Make sure you know exactly what your getting into when you decide to get a burm. These are poor quality pictures (but you still get a good idea of what its like) that I just took after my 8 foot albino burm thought I was lunch. Now know, that this is a snake that has slept beside me many times, one that I take to volenteer with that I trust who will be able to tolerate many little children petting him at a time. This was a feeding accident, completly my fault. He was coiled up on my floor, I went over and grabbed him by his tail to pick him up. It is close to his feeding time, so he is hungry. When I touched him he went into that feeding mode, and grabbed onto my wrist. He tried constricting but I was able to grab his body and keep him from wrapping around my wrist. He held onto me for a few seconds and then let go. I quickly left him where he was, got a couple of pics, then washed it out with soap very well. I managed to stop the bleeding, but theres a very good chance he punctured a few veins. If it gets any worse I'm going to have to go to the hospital to get it looked at. The last picture is hard to tell, but you can see the swelling already. The burm you have may be very tame, but remember it is still a wild animal, and when it comes to food and survival, nothing else matters to it. You must never get relaxed when working with them, even just a tiny bit like I did, and if something like this ever happens, you must know what to do beforehand. Your going to want to invest in a very good snake hook for it. If I was using a snakehook to pick him up, this would of never happened. Learn from my mistake, and take heed my words of wisdom, its a lesson you dont want to learn yourself.




All I will need is to have it wrapped up for a few days. Theres about 30 seperate puncture marks and a lot of bruising. It probably wont scar, but I'll always be able to feel it like I can with my other old bites.

Nasty bite you had there! You obviously reacted to the bite, with the swelling you are getting. Joe has been bitten by both of our largest snakes - Charley a 7.5' boa and Monty a 8.5' carpet python.. both were feeding bites, and equally as painful looking! Just goes to show.. always wash your hands after touching food items, and always be careful with any snake.

That's not to say they are nasty animals,. as you said, they still have their natural instincts no matter how tame they are.

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Thanks so much for sharing this with us.

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Looks rather painful... kinda glad Corns dont get so big...

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0.2.0 Ball Python (Jaxxie and Kyree)
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It hurts more afterwards then when the snake is chewing on you, especially if you react to it. Am I right that its an allergy? My boa bit me a while ago on my thumb, it swelled for days and felt like like I ran it over with a car, even though just a few teeth punctured the skin. My thumb is still misshapen, and I think theres still a tooth in there, I can feel it. My wrist feels like its broken, not as swollen but I cant do much with it. I dont want to scare any potential owners away from this snake, because they are great snakes, they just need the respect of a wild animal.

YIKES!! Sorry you got bit!

It's an unfortunate incident, but one we can all learn from. Are you sure you don't have any teeth lodged in there?

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My burms about 6 ft. now. I don't get paid till Saturday and it's been almost two weeks since Dubious's last meal. I hope she doesn't try to eat me. Every time I open her enclosure, She shoots straight out and smells my face and hair. This is good because I never have to struggle to get her to come out and I know she is not fearful of me. I'm not usually fearful of her either, but if I get bit while taking her out, I'm afraid she'll get me right in the face. Do burms just bite out of the blue, or do they act strange first giving you some sort of warning? Also, do you feed your burm inside it's enclosure, or do you have a separate area for feeding? I never feed Dubious inside of her enclosure because I don't ever want her to expect food when I open the door.

Just curious,
Thanks

Any type of snake can bite at any given time, with or without warning. Most snakes choose not to bite us because we are not a prey animal to them. However accidents can happen.

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They often only give you a warning if they're going to stike in fear. All I did was I touched him. He was curled up on my floor, and the second I touched him he was on me. You have to be very careful awound the, especially when they're hungry, and be sure you know exactly what to do if something like that happens to you. A 6 foot snake can do damage, mine is only 8 feet. When burms get bigger its a good idea to feed them in the enclosure because of their feeding reponse. Even after a bug bunny meal my burm is still ready to eat something else, and wouldnt hesitate to try someone who smells like the bunny, and also, it can be very hard finding a container big enough to put one it to feed. Its a very good idea to get a snakehook to use to take it out if its enclosure. If it goes into the feeding mode right away it wont get you if it tries to bite.