Stupid Feeding Errors

Most of my experiences with snakes have been enjoyable, and a few have not. A couple of them are on another page - Fang & Shaya's Stories.

Most centralian pythons are good natured, placid snakes, however, I had the misfortune to have one who wasn't. She was treated exactly the same as all the other reptiles in my collection - they are all easy to handle & gentle.

This particular bredli python was acquired as a hatchling of approximately three months. She was a bit snappy, as all hatchlings are - no problems feeding this one! She calmed down eventually, and although jumpy, was fine for a few months. When she began to grow, there was a change in temperament, and not for the better. She became aggressive, and would strike without warning for no apparent reason - I still don't know why, after discussing this with other more experienced keepers.

For some reason, she took an absolute dislike to my partner, and he only had to be nearby for her to go into an S-bend, often striking out at him. I got between him and her on several occasions, and was bitten.

When getting her out of her cage one day, she struck at my wrist, and constricted it, whilst grinding with her teeth as if it were prey. And yes, it hurt like crazy, not to mention the blood. I was alone, and she was a strong snake, about 5 ft by now - I couldn't get her off, and my hand was going blue.

The only thing I could think of to do was head for the bathroom and turn on the cold water, put snake and hand under the flow, and hope for the best. Not the best way to deal with the situation, but it worked, finally. After about a minute, she released my hand, but was in a very nasty mood. She was dried off a bit and returned to her cage to settle down.

Not the best of experiences I've had with snakes, that's for sure! The last straw with this centralian came a couple of months later. I had her out of the cage, hanging off my shoulder. She was calm and behaving herself - that is, until I walked past my partner, who was sitting on the couch, reading.

Without warning, she struck! She hit him on top of the head, with mouth open as wide as she could get - blood went everywhere, the couch, the wall, his face - a real mess. Fortunately, she couldn't hold, so I put her into her cage immediately (She was fine with me on that occasion) and went to help my partner.

He was in the bathroom, trying to stop the bleeding. We extracted a tooth from his head, and cleaned him up with disinfectant. Not a good experience, and he'd never done a thing to hurt her.

After this, with her growing fast, and knowing how large an adult bredli can be, I decided I couldn't keep her. Not an easy decision, as she was a beautiful snake. Perhaps a more experienced keeper would have been able to deal with her, but I wasn't risking myself and my partner to an unpredictable animal. She was found another home.