# My snake bit my girlfriend



## mikfleye (Jul 27, 2006)

so when i bought the snake i handled him in the store, he was real tame, my GF held him as well, yesterday we held him as well with no problems or signs of aggresion at all, not in striking position at all, just your normal curious rat snake. well today we went to take him out of his tank for pics for another thread on here about what kind of ratsnake he is, he immediatly striked and bit my gf's hand before we even got him out of the tank. we did not try and grab him suddenly, we didnt come directly at his face, we did everything we normally do, ive been told that being nippy is normal in younger snakes but they should grow out of it as they mature, is this true? he is about 1 years old now. Also the store had been feeding him on thursdays, i bought him on wedsday, so he was scheduled for a feeding the next day, i figured i would skip this weeks feeding and let him get used to the home, i didnt think one week would matter since snakes can go long periods without eating, im not sayin im not going to feed him weekly, i just didnt want to put him in his new home, and feed right away, do you think this aggresion could be caused from not feeding? in this pic taken shortly after the bite, you can see him in his "attack position"


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## KINGofKINGS (Jul 24, 2006)

well you should have let him settle into his home a little longer- dont worry about it tho and def dont let this interfere with regular handeling....


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## mikfleye (Jul 27, 2006)

so how long do you think i should wait until trying to grab him again???


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## CrocKeeper (Dec 26, 2003)

Snakes bite...sometimes with no rhyme or reason. Snakes are NOT smart.
They are creatures of instinct...get in there and grab it up! It may very well try to bite..get it up anyway, and don't put it away..handle it, it will cease the biting..but it may do it all over again EVERY time you go to get it out. That is NORMAL for any Pantherophis species......so is tail rattling...and hissing. It is nothing to worry about...


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## mikfleye (Jul 27, 2006)

CrocKeeper said:


> Snakes bite...sometimes with no rhyme or reason. Snakes are NOT smart.
> They are creatures of instinct...get in there and grab it up! It may very well try to bite..get it up anyway, and don't put it away..handle it, it will cease the biting..but it may do it all over again EVERY time you go to get it out. That is NORMAL for any Pantherophis species......so is tail rattling...and hissing. It is nothing to worry about...


so even if he is reluctant to be held, and bites and or hisses when grabbing him, your saying suck it up, grab him anyway, and let him slither around your hands???? i mean i dont mind, the bite didnt even leave a mark, shes says she didnt even feel it


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## ESPMike (Mar 23, 2005)

mikfleye said:


> Snakes bite...sometimes with no rhyme or reason. Snakes are NOT smart.
> They are creatures of instinct...get in there and grab it up! It may very well try to bite..get it up anyway, and don't put it away..handle it, it will cease the biting..but it may do it all over again EVERY time you go to get it out. That is NORMAL for any Pantherophis species......so is tail rattling...and hissing. It is nothing to worry about...


so even if he is reluctant to be held, and bites and or hisses when grabbing him, your saying suck it up, grab him anyway, and let him slither around your hands???? i mean i dont mind, the bite didnt even leave a mark, shes says she didnt even feel it
[/quote]

If it wasnt a big deal then dont worry about it. Snakes bite no matter what, just keep handeling him.


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## mikfleye (Jul 27, 2006)

ESPMike said:


> Snakes bite...sometimes with no rhyme or reason. Snakes are NOT smart.
> They are creatures of instinct...get in there and grab it up! It may very well try to bite..get it up anyway, and don't put it away..handle it, it will cease the biting..but it may do it all over again EVERY time you go to get it out. That is NORMAL for any Pantherophis species......so is tail rattling...and hissing. It is nothing to worry about...


so even if he is reluctant to be held, and bites and or hisses when grabbing him, your saying suck it up, grab him anyway, and let him slither around your hands???? i mean i dont mind, the bite didnt even leave a mark, shes says she didnt even feel it
[/quote]

If it wasnt a big deal then dont worry about it. Snakes bite no matter what, just keep handeling him.
[/quote]

im not really worried about it now, im more worried about him growing up being nasty, i dont want him trying to bite when hes larger


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## kookykay23 (Jul 30, 2006)

hi i am the one that got bit.....it wasnt that serious i mean he did strike me on my pointer finger but it didnt feel like anything i barely flinched but also when i tryed to move the hiding space i have in his tank he went after that also and stayed in the striking position for awhile it seemed as though as long as i was in or near the tank he wasnt having it lol but i just dont want it to have to come to a point where i am scared to put my hand in the tank i mean as he gets older ,,i dont wanna get bit now but when he gets older he is likely to draw blood so ill keep handeling him as you sed and hopefully he'll calm down a bit!!


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## CrocKeeper (Dec 26, 2003)

Kay...

*You did good*, the HARDEST thing for the new snake owner to learn is NOT TO FLINCH....Flinching= teeth left in you! The snakes teeth are recurved...and really we do not want to rip out of the snakes skull, now do we?
It will more than likely grow out of the biting, but the repetition of just getting in and getting it up will be essential.
_*If*_ he does not outgrow it, get yourself a snake hook (I really do not think it will ever be nessecary, but some people are crazy..and do not like being bitten) and use the hook to get the snake out of its enclosure, once out it should be handleable....


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## kookykay23 (Jul 30, 2006)

CrocKeeper said:


> Kay...
> 
> *You did good*, the HARDEST thing for the new snake owner to learn is NOT TO FLINCH....Flinching= teeth left in you! The snakes teeth are recurved...and really we do not want to rip out of the snakes skull, now do we?
> It will more than likely grow out of the biting, but the repetition of just getting in and getting it up will be essential.
> _*If*_ he does not outgrow it, get yourself a snake hook (I really do not think it will ever be nessecary, but some people are crazy..and do not like being bitten) and use the hook to get the snake out of its enclosure, once out it should be handleable....


hoepfully it doesnt come to that but if it does where could i find one of those hooks because i dont think ihave seen them in any pet store around here but i could be wrong....and no i dont wanna rip his skull out so i try not to flinch it doesnt hurt that much i know that if i flinch he might find me to be food or get more threatened by me so i stay styll and move my hand slowly out of his tank ...well thanx a lot for the advice..if you have any more please let me know


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## Omnius (Mar 20, 2006)

While snakes are not the brightest bulbs on the tree they ARE cabable of learning, for instance if the snake musks and you promptly return it to its cage it will learn to musk to avoid being handled, same goes for biting. Also they memorize escape routes so if it gets out a new cage is a must.

Note having said that about snake learning to get their way through biting and musking it is still important for you to respect your snakes personality and desires, for instance there will be times when your snake will not want to be handled and you should just leave it alone, also snakes are more amiable to handling at differnt times of the day, find out what your snake prefers and work from their. I also don't need to say that baby snakes are more nippy than adults.


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## kookykay23 (Jul 30, 2006)

yea i know that baby snakes bite more because they are styll young and getting used to the envirnment they are in and adult ones kind of know...i used to have a red tail boa when i was younger and he was a little nippy as a youngin but as he grew up he was fine when we held him i just dont want this one to be the opposite he is fine now


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## flaredevil4 (Sep 9, 2006)

I feel sorry for your gf


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## acestro (Jul 7, 2003)

Most of my snakes were nippy and cranky when young. All of them are now brought to grade schools, high schools, etc. for kids to handle. Takes time and youngsters are very 'spooky' for obvious evolutionary reasons.


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