My corn bit me!

[Snipes]

I can't believe she actually bit me, she is so nice. Well, its not so bad, I am pretty certain she mistook me for food. To feed her i put her in a rubbermain in her cage so she wont swallow substrate but at the same time being in her cage will lessen stress than putting her someplace else, and also so she can crawl out when she is done and curl up in her coconut shell to digest or whatever. I put her in the container and tweezered the f/t fuzzie and i put it down and she smelled it but was climbing over teh side so i took my left hand and tried to gently get her front couple of inches back inside and all of a sudden she was attached to my left index finger. Very little pain, i was more surprised than anything. She held on for quite a while, twisting herself around my finger, but then she unhooked herself from me and took the mouse a few seconds later and ate it just fine. I took a few pics of my finger for a memento because hopefully she wont get in the habit lol.

It looks a lot worse than it really was. Healed up in a day with no pain or scabs or scars.
So let this be a lesson that even the sweetest snakes can get their teeth into you somehow. Its just, i cant believe my sweetie bit me! I got a name for it though. Crotalus. It rattles its tail and now that it bit me, it has a definite name.

 

[Cirith Ungol]

Corns rattle their tail when they get annoyed, startled or generally stressed. It's somewhat of a warning. So you should see what you do when it rattles its tail and try to avoid it in the future.

Biting - that's what happens if the snake is used to feeding in its tank, they come accustomed to that food enters the tank, which heightens their willingness to bite whatever moves inside of that territory. You should reconsider on not taking the snake out for feeding. Sure it's convenient, but I'd sure want my snake focussed on feeding only in a certain little box.

That is especially important if you have two corns in the same tank. Firstly ofcourse you don't want both to start feeding on the same mouse. Secondly you don't want either of them to think that whatever moves in the tank is food (except for the other snake), since you don't wanna get bit by one snake while you have your eyes on the other.

 

[Snipes]

I just have one. I got it a few weeks ago and it was not used to being held so hopefully the rattleing will begin to subside once she gets used to it. She is big enough to take fuzzies so she isnt a hatchling anymore, and so i suppose it will take a while. She rattles whenever she strikes a mouse, and she rattles whenever i approach her and she rattles when i touch her. Once i get her up she is quite calm. As far as feeding instinct, I pick her up quite a bit and the rubbermaid is quite obviously different than the substrate. I think the feeding instinct was triggered because I allowed her to smell the fuzzie, not to mention the rubbermaid smells like mice. I dont keep two in the same cage

 

[Mushroom Spore]

Is there any chance your finger smelled like the mouse? Cause as far as a snake is concerned, if it's warm and smells like mouse and moves, it's dinner.

The fact that she coiled you and then let go entirely a minute later indicates this--she realized she couldn't eat you!

 

[Snipes]

probably, i did not directly touch the mouse, but it sure did smell! plus my finger is about the size of a fuzzie, and i am a red head so i am so white i blind myself on sunny days. Pretty dang sure she mistook me for prey.

 

[Mister Internet]

I think the feeding instinct was triggered because I allowed her to smell the fuzzie, not to mention the rubbermaid smells like mice. I dont keep two in the same cage

Bingo. Snakes' feeding response is triggered by smell. Period. You should NEVER pick up a snake directly with your hands when there is "prey smell" in the air.

 

[IguanaMama]

Yeah, don't take it personally, it wasn't being mean, just hungry. It smelled the mouse, your finger MOVED. That's its clue. I would start feeding it outside of the enclose. Pretty soon it's going to get too big to do that anyway, it will get awkward. As I mentioned in a previous post, as they get bigger, they start constricting and that requires some space, as they jump around some. They try to catch one, hold it down their body and then look for another. Stress is overrated with snakes, they take a lot more then we give them credit for. I take mine out and then just put them back in when the lump is down where it should be -- I let it settle a minite or two. Never had a problem, they are big and healthy.

 

[Mister Internet]

I've fed my snakes (5' Okee corn and 7' RTB) in their enclosures the entire time I've had them... I've found no good reason to feed outside the enclosure. As long as you ALWAYS remove your snakes from their enclosures with hooks (which everyone should be doing anyway... snakes have bad days too), there is little to worry about. I've never been bitten by any of my adult snakes... there is more than one way to do it.

 

[IguanaMama]

Yes, I know that plenty of people feed in the enclosures, but she has only one, and they put on quite a show when they are out. That's why I suggested it. I know lots of people that keep many, for them it would be rediculous to take each snake out and feed. And, btw, I never used a hook.

 

[Mina]

Snipes, I'm sorry!! *hug* I'm also sure your baby didn't bite you to be mean, snakes don't see all that well, and if you were moving and smelled like food she just thought that is what you were. After all she did let go as soon as she realized you weren't a mouse.
What we do is we move Dax to his feeding enclosure, put the lid on, and then we go and get his rat. This does two things, it gives him a chance to relax a little and realize where he is, and we don't smell like rat when we move him.

 

[Snipes]

Snipes, I'm sorry!! *hug* I'm also sure your baby didn't bite you to be mean, snakes don't see all that well, and if you were moving and smelled like food she just thought that is what you were. After all she did let go as soon as she realized you weren't a mouse.
What we do is we move Dax to his feeding enclosure, put the lid on, and then we go and get his rat. This does two things, it gives him a chance to relax a little and realize where he is, and we don't smell like rat when we move him.

lol! i know my lil one isnt mean. Mistaken identity, no biggie.