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First bite and of course its my darn Florida King

B

Black_Shark

New member
Well, just got my first bite and it was Loki, my king. I had just eaten some chocolate ice cream and spilled some on my finger which I wiped off. Then took out Loki for some relaxment and he kept licking/sniffing my fingers. Next thing I know he latches onto the left middle finger right above my fist knuckles and wraps my arm and tries to wrap my hand. For some reason, he thought chocolate was a mouse and decided to eat me. Let me tell you, when a king decides to chew on you it stings a little. I waited for the next 5 minutes for him to let go on his own but to no avail. In fact, I'm pretty sure his head and the rest of his body was at a 180 degree angle. I was scared he was going to snap his spine while continuing to chew on my finger so I went and stuck his head under cold/hot water ( I wasn't feeling much sympathy for him at this point) He then released in about 3 seconds and I then stuck him in his tub. Just took him out again after throughly washing my hands. I dont know what got into him.

Edit: Nvm, I know exactly why he tried to eat me. I had held my cornsnake on my left hand for about 20 minutes about an hour earlier that night and had not washed my hands or done anything to get rid of the smell. I bet he smelled my corn and thought my finger was the corn. Would explain the feeding response.
 
haha yeah, I'm thinking that was it because it wasnt a defensive strike. It was a feeding strike because he wrapped and tried to work his way to the tip of the finger. I just got through holding him for another 20 min after thoroughly washing my hands and he was much better. Still in hunt mode though and I was nervous everytime he got near that hand. Don't know if he can smell or tell where he bit but I'm not taking any chances. That bite hurt! haha
 
Did you smack him on the head and tell him bad snake? Jk :p I wonder if it was the smell of the corn.
 
That's hilarious lol. Yummy yummy corns.

Yeah, my common BCI bit me today. I scared him really bad, I dropped the lid to his tub right next to him on accident, and he fear struck, and managed to connect with my wrist. BIIIIG mouth. Stretched all the way around it. ;~; Didn't hurt, just stung. I know what you mean there.

Haha, this sounds bad, but my snake friends and I have a habit of showing bite pictures when they happen, so here's mine. :p It's not bad in comparison to a few I've seen, haha.

You can even see his triangular lower jaw line! Haha.

Getting bit is no fun, but unfortunately, in the snake world, it's gonna happen at some point. The worst part about BCI is their recurved teeth, they stick when they go in, so when they let go, they rip out of the skin. I'd MUCH rather get bitten by a King if I had to choose, but ultimately, none would be the best option.
 

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I've had him since November 2nd and he has never tried to bite or acted this way before. It was my own stupidity that got me bit. He just thought it was food and anyone who owns a Florida King will tell you that their feeding response is second to none. If it smells like food, they're gonna try their darndest to eat it. He's currently cruising his tub and so excited I can hear him huffing from here. I purposely got him out again for 20 min to see how he reacted and he promptly ignored me and went about hunting and huffing. It was the corn.
 
I got a pic of the damage that I'll put up tomorrow. You can barely eve see the marks now. Before I washed it up, it looked someone had cut my finger off haha
 
Well thats good that he didnt strike out of aggression and rather cuz he thought you had food. I got my corn out the day before his feeding day, and he was all over the place. I meen he was looking EVERY WHERE, I had never seen him act like that then I realized that that was normally his feeding day ( he was fed a day late, sue me lol) and I think he was looking for his mouse. How ever he didnt bite me haha, but when I put him in with his mouse yesterday it didnt take but a minute max to find strike and coil.
 
Cornsnakes have NOTHING on a King, especially a Florida King. My King has struck and coiled a mouse so hard it exploded. Gruesome. The more I think about it, the dumber I was. What do kings eat in the wild? snakes. What did I hold before I held him? A snake. What does a cornsnake-smelling finger look like? Durrr!
 
Haha, sounds good.
The thing about colubrids is they have more serrated teeth, so when they gnaw like they're trying to eat, they pretty much use their teeth like a saw, and it causes more blood flow, but in the end, it ends up as a scratch. With my BCI, he just connected, and ripped back. Mine are more like snags you'd get from a blackberry bush or something. Except it hurts more than a blackberry bush cause it goes in deeper. Haha.
 
Black_Shark said:
Cornsnakes have NOTHING on a King, especially a Florida King. My King has struck and coiled a mouse so hard it exploded. Gruesome. The more I think about it, the dumber I was. What do kings eat in the wild? snakes. What did I hold before I held him? A snake. What does a cornsnake-smelling finger look like? Durrr!
Click to expand...

:bomb: Like an accident waiting to happen, and most definitely just like a snake lacking eyes. :) Also like a free lunch right there waiting.
 
Yeah, thats no fun. And I think your right on the saw part. Thats what it felt like. Crap freakin hurt! I'm sitting there going f*** and waiting him out and everytime he moved I was wincing. Didnt hepl that he cut blood flow off to my arm it felt like haha
 
Well, when they constrict that's what they're doing, restricting blood flow. So, you just experienced being a snake meal minus the swallowing and digesting. :) Congratulations, and double congrats on making it through alive. Haha.

Yeah, ultimately I'd rather get bit by a colubrid if I had to choose, but it also depends on the situation. If it's a feed response bite, none would be best. Haha. If it's just a strike/warning bite, it's not the end of the world, it happens.

Just see it as a reminder to wash hands when you switch to handling a different species, and watch for the warning signs that a snake is upset or becoming uncomfortable. I always am careful with my retic. I know someday she'll probably get me for some reason or another, but I try to make it less of a potential problem if I can.
 
Haha, not bad for a first bite.

Now that I got mine cleaned up, i have little perfect imprints where Rhuarc's teeth went into my skin lol.
 
Nice haha, I'm a little nervous around my King so I've been holding him and messing with him on and off for the last hour getting my confidence level back up. I'm being much more watchful around fingers though!
 
Try not to be nervous, snakes can sense nerves, and sometimes, snakes with a real heightened level of perception will become nervous themselves, and that in turn can cause bites.

The more confident you are, the better. The snake won't sense nervousness or fear, and won't feel that it needs to act the same way.
 
Yes.

A while back I took in a very very very VERY nasty juvenile burmese python because a friend was just going to dump it ( i know, right? grr). Well, needless to say, I was nervous around her, and she nailed me multiple times. So, I decided that she wasn't the snake for me, and gave her to a friend of mine who has extreme amounts of experience with beyond nasty snakes, she's been bit in the face before, had a 15lb boa bite her thumb and hold on and coil, just like your king did, and much more. Anyhow, when I took the python over to her to drop her off, she took her out and the burm didn't even strike or hiss or anything. No problems, a completely different snake basically. My friend then told me about how snakes can perceive feelings. She explained that she's very confident with holding snakes, and isn't afraid of being bitten anymore, so most snakes aren't "afraid" either, and don't feel the need to strike.

I thought that was some useful information, and I've gotten a lot more confident with my snakes now and it really helps.

BUT, in retrospect, you never want to be TOO confident. Being too confident can also result in bites and injuries that are uneccessary. Basically, it comes back to using common sense. Be confident, but don't be careless. What I mean by that is don't go in and pull out a 14ft snake by yourself and poke and prod at it, thinking, oh, this snake won't get irritated and bite me, oh no. Use common sense and good judgement, but don't give your snakes a reason to think you're afraid or nervous around them.
 
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