She bit me!

jossh27 · 05-24-15, 04:40 PM

Had my cal king for a while now and shes only bitten the previous owner once and that was because he was doing a show and reached into her travel bag to pick her up AFTER he was finished with another snake. cal kings eat snakes... silly move on his part. anyways, shes never once come across aggressive in anyway that i could tell. today she was half out of her hide so i decided i was going to take her out and handle her for a bit... i reached in towards her head with a open hand to let her smell me and as soon as she bumped her nose into my finger she decided she wanted to eat me and took a nice big bite into my index finger! she then put me in a "death wrap" which made things much less comfortable. i picked her up and instead of going to the garage to get a axe i decided to go into the bathroom and ran warm water on her head for about 15 minutes till she decided to let go... after she let go she wasn't finished with me and tried to take another go at my hand, but i managed to pull away in time

why would she do this? she ate Thursday night, so i dont think shes hungry.
i dont have any other snakes, so she wasnt smelling them. the only thing i can think of is i havent been handling her much lately because i was out of town for work for a while.

**EL Ziggy** · 05-24-15, 06:05 PM

Sounds more like a feeding response than a defensive strike Josh. Could she still be hungry?

jossh27 · 05-24-15, 06:11 PM

I hope your right. she destroyed two f/t adult mice three days ago, so i'm not sure if shes still hungry...

are defensive strikes more of a bite and release rather than a bite and hold? she kept readjusting her jaw to get a better grip on my finger. and did i do the right thing with running warm water on her face to try and make her let go?- i didn't want to hurt her

prairiepanda · 05-24-15, 07:33 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jossh27

and instead of going to the garage to get a axe

.........................................what?

That aside, I agree it sounds like a feeding response bite, especially since she "chewed" on you a bit and put you in a death wrap. That's something snakes only do to prey. You may have gotten some weird smell on you by accident(do you wash your hands prior to handling?) or maybe she was just extra hungry. Perhaps it is time for bigger meals? Do you have a scale you can use to compare her weight to the weight of her prey? Running water on her was the right way to go about it. If you had forced her off you could have done irreparable damage.

This could easily be a one-time thing, but if you're concerned about it happening again in the future and/or becoming a habit you could always try tap training her with a snake hook or stick or whatever is handy. It's as simple as just giving her a boop on the nose whenever you open the cage for any reason other than feeding. The boop snaps them out of feeding mode so you can go about with cage maintenance or handling. And then when there's no boop she can keep being expectant and excited for food to come.

**EL Ziggy** · 05-24-15, 07:48 PM

Wow, typically 2 adult mice should be plenty. How big is your girl? My kings eat 2 jumbos weekly. I can't imagine they'd be bitey with a little less. You're right, typically a defensive strike is a quick bite and release. It sounds like she was trying to eat your finger

. Running water on their head is one method to get them to let go. You can also use a dab of listerine near their nose or mouth.

Rattlehead · 05-24-15, 09:10 PM

The only time my king is agressive at me is when she's digesting and I disturb her. Could it be that she still had fold on the belly?

sophiedufort · 05-25-15, 10:55 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jossh27

the only thing i can think of is i havent been handling her much lately because i was out of town for work for a while.

That's your answer, right there

I handle my snakes daily, and they respond beautifully to it. Never got bitten. Not once.

Derek Roddy · 05-25-15, 12:18 PM

Welcome to snake keeping. haha.

D

jossh27 · 05-25-15, 05:12 PM

i don't have a scale, no. shes over 4 feet and i was told shes pretty much full grown. she gets two adult mice bi-weekly.

i saw her out of her hide again just a few minutes ago, so i opened her cage and she instantly charged at me lol so i used a mini hockey stick as a hook and she "attacked" it. this is crazy... she was so nice before. my 3 year old son would handle her and she never even musked once.

Derek, I'm okay with being bit- its apart of the hobby i guess. my son loves this snake and i couldn't ever chance him being bit.

jossh27 · 05-25-15, 05:43 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by prairiepanda

.........................................what?

it was a joke.

**EL Ziggy** · 05-25-15, 07:45 PM

I still think she's hungry. 2 mice every 14 days doesn't seem like much for an adult king IMO. My kings eat every 7 days on average. Occasionally they'll go 10 days if they have a larger meal. I'd increase the frequency of your feedings and maybe increase the amount as well. I'm not sure what size your mice are but on Big Cheese the small adults are 13-18g each and adults are 19-29g each. The jumbos are 30g (+) each. Both of my kings are a little over two years old and 630-650g each. They eat 2 jumbos each every 7 days.

SSSSnakes · 05-25-15, 07:49 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by sophiedufort

That's your answer, right there

I handle my snakes daily, and they respond beautifully to it. Never got bitten. Not once.

It is not how often you handle a snake, but how you handle a snake that keeps you from getting bit.

sophiedufort · 05-25-15, 08:09 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by SSSSnakes

It is not how often you handle a snake, but how you handle a snake that keeps you from getting bit.

I am pretty sure it's both.

SSSSnakes · 05-25-15, 08:19 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by sophiedufort

I am pretty sure it's both.

You can handle the most aggressive snakes and if you know how to handle them properly, you will not get bit. If you don't know how to handle a snake properly, you can handle an aggressive snake every day and get bit every time.

sophiedufort · 05-26-15, 06:34 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by SSSSnakes

You can handle the mossot aggressive snakes and if you know how to handle them properly, you will not get bit. If you don't know how to handle a snake properly, you can handle an aggressive snake every day and get bit every time.

I believe I mentioned that I never got bit

so I must be doing something right. I agree that it's in the way I handle them, but timing and frequency of handling matter just as much.