"FEAR" & respect a "BIG" Difference in IMO

[kawasakirider]

You must have a big bedroom to house a 4m snake.

 

[Specks]

It is a fact at some stage of your keeping experience you will recieve a bite, snakes do not have hands to tell you to stay away if they are having a bad day. And 9 times out of 10 a bite will come from a handlers error.
The one thing and this is the most important, as a handler you must over coming the urge to pull away suddenly once it's happen. Go with the flow and they will release eventually

Most bites are defensive bites when your snake wants nothing to do with you at the time. Respect the animal and they'll return the favour.....................

i have been bitten 10 + times by my female childreni and im not even handling her, am i a bad handler ? lol
but in all honesty when i do hold her she bites but its a feeding response. nothing better than a childreni rapped around my hand chewing for 10-20 mins

 

[No-two]

I have some big snakes that would give a nasty bite, I'm don't 'fear' them just try to avoid being bitten. Pretty easy to do.

 

[longqi]

I have some big snakes that would give a nasty bite, I'm don't 'fear' them just try to avoid being bitten. Pretty easy to do.

That all depends on what you are planing to do with the snake
We use our snakes in handling displays
So that means we have to handle them frequently to train them into trusting us
It would be easy to just feed this one and let it live here without ever risking a bite but basically after it settles down it needs to "pay its way" putting it very bluntly or else get given to someone else

 

[dickyknee]

deleted

How is that even remotely funny ?

 

[sd1981]

ive had reptiles in my life for most of my life (29 years) & would have been bitten only a handful of times, due to my own silly mistakes,eg: handling food items then picking up my reptile & then wondering why it happened????? handling a clearly pi#!?d off snake & looking passed obviously upset body language.... i paid for that one!!! snakes can't tell you to get nicked so they bite, if you can't deal with that, get a pet rock!

 

[imported_Varanus]

This one knows every trick in the book and has invented some of its own but can never be considered for release like other ones we buy
simply because it has zero real hunting skills

I was under the impression that, snakes being an instinctual little beastie, release was always an option from a survival point of view (not from a quarantine perspective, obviously) as, even after captivity, they retain all that's necessary to survive in a natural environment. For example, Burmese pythons in Florida and Corn snakes here? Just a guess though.

 

[Andrais]

my bredli bites, im scared, she scares me, i have asked the question here before 'what if my snake bites me', its a part of starting out with reptiles so far i've managed to stay 'untagged' for the past 6 months but she is getting bigger and settling down. Althought all these things have crossed me i still love my snake to death and would never part with her, maybe im just different cause i never set out to buy a snake to become a redneck (ewww yuckie arrogent american) i loved snakes and decided to get my own. At first i was scared but hey you get over it, life goes on its about being confident and knowing the animals body language and what they are telling you.

 

[Twitch_80]

I have a big dog that slobbers everywhere and knocks furniture over, I have a little dog with unlimited energy that can open doors, I have turtles that bite if given the chance but they just think fingers are food, i have an oscar that bites and another that likes belly rubs (very strange fish named dog), I had a snake years ago that was a bit moody and I just picked up a new snake today. I was moving it into its enclosure and it bit me, I wasnt suprised but then it just kinda sat in my hand and was fine (not planning on handling it a lot for a week or so).

The one that scares me the most is the pet rock, when it gets thrown at you it really hurts!!

 

[longqi]

The one that scares me the most is the pet rock, when it gets thrown at you it really hurts!!

Is your wife related to my girl friend??

 

[Twitch_80]

Is your wife related to my girl friend??

hahaha my gf used to play softball, its a worry..

 

[user 23122]

Some good posts on a good thread. I might seem like a bit of a wuss but I've got a couple of hooks and I use them on all my pythons even the placid ones. Once their out and about ile handle them although not my jungles. Apart from small hatchies I've never copped a decent bite and I don't intend to as far as Ime concerned if it does happen it will be my own handling error.

 

[Varanus1]

I was under the impression that, snakes being an instinctual little beastie, release was always an option from a survival point of view (not from a quarantine perspective, obviously) as, even after captivity, they retain all that's necessary to survive in a natural environment. For example, Burmese pythons in Florida and Corn snakes here? Just a guess though.

Hey IV,

They may well be able to survive in the wild, but if the snake has a very weak feed response (like some I've met that just walk up to the food and swallow, wouldn't strike at a food source to save themselves) it may lose a lot of condition before it changes hunting tactics from how it's used to obtaining food; that's my take on it anyway. If the snake lost significant condition, it's chances of a successful hunt (without receiving serious injury) would be significantly decreased.

It's not just obtaining food that can be a challenge for captive snakes - predator avoidance can be an issue too - I remember a captive release program of baby womas in SA happening a while back, where basically all the womas just turned into mulga food (kinda funny but I really shouldn't laugh!), quite possibly because the baby womas were de-sensitized to living in close proximity to other snakes!

Apologies guys that was a bit off topic; do continue

 

[imported_Varanus]

It's not just obtaining food that can be a challenge for captive snakes - predator avoidance can be an issue too - I remember a captive release program of baby womas in SA happening a while back, where basically all the womas just turned into mulga food (kinda funny but I really shouldn't laugh!), quite possibly because the baby womas were de-sensitized to living in close proximity to other snakes!

Interesting, thanks Trent.

Apologies also.

 

[Boof47]

I was lucky enough to be bitten by a few pythons before I bought one. Worked wonders for my confidence.

 

[WAG_S]

i only recently become a snake owner, to me i think thats getting the licence was way to easy. the government does not care who gets the licence only who receives the money. lucky for me i had done my own research and spoken to other reptile owners before buying my first snake. The reality hits when your by your self, and no guidance from others. I really can see how people can and do make mistakes. Maybe the DSE should offer some kind of handling, or educational corse before sending out the licence . Having a peice of paper in your wallet does not make you experienced. Although everyone was a first time once it is great websites such as this that helps new people conect with other owners. AAA+++ for aussie pythons and its members.

 

[shell477]

my first snake was a hatchie spotted and he bit me plenty. that allowed me to overcome the nerves. i then acquired a coastal and sold the spotted. the coastal is much much bigger and has not bitten me once, nor tried to.

the thing is, i am actually at the point where i want to stir him up so that he DOES bite me, so i can feel what its like to be bitten by a larger python. then i will know and can just carry on

only thing is i dont want to be mean to him and deliberately stir him up, that might set back all my work of calming him down as he is very flighty. and of course biting can be harmful to said snake so dont want to encourage it

 

[Joshua-Tree]

when i first got my nephurus levis i went to pick up my male and just before i touched him he did this massive bark and it scared the crap outa me and made me jump bigtime i felt so stupid cause they wouldnt be able to even draw blood guess it was just the shock of it. I think he could sense i was worried to pick them up (i have quite a big build so im bit scared of hurting them) but now they are both chilled with me picking them up and i know how to handle them... i think thats all it takes is a bit of experience =)

ill just add that ive held my mates stimsons python and fed that for about 6 months and helped plenty of turtles and blue tounge lizards from off the road and put them into the lake/bush b4 keeping these geckos

 

[gandal88]

awesome thread. im new to herps and my first snake was a hatchie stimmi i have had him for 6 months and he has never tagged me =D but he is still only little i bought my second snake the yesterday a jungle and he is also a hatchie and he has tagged me several times while im not scared to get bitten by him i am still apprehensive it doesn't hurt at all its just i dont like to get bit lol

 

[Colin]

What do you do if it needs to be removed ASAP ... if it is injured , stuck or for what ever reason , just wait a few weeks till you build that courage up ??

And there is a huge difference in keeping a snappy snake to a placid one ...

easy as dicky just rub some rat smell on your hand.. stick it in the snakes enclosure and it will usually be easily removed wrapped around your hand in no time