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Biting more than she can swallow...

Elaphe_Mo

Elaphe_Mo

New member
I had a strange experience with my female amber the other day. She has always been a little high strung and used to be quite a biter. She doesn't bite anymore, and I was in the middle of telling my boyfriend this, when she crawled along my arm, tongue flicking wildly, did the typical food searching behavior of pushing her nose around a bit, then bit into my arm and started working her mouth down my arm as if she was looking for the "head" to start swallowing. I detached her no problem but am curious if this has happened to anyone else. I didn't do anything different than I normally do when I handle her, my hands were clean and I hadn't fed any of my snakes in days so there shouldn't have been any mousey smell, and she had eaten her normal amount that week. Maybe she was just REALLY hungry already? I laughed about it for a while anyway, imagining this little '00 corn snake swallowing her way up my arm.
 
Do you feed your corn in a separate container? If so, was the container nearby? She could have smelled it.

Do you keep live mice in the house somewhere? The air conditioning or house fan may be circulating mouse scent.

Might an anole sneak into the house from outside? Those have such a yummy smell (or so the snakes tell me ;) ).

Were you wearing a fragrance (perfume, laundry detergent, soap, shampoo) that the snake has not experienced before? The fragrance, or combination of fragrances, might have elements that make a snake think of mice for some reason. Try to repeat the conditions and see if it bites again (enjoy!).
 
The only thing I can think of is I had eaten a chicken sandwich about an hour before (but I'd washed my hands...). I don't keep live mice, the seperate containers where I feed the snakes are near their rack, but they've always been there and this never happened before. I wish we even had anoles here...too far north. I love visiting Florida and watching them run around all over the place. I guess I'll just have to go get another chicken sandwich and see if she likes it? LOL
 
Maybe it's the "chicken" sandwich. You know, they say mice taste like chicken...
 
food handling

do you handle the mice you feed your snake yourself or do you use something to give them to your snake? if you handle the mice before giving them to your snake they can collect some of your scent and then you snake may associate your scent with prey items. thats a really cute picture though lol!
 
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