Despite their normally pleasant disposition ball pythons can and do bite. They don’t bit too often but if you work with them long enough you will get bit. It doesn’t hurt too much, though. It’s the quickness of it that startles you more than anything.
I’ll wager that 95% or more of bites are on the hands and arm. People don’t often get bit in other places but I’m sure there are no places on the human body that have not been bit. In fact, less than a week ago I know of a guy getting in a spot that would make this post no longer PG-rated.
One of two places I have always wanted to make sure I NEVER get bit is in the face; more specifically, the eye.
Having said that let me introduce you to Mike Hauck:
Mike and I met at the Hamburg snake show on Saturday. He works for a fellow breeder and on Friday, the day before Mike and I met, he got bit by a ball python. To be more specific, he got bit in the face. To be even more specific, he got bit in the eye. The suck factor on that is pretty darn high.
You know how sometimes things that aren’t funny make you laugh really hard? This is one of em’. Mike spent most of the day getting joked by everybody at the show who heard what happened to him. “Careful Mike, that’s the business end of that thing!” He was a trooper about it and was cool enough to know that he should be laughing at himself, too. I suggested a visit to the opthamologist but so far he seems cool with the idea wearing an eye patch if there is broken tooth or two left to fester in his eye. I’ll go out on a limb and guess that if a tooth had stayed behind he’d be in a heck of a lot more pain. A fleck of lint under my contact lens is painful so I’ll bet a python tooth buried 1/16″ into the sclera wouldn’t be painless.
The picture I took of Mike was with my iPhone and it kinda sucks so you can’t really tell where the bite is. What the camera also fails to show is the overall redness of his face and eye. He looked like he went out with some friends, got drunk and then got beat up. The sclera (the white part of his eye) was filled with blood and the teeth of the snake even managed to sink into the lacrimal caruncle (the little ball in the inner-corner of your eye). Ouch! He said it didn’t hurt any more than a regular bite and, not wanting to ever prove him wrong, will take his word for it. Here is an enhanced version of the photo that shows just where Mike took his shot.
I’m sure there are a lot of people who have been bit in the face by snakes but as far as I know, Mike is the inagural member of the “took one in the eye” club.
Congratulations Mike Hauck on your achievement. I’m sure other are lining up to join you in your achievement.
Cheers,
Colin Weaver
hey mike dont feel bad just earlier tonite i had my ball python out as we usually do regularly,i was holding him rapped around my hand and his head wandering,he started to climb near my chest and up my face over my glasses when i felt a needle type poke on my eyebrow i reached up to see what it was,it was my snake thinking my brow was a delicious catapiler(i know they dont eat those) but for laughs sake his mouth was wide open as if he was eating a mouse when i tried to get him loose he opened up more and bit the top of my eyelid i had to put my finger in his mouth to seperate it without pulling and risking tearing his teeth out put he had a grip on my lid finaly i held his head and pushed it foward while pulling my lid over his teeth so not to hurt him. ive been bit a few times before by him but never in the face oh well leson learned,but yeah it doesnt hurt much,my cat scratches harder than that and my eye isnt as bad as yours. well hope you feel better.
HI….I HAD A FREAKY EXPERIENCE BACK IN YEAR 2000. I WAS DATING A GUY WHO HAD SEVERAL SNAKES. I WAS SCARED AT FIRST-BUT AFTER HANDLING HIS CORN SNAKE AND BALL PYTHON-I GRADUALLY FELT MORE AND MORE COMFORTABLE. 1 DAY WHILE I WAS LAYING IN BED (I HAPPED TO BE NAKED), AND I WAS CUDDLING W/ THE BALL PYTHON. I GUESS I REALLY GOT TOO CLOSE…..I KISSED ITS FACE-I PAT HIM ON THE HEAD GENTLY-AND LET IT SLITHER ALL OVER ME. THEN AT 1 PINT, I NOTICED 2 DOTS ON MY CHEST-I WAS BLEEDING. I STARTED TO CRY-AND TOLD MY (THEN) BOYFRIEND THAT I THOUGHT I WAS BIT-AND I DIDN’T LIKE HOW HE REACTED. HE GRABBED HIS BALL PYTHON AND THREW HIM AGAINST THE WALL-I FELT SO BAD-B/C THE POOR SNAKE DIDN’T DESERVE THAT! WELL MY EX-BOYFRIEND HAS ISSUES-THAT’S WHY HE’S MY EX. HE THEN GOT RID OF HIS BALL PYTHON! HE OBVIOSELY DIDN’T DO RESEARCH ON HIS SNAKES. ANYWAY WHAT FREAKED ME OUT IS THAT IT HAPPENED SO FAST-THAT I DIDN’T SEE THE BALL PYTHON BITE ME. I MUST’VE HAD MY EYES CLOSED WHEN HE BIT ME. I JUST EVENTUALLY SAW THE 2 RED BLEEDING DOTS ON MY NAKED CHEST. SORRY FOR THE DETAILS-I JUST WANTED TO EXPLAIN EXACTLY WHAT HAD HAPPENED. I THOUGHT I HAD BONDED WITH THIS SNAKE-THAT’S WHY I WAS LAYING IN BED W/ IT. 1 TIME-I EVEN WENT WITH MY EX AND THE BALL PYTHON (WRAPPED AROUND MY NECK/SHOULDERS)- TO THE VIDEO STORE!!! PEOPLE WERE FREAKED OUT. ANYWAY I THIINK IT BIT ME ON THE CHEST-CUZ I WAS WEARING GUCCI RUSH PERFUME. MAYBE THE SCENT WAS TOO INTENSE FOR HIS SENSES! THIS HAPPENED SUCH A LONG TIME AGO-BUT I WANTED TO SHARE MY STRANGE STORY.
Ummmm …Ok. The whole snake crawling over naked body thing… yeah, that’s odd. But you go on if that works for you. As for you ex-boyfriend throwing a snake into a wall: That tops my list of uncool things to do. I’ll avoid writing the profanity-laced tirade I am thinking. He really proved how big a man he is by throwing a defenseless animal into a wall. I can only hope that somebody one day throws him into a wall so he can know the joy of it. Karma.