OOPS! The joys of being a snake mom...

[silverthorne]

I love snakes...a lot. They're pretty, they're cool...and they are easy to take care of if you have a brain that at least surpasses vegetable level.

I should know--I have two very pretty kingsnakes. Love them to death, have had them for seven years.

I also avoid what's known to many herp-owner boards as 'Stupid Human Tricks'.

This includes, but is not limited to:

1) Grabbing a snake out of the blue
2) Handling a snake when you smell like something the snake might like to eat
3) Messing around in the tank, especially when snake, again, has no clue you happen to be there.
4) Feeding snake in the same tank that it lives in.

All these things can and will get you bitten. (Take notes for those of you who have snakes that bite you constantly--make sure you aren't doing any of these things). You see, the snake will either think you're:

a) food
b) about to attack it
c) both

Obviously, I try to avoid doing any of these things, especially since one of the snakes, even after seven years, is still a bit skitzy...

So...I feed my first snake, Ian. Lovely snake, very friendly, you can practically hand feed him if you're careful and keep you hand out of range (IE, dangle that mouse by the tail and be ready to let go immediately, if not sooner). Feeding went smooth, got his tank sorted out and clean while he finished up, put him back in his tank to digest.

And then there was Shadrak. Mr. Skitz himself.

Washed my hands first, made sure he knew I was there, and went to pick his silly ass up.

The little bastard bit me. AND hung on.

I spent the next forty minutes or so trying to extract said silly bastard from the tip of my right fourth finger without hurting him. The old alchohol on the tip of the nose trick was not an option--he tends to hide his head under his coils while he feeds.

I'll give him this--he was persistant. Even when he was gasping for air around my finger, and I was gently pulling his head away from same finger so he couldn't just start swallowing down, he held on. I finally had to dunk his ass in a sink full of cold water and wait until he let go. And even then, he was seriously making a go for a new finger.

Anyhow, got him off, got him in the feed tank with what he's supposed to be eating, and am now waiting for him to cool his jets before I remove him from the feed tank...it will be interesting to see if we have another tug-of-war getting him back into the house tank...

Not...

Ah well...after having them both for seven years, and this being the first time I got bit...I suppose my average is not all that bad...^^;

Wish me luck...;)