Henry (green anaconda) bit me again today

[darxus]

I would say the general wisdom on this subject is that by this age he should only be biting me when I commit Stupid Feeding Errors. He's a year and eight months old.

I let him wander around my bedroom for a couple hours.

When I reached to pick him up, he bit me. Then I picked him up, and he bit me. I'm counting a total of four bite marks. He had plenty of time to see me coming, and I moved slowly and deliberately, just like you should.

They were very deliberate bites, like he knew exactly what was going on, and was doing it specifically to get me to leave him where he was. I was far from significantly injured. My only concern is that he cuts this out before he gets big.

j_soo, whose knowledge of snakes I trust the most, said:

You almost certainly woke him up, and he reverted to his biological programming for defense.
I have no evidence, but in many years of playing with many snakes, I'm pretty sure it takes them significant time from waking up to being 'normal'.
Almost like it takes an amount of time of basking before a snake acts normal, I think it also takes time after waking before the brain is entirely functional.
Again, I have no evidence to support it, but I've observed it invariably in every herp I've dealt with.

Last time he bit me was March 18th, under similar circumstances.

Comments

[pyrolysis.livejournal.com]

i'm having the same problem with a kitten who thinks really hard bites are okay. The thought of a big mean snake is scarier then a huge mean cat though.

[darxus.livejournal.com]

But cats have so much more brain to work with than snakes :)

I've found reacting, audibly and physically, as if you're hurt, usually works well with cats.

[pyrolysis.livejournal.com]

Haven't tried that yet, will next time it happens. :)

[pyrolysis.livejournal.com]

it's been two days since I started yelping/acting hurt when she gave me a hard bites(and sometimes biting her back)- and since the first few times, she still plays with me but without biting too hard or biting my face at all! Sometimes she gets close and I let her know it's starting to hurt. I can probably stop calling her kitty kitty bite her face now.

[darxus.livejournal.com]

Awesome.

An ex-girlfriend had an old cat that kneaded vigorously with too much claws. It was affection or something, but painful. She complained about it. I was quickly able to express my discomfort to the cat and it was never a problem for me.

Communication is fun.

[minerva42]

Bite the kitten right back! Or not, maybe fur isn't for you. I do think that the kittens I raised benefited somewhat from having other kittens around that bit and scratched - I suspect it led to some self-calibration so they didn't actually injure each-other.

[pyrolysis.livejournal.com]

I tried that! (and also mewed like I was hurt + withdrew my limbs from near her) and it seems to be working so far!