Always biting..

My girlfriends corn snake is about a year old, shes had it since it was newborn. Its about a year now, and shes scared of handling it cos it ALWAYS strikes at/bites her.

Any tips please, shes considering giving him away because she cant do anything with him. I really dont want her to do that.

Can you handle the snake? Probably, all you have to do is handle it more often, and when it figures out you aren't going to hurt it, it will stop biting. Even a snake that bites usually only does so for the first five minutes, then calms down. Even wild snakes. Would she be afraid to handle it with gloves on?

Nanci

I have a non-corn that thinks I am there as an appetizer. I would completely agree with Nanci that holding more is really the only way to teach it that you're not a predator. Also, don't "reward" biting with putting it down right away. I keep my girl out until she hasn't bitten me for a couple of minutes, then I'll let her hide again.

Well, people have suggested putting a sock or gloves in the box so that he can get used to her scent, but she finds he just savages the gloves aswell.

If you handle it more and if your gf wears some gloves it will stop as stated above.
I handle a six foot black snake crusing our back yard and after a while it settle down. I should of tried to feed it but time wise I didn't want to stress it anymore.

When the snake bites i would recomend letting it because they will soon notice that you will not hurt them and you dont care about it. This make them not care.. Worked 100% over the years for me.

As said above, just keep handling, at only a year old the snake really won't be able to do more then prick the skin if a bite connects, it'll surprise you, but it won't actually hurt. After a while of regular handling the snake will calm down. Best example I have is my boa, when I got him he would as soon bite me as look at me, but I ignored the bites for a while, kept him out, showed him I wasn't afraid of him biting me and he's stopped. He doesn't even pose to strike anymore unless he's in blue, and even then, once he's smelled me and I pick him up he settles right down.

Look at it from the snakes view especially as a baby...

You're this tiny little worm all snug and curled up taking a nap safely hidden away from the world...then suddenly the light gets really bright and this HUGE thing is decending down on you. You are absolutely convinced that its going to eat you, this is the end..your life flashes before your eyes and you realize that you haven't had nearly enough zombie mice. You do the only thing you can. Puff all up, assume strike pose and be determined to go down fighting...

Result -- Big bad scary thing goes away.

Snakes aren't very smart but they can put those two things together. Little snakie is saying "heehee he...I showed that thing!!" and goes back to his nap. Now he's feeling all full of himself. Repeat.

If your brave enough to ignore the bluff because its certainly not going to hurt only be startling. Then the snake goes through...AAAGGG!! Bite, hmm, that didn't work...ok, bite again. Still not working...Hey, I'm not being eaten...oh look, zombie mouse...num num nummy.

Then he learns that A: big scary thing not going to eat me, and B: then I get food or to roam around on the floor or outside etc which equals big scary think is ok.

Shannon