I have a reduced pattern granite burm that is really sweet when you get her out but when you stick your hand in there to get her, she will bite you 9 out of 10 times. Any ideas on how to get her to stop this? She was fed in her tank to start off with but she has since been moved to a bigger tank. I put her back into her older tank or she goes into a tote to eat her meals now but I want to break her of biting when I go to get her out.

What is she in? A tank like a fish tank or a enclosure that opens from the front much like a boaphile or animal plastics cage? If it's a fish tank, she thinks you're a predator and it's a defense thing. Get her in a tank more suited for a large animal and train her with a hook.

Her being fed in the tank was fine. I fed my retic in his enclosure. Much safer. Trust me, moving around a 10 to 15ft hungry animal isn't pleasant. Not to mention you would need another tote or something that was large enough for them and their prey. Then if you open the lid, they would strike out at you. Yes I know some may disagree with the feeding in the same tank thing. But for a large snake, it's easier.

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I used the towel trick with such snakes. Toss a lightweight kitchen towel over the snake's head when you open the tank. Then reach in to get her. If she can't see your hand coming in and can't smell it or sense it's warmth, she'll be less likely to bite. When she realizes she's just being taken out, she'll probably be O.K.
I also agree with Nate: start training her with hooks. It'll be helpful as she gets older and bigger.

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Andrea

I would tend to agree with Moogle on this. Get the snake hook trained. Stop reaching in with your hands and grab him with a hook. As for feeding in the tank, I'm for it as well, but with some stipulations. We take the snake out of the tank and into another room (out of line of site of the tank), then the other person places the rat in the tank and leaves, then the first person comes back and places the snake in the tank on the opposite end of the rat. This way, they never associate you with food. Food just appears in their tank. And they never experience a human smelling like rat. I think this method is safer for the snake and the human. It's safer for the human, because you loose that human=food association. And it's safer for the snake because it is said that you aren't supposed to handle a snake for a few days after eating in order to prevent regurge, so this eliminates that problem.

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~Christi
1.0 Red Ear Slider: Mikey
1.0 Het for Albino Red Tail Boa Constrictor: Kaa
0.0.1 Northern Blue Tongue Skink: Petri
1.0 American Staffordshire Terrier/Lab: Brutus
1.0 German Shepherd: Pax
1.0 Husband: Will
“Life is as dear to the mute creature as it is to a man. Just as one wants happiness and fears pain, just as one wants to live and not to die, so do other creatures.”——His Holiness The Dalai Lama

I just opened the door and flung the rats in for my retic. He heard the thud and woke up lol.

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I have currently begun making an enclosure made of wood for my savu. He seems to strike just because he is in a tank and I am above him. I never draw back and I always make it a point to handle him if he does strike. I thought he was just a very sneaky prankster (striking at me while my back was turned) until one day he crawled out of my hands into a nearby empty tank just to assume the striking position. That is when I decided that he should be brought into a different atmosphere to try and diminish some of this ?instinct? So maybe the front access wooden enclosure will do better than the top access glass enclosure.
P.S. I often walk in to hear him thumping the side of the tank (his reflection). He really hates that other savu (JJ) and has not given up the fight, yet!!! One more reason for the wood vs. glass.
Oooh P.S.S. I agree with the hook trick but will try anything to keep a snake hands on if possible. I tap the sides of my glass to signal my coming therefore they are not startled at my reaching in. It works well with all my others and used to work well for my savu until I brought up his ambient temp to 84 during the day and 80 at night (probably directly related to the strike but definitely not the reason it has continued). There are probably loads of reasons, Krystal...But we can only handle one at a time to ensure correct measures.