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What herps have bitten you?

Ball python

Childrens Python

Kingsnake

Milksnake

Cornsnake

Water Monitor

Savannah Monitor

Bearded Dragon

Leopard Gecko

White line Gecko

Garter snake

Northern water snake

Midland water snake

Black rat snake

Created Gecko

Green Iguana

Rosy Boa

Colombian Rainbow Boa

Brazilian rainbow boa

Spotted Python

Horned Mountain Dragon



Cotton Mouth!


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I've been pretty lucky so far. I've had monitors, 2 Savannahs, an Argus, 2 Niles, and never got bit. I have an Alligator snapper and have taken care of at least 10 common snappers, small and huge. I've never even been bit by a little kingsnake, or any colubrid, ball python, retics, no snake bites at all. The only thing I've ever been bitten by was a pissy tegu.
 
I have been bitten by nearly every species that I've ever kept or caught, with the exception of venomous, where I tend to be more cautious.
I'll limit it to my favorites:
- Large adult common snapping turtle. I was about 12 years old and stepped on one in a swamp. I reached down and guessed which end was the tail- guessed wrong. Contrary to popular belief, they do not appear able to remove a finger.
- Large African Rock python. In front of a live audience. My assistant panicked when the snake started writhing about with its mouth open, leaving me to fend for myself. Lots of blood, bruising to follow.
- Water snakes. It's always fascinated me how quickly they could deliver so many bites before my brain can process the information and tell my hands to "drop the snake". It's also neat squeezing the teeth out of my skin a few days later.
- Tokay geckos. I'm pretty sure they have concealed razor blades it their mouths.
- A mudpuppy. I brought it to the surface while snorkeling; it slipped from my grasp, flopped on to my belly, and chomped down on my white flab, leaving two inverse u-shaped marks. So much for thinking that salamanders are harmless.
 
REPTILES ONLY:
2 month old baby alligator, didn't even break the skin.
Crested Gecko. Just felt weird. Wasn't sure he actually bit me until I finally saw him do it.

Just never really put myself in position to be bitten. Never had anything (except the gator) that would even be mildly inclined to bite. Even animals I've worked with (not owned), none have been aggressive. Knock on wood. Guarantee the worst is yet to come for me, lol.
 
I've been bitten by almost every critter I've owned.....lol

*Groundhog
*Hamsters
*Guinea Pigs
*Bunnies
*Rats
*Leopard Gecko...lol
*African Fat Tailed Gecko...bled quite a while after that bite.
*Green Basalisk
*Golden Gecko
*Cockatiel
*Sun Conure
*Dog
*Cat
*Green Anole

I know there is more l, but can't think of anymore right now




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Monitor -
Savannah
Water monitor
Nile

Snakes -
Northern waters
Garter
Corn
Cali King
Mole King
Black racer
Cottonmouth
Ribbon
Brazilian rainbow
Colombian rainbow
Rosy boa
Eastern milk
Ball pythons
Children's Python
Carpet Python
Amazon tree boa
Central American boa
Smooth earth snake

Lizards-
Cuban knight anole
Beardies
Green anole
Brown anole
Eastern fence
Western fence
Collared lizard
Horny toad
Leopard gecko
Created gecko
Veiled chameleon
Gargoyle gecko
White line gecko
Day gecko


(This is all I can remember at the moment...)


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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.
 
I noticed in reading over this thread that many haven't stuck to the topic of only what herps have bitten us, so I'll add that my worse bite was from a male mouse that was trying to kill his rival & I unwisely tried to break up the fight. Got a really nice throbbing infection, a bit scary but turned out ok finally. I'll take snake bites any day.
 
I have been bitten by Texas Rat snake males, Pacific Aliigator lizards (females chomp down once, males chomp down again and again, that how you tell their sex), Albigularis monitor and Water monitor. That is the worst. Their teeth are like tigers and they bite and shake.

Oh, and bitten by a Texas Coral snake once. It was not a dry bite either. My arm felt like it was in a fire for 24 hours but obviously, I did not die. Didn't go to the ER. Thats because I am a nurse and I didn't want the staff to know what an idiot I am.

It was in my front yard. I do not kill venomous snakes, I capture and relocate. I have relocated many Copperheards and a couple of Timber Rattlers (highly neurotoxic, thats exciting). But here was this 2' coral and it might have bitten my dog. It was rapidly disappearing into the pine needles so I tailed it. Stupid I know. I had never tailed a snake, I hold their heads down with a stick and pick them up behind the jaws.

Didn't have time to get a stick so I tailed it. That little bugger climbed right up his own body and tagged me on the thumb. My veterinarian friend was visiting that day so I asked him Do you know CPR? He said yea for dogs. So I figured I would just stay home from the ER. If I went into respiratory arrest he would have called 911.
 
Oh I forgot the Cuban Anoles. I worked at a pet shop for a while in Woodland Hills California. We had Cuban Anoles - those are biting little SOBs. So the other girl and I would hold them up so they would bite our ear lobes. Then we wore them like ear rings, they hang on for hours. This was before piercings and tatoos. Reptile people are such fun.
 
OK there was the Texas Spiney lizard that fell out of the sky.

I was out in West Texas by a spring fed lake (yes there are such things there). A pair of Zone Tailed hawks where up flying up high with their young of the year. The big female dropped a lizard she had in her claws to the hawklet down below so it could practice getting food. The hawklet flipped over in the air to grab the lizard but missed. I saw the lizard fall from the sky into the lake with a splash. I saw it appear to sink and then surface, struggling. So I dove in and swam out to it, put it on my chest and backstroked to the shore. The lizard was cold and exhausted, not hurt too bad though, so I put it in a picnic basket in the sun. A while later I reached in to see how it was doing. That bugger bit my hand and hung on. I let it go in some prickly pear cactus.
 
8 ft American alligator

Yearling Morlet Croc

Spiny tail Iguana (probably the worst bite lol after a year I still have no feeling in my thumb)

Argentine B&W Tegu

Tokay Gecko

Cuban Knight Anole

Green Anaconda

Yellow Anaconda

Retic

Burm

Ball Pythons

Cali king

Florida King

Yellow Rat

Red Rat

Black Racer

Mata Mata (not really bit but sucked in lol)

Soft shell turtle

I'm sure there are more but that's all I can think of for now..




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