Reptile bite/scratch and scars

[crpy]

Now since we all cant get together and sit around having a beer or whatever and tell "war" stories, this thread is in lieu of it. As most of us know ,if you work/play with herps long enough, you will get tagged by bite or scratch. So lets view the best stories cause I know there is some good ones , including from me. I dont care if its bragging or informing with intent to educate, let it out.

Also remember you/me may look stupid but most of us love you/me in-spite of it,

Oh, tell us about the scars as well.

My best was from an 9 foot crocodile monitor (V. salvadori). Vs are mostly arboreal and have a very long tail that is used for balance and a effective weapon. They have a huge mouth full of razor sharp teeth, the bite can leave gaping wounds that are so susceptible to infection. Vs are not night club comics, they do not like to be messed with and the females, though smaller have an extremely bad attitude ime.

We had to draw blood once a month on 6 Vs for a bacteria test. On this day a veterinarian from UF and 5-6 vet students were standing out side of the Vs enclosure. As my partner and I were attempting to capture a big male for the blood draw. The Vs was racing around up about 8 feet off the ground and we were attempting to corner him. We had "kevlar" raptor gloves on but that was just to keep our fingers and hands from getting removed. Vs can bite right through them, another keeper found this out.
The Vs was hissing loudly and would intermittently snap at us in our pursuit of him. As we approached a corner the Vs turned and looked at us, this the moment I remember in the movie Jurassic Park. The time the guy with the shot gun said, "she knows we are here, clever girl", talking of course about the raptors. I happened to look over to my partner and noticed she had placed herself directly infront of some rocks. If she had to move back , she would trip. At that exact moment the Vs lounged from 8 foot up, mouth as wide as a garage door, directly at my partner.
Just as I thought, she moved back and started to fall. Being off balance her hands went up in the air, making her face and neck vulnerable.
There was no time for me to get a good grasp of the Vs so I just grab him in mid air thinking oh crap (I was actually thinking of another word )this is gonna hurt. I caught the Vs by the neck but he absolutely shredded me with his large "raptor like" claws. He had wrapped around me like a tree trunk and his claws were ripping into me. My partner had gotten up and was helping me unwrap the Vs and I was bleeding profusely. The cool thing was the vet got this all on film, she was clicking away and got some good shots of the blood dripping off my arm. Also, I have some nice scars from him
The keeper with me that day received a horrible bite that nearly severed he arm, from this same monitor one year later.

So thats my worst I think Plenty of snake bites though from colubrids.

 

[Warren Bautista]

my worst was not too bad. I caught a relatively large king/rat snake about 3 feet long and decided to put it around my neck. I got bit on the neck and she kept chewing for about 5 seconds. the puncture wounds became a bit swollen, but nothing bad. also got bitten by my lizards a few times.

 

[crpy]

aahhh, a neck bite, yowy that sucks, lol

 

[K-TRAIN]

ive had some "battle scars" from herps.

been bitten three times by two turtles, once on my left hand twice on my right.

bit in the face by my bp emily. it was my stupid mistake though.

been bit by golden and leopard geckos for various reasons. (my leos would occasionally mistake my hand for the mealworms i hand fed them.)

and ive been bitten by anoles.

the only animal that hasnt bit me is my uromastyx, and hes gonna get me eventually. ive come close to getting bit several times while cleaning the cage out.

 

[crpy]

Starting to spark my memory lol.

Turtle bite yeah. Platysternon=OUCH!

I was working with another keeper, my SENIOR keeper at the time. I was cleaning exhibits thank god it was just a pissy pine snake. I had the exhibit door open, guests looking in and trying to remove a large angry Pituophis. All of a sudden my back is on fire, bad pain bad pain. My SENIOR keeper took a Asian big head turtle (Platysternon megacephalum ) and bit me straight in the middle of the back with it. I literally had a piercing in my back you could put a ring through. He said he was trying to let the turtle bite my shirt. His funeral was the following friday.

 

[Gsc]

I'm missing a chunck of a tattoo on my right forearm from a 6 1/2' alligator-long story... but trying to jump onto a mid sized gators back in knee deep mud after trying to drag him out the ditch by his tail... isn't that good of an idea (no matter how good is sounds at the time)-lol... luckly none of the venomous bite have left any scars/missing apendages...

Be safe everyone...

Graham

 

[JColt]

Back in 1993 I had a Red Tegu grab my hand. Don't let that happen. He broke 2 bones in my hand and he shook like a pit bull and got very nasty infection and nasty scars and lots of tiny sharp teeth that had to be dug out. In 1974 in Orlando Florida (which was still a hick town) I got bit by a 5 1/2 foot eastern diamond back Rattlesnake in my calf. I was only 14 yrs old and thought for sure I was a goner. Rushed to hospital in a troopers car. Dry bite! Scared bejesus outta me though!

 

[clam1991]

i have a red tegu just about 3 feet he mostly just scratches me everytime i hold him
but i know one day im gunna let my guard down
and hes gunna tag me
but he is a nice lil guy so idk my worst is the scratching
unless my recent encounter with the macaw counts

 

[Tim Benzedrine]

Points at chest

Mary Ellen Moffat. She broke my heart.

Sorry, I couldn't resist.

 

[crpy]

i have a red tegu just about 3 feet he mostly just scratches me everytime i hold him
but i know one day im gunna let my guard down
and hes gunna tag me
but he is a nice lil guy so idk my worst is the scratching
unless my recent encounter with the macaw counts

Thats one of the scariest times in my life=Macaw bite

 

[clam1991]

haha it wasnt scary i just didnt want him to take a part of my temple with him when he let go
i think hes more traumatized but yeah its not any fun i can tell you
but for some reason you just have to smile about it

 

[crpy]

haha it wasnt scary i just didnt want him to take a part of my temple with him when he let go
i think hes more traumatized but yeah its not any fun i can tell you
but for some reason you just have to smile about it

Yeah I smiled, as a quart of blood gushed on the floor lol

 

[crpy]

Points at chest

Mary Ellen Moffat. She broke my heart.

Sorry, I couldn't resist.

She was a reptile, or she could crawl on her belly like one:?

 

[Tim Benzedrine]

Neither. It was a memorable line from the movie "Jaws". Remember when sheriff Brody. Quint, and Hooper were below deck comparing scars? Hooper broke them up when he used that line. Then Quint launched into his chilling monologue about being on the USS Indianapolis when it was torpedoed.

This thread brought that to mind. But I guess the reference was a tad too obscure.

 

[crpy]

Neither. It was a memorable line from the movie "Jaws". Remember when sheriff Brody. Quint, and Hooper were below deck comparing scars? Hooper broke them up when he used that line. Then Quint launched into his chilling monologue about being on the USS Indianapolis when it was torpedoed.

This thread brought that to mind. But I guess the reference was a tad too obscure.

ohh yeah I remember that, heh heh, that was probably the best scene in the whole movie, well...that and sheriff Brody's wife in a one piece.....lol jk

 

[reverendsterlin]

lol, one morning hell broke out under my window, the landlord's chicken was after the landlord's dog due to hatching a clutch of chicks by my shed and the dog coming up. Needless to say me and my LL rounded up chicks and tossed them into a cage. I took off to school, did my 2 classes and went home. My argentine boa male had shed and left a patch on top of his head so I reached in to pull it off. Well figures I had never washed my hands that morning, so I had boa teeth in hand and wrist and wrapped boa on bent arm. A little surgery put tiny wrist bones back in place, removed 6 teeth from the wrist, and tied 2 split tendons back together, lesson learned and very glad it wasn't my 45 lb red-tail involved in that bit of stupidity. *Sigh* at the time it wasn't funny.
Rev

 

[crpy]

Sorry to keep popin up but these are sparking memories so there will be more.


reverendsterlin:

I did the exact same thing with big burm but it was rabbits I had been handling. I looked like an Easter egg half purple, half white. lol, I went outside and layed down on the grass and she let go.

 

[Hamburglar]

I got nailed by about a six foot albino burmese once.. He was a mean, fiesty one. He would rarely let me handle him and when he did he would always hiss loudly... in fact, he would hiss whenever I approached his tank. Anyway, I opened his door once and he just lunged. He caught me on the meaty part of of my palm. The actual bite was strange because I don't remember feeling it ... however, I was wiping the blood off afterword ( a lot of blood) and felt pain shooting through my hand. Turns out the tip of one of his "fangs" broke off in my hand. I had the pleasure of digging it out which was extremely painful.

 

[crpy]

I got nailed by about a six foot albino burmese once.. He was a mean, fiesty one. He would rarely let me handle him and when he did he would always hiss loudly... in fact, he would hiss whenever I approached his tank. Anyway, I opened his door once and he just lunged. He caught me on the meaty part of of my palm. The actual bite was strange because I don't remember feeling it ... however, I was wiping the blood off afterword ( a lot of blood) and felt pain shooting through my hand. Turns out the tip of one of his "fangs" broke off in my hand. I had the pleasure of digging it out which was extremely painful.

Sounds more like an African rock, sheesh, or as we say "A-fricken rock"

 

[Hamburglar]

Yeah, it was strange because he wasn't like that in the beginning... He gradually progressed to the dark side even tho I handled him regularly.

He definately was crazy... back in my youth I would feed him small live rats. He missed a strike on one which caused the rat to sort of jump over him a bit and land between him and the glass. I personally watched him kill it by pressing it up against the glass door on his tank. He never coiled around it.. just pushed. Then he went back to normal and enjoyed his meal. I have never seen another snake do that.. I miss that snake...