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I need some much needed advice. I was feeding my 1 1/2 year old corn last week and i noticed that he wasnt getting full off just one small mouse (about 45g) so i decided to give him two to see how he would react. I put him in his feeding tank and when i put the lid on, the tongs fell on him. So i noticed he was agrivated from that but I also needed the tongs to feed him and he was laying right on them. So i knew this wasnt a good idea but i stuck my hand in to get the tongs and what do you know he bit me.(Not Surprised) This happened about two weeks ago however now im paraniod whenever I pick him up out of his tank. I knew one day it may happen but now ive lost trust in him even though I KNOW WHY HE BIT ME, and he may have lost trust for me too. How can i fix this!? I Love my little guy. Thanks in Advance
Getting bitten is always a shocking experience, not because it hurts but because how FAST your beloved pet gets you! Wear gloves when handling for a while until you start to feel comfortable with him again.
I actually feed most of my snakes by hand, and fortunately none have missed to date. Abrina got me once because she smelled the mice on and seems to think that all appearances of humans auger the appearance of food anyway. I've also been bit by a number of my younger corns.
The key to remember is that these are actually wild animals. The feeling of lack of trust is because you probably began to put the snake's behaviour on par with what you'd expect of a dog or cat. I go into every handling of my snakes wondering if I'm going to get bit... and subsequently going "oh well!" The bites only sting a little anyways. Next time, you should use the best form of bite first-aid, a liberal amount of alcohol, such as whiskey, to be taken orally until symptoms are resolved.
I'd agree with Lexie - use gloves for a while. Very simple way to give both you and the snake confidence again. You'll be fine without them after a few weeks (probably less).
I know exactly how you feel! Don't worry, you will get over it! It just takes time.
I have a tri-colored hognose snake, Zee. The first time I saw the pictures of the guy who let a Western hoggy bite and chew on him made a big impression on me! Yes, you are not going to die from a hoggy bite, but the swelling, if you let them envenomate you, is quite impressive. Right around then Zee started hunger biting me. I'd be holding him, and he'd just take a bite. It really freaked me out, in totally irrational proportions! Did you ever see that YouTube video, The Crocodile Hunter Meets His Match?
Okay- that's how I felt! I renamed Zee "Pineapple!" It was funny, but it wasn't funny. I would _shake_ when I handled him! I started washing my hands with different things to discourage munching. Finally I decided to feed him more, more often, and he stopped. I had to handle him, to feed him, and I made an effort to handle him at other times to get me used to him again. He totally stopped biting. But he has a pointy little nose and every so often, if I'm not watching him, he'll poke me with it and still scare me!
So, your snake didn't bite you because he hates you, or he's mean, or he's afraid of you. He was in his feeding bin, he was in feeding mode, and you startled him by dropping the tongs on him. Pretty much even the calmest snake could bite in those circumstances! So you want to avoid that situation from now on.
It just takes time, and positive reinforcement. You can desensitize yourself by successful repeated handling of him in which he doesn't bite you. But you have to just start! Most snakes, if they are going to bite at all, bite when you first approach them in their viv. If you can either pick him up when he is unprepared, sleeping in his hide, or if you can pick him out with a small snake hook, or if you put on thin gloves, like rubber dishwashing gloves, then you take control of the time he is _most_ likely to bite. (I don't think he's any more likely to bite you than before the incident, though). Then once he's out, you can handle him for say 15 minutes or so. Try to do something else, like watch TV, so you aren't super-concentrated on what he's going to do next, and you feel relaxed to him.
So- you have to get back on the horse that threw you. I _know_ how you feel. It doesn't make it any less scary to know it's not really rational. After all, he bit you, and it probably didn't hurt much at all. Still- it's startling and not pleasant! Even a little hatchling can make me jump when I get a strike out of nowhere! But trust me, if you just handle him a few times, your trust in him will return. You just have to start.
I have one thing to add. One adult mouse is _plenty_ for nearly any adult cornsnake, much less a two year old. After snakes eat, they remain in an active hunting mode for minutes to several hours, just in case they find something else to eat before they disappear to digest. This doesn't mean that your snake is hungry or needs a bigger meal. He's just doing what he's programmed to do. At that age, I'd be feeding him once a week, until he was about 400 grams, maybe two or three years old, then probably cut him back to every ten days. A fat snake is a hard condition to reverse; it's best to try to prevent that in the first place! And they can be very good at convincing you they are starving, even two days after feeding. It's healthy for the snake to be hungry for a few days and be out prowling his viv before feeding day. The only time I feed multiple adult mice is to feed snakes over say 800 grams or so.
