under the water to hopefully drown him off ... nope didnt work.... cold water .... nope didnt work . I was determined to get this snake off me regardless of the outcome because i wasnt sure at this point i could unwrap him if he did get a better grip around my chest etc,thats when the Gun came to mind lol i know ( no one was shot in this story but it was only due to i couldnt chamber the clip with one hand ) i scooted to the SKS as my pistol stayed in my truck and grabbed the ammo case and managed to slide a few rounds in the clip but couldnt get the clip into the gun due to the way the SKS clip locks in i couldnt hold the bolt open & slide the clip in onehanded. so here i sit bleeding like a stuck hog ammo case dumped out sks laying on floor and my great fierce dog barking to the top of her lungs at her dad being mauled my a snake lol ( she didnt offer nothing more then barking to my aid) well as a last resort i took it upon my self to fight a bite with a bite and thats when i proceeded to take hold with my free arm and lean over and did a move of desperation and bite the burm about midbody ... well well this got his attention and he did let go asap.being rather unhappy with hisaction a abruptly snatched him up and forcefully moved him back to the room and caged this monstor who had just tried to eat me for lunch lol.

The funniest part was my friend arrived a few minutes after this had been resolved and walked in the front doo asking " what were you saying i couldnt understand you" then he says WTF gun , bullets and blood on floor and down hall and on wall lol i walked out of the bathroom with the biggest rows of teeth embedded into my hand & fingers i have ever seen on a snake .i think i pulled teeth out f hands and fingers for over 2 weeks as they pushes there way to the top.


*** the snake ended up with a large bruise that lasted him for a few weeks, and had no ill effects from the outcome. BUT i can say the next 3 years i had him he NEVER EVER looked at his keeper like lunch again he ended up being the nicest snake ... well thats my story ... now i just keep Boas all the retics & burms are now gone due to focusing on my boas .... got to love this kinda story to share with gran kids ...

but I always seem to laugh when somebody else gets bit!! Whether it's on TV or whatever!! Always a funny moment for some sick reason...however, I've never had to bite one back.