Extreme Reaction to Hognose Bite

[jossh27]

Just picked one of these guys up. Lol. Fortunately not everyone reacts to a bite like that- i hope I'm one of the fortunate ones

Edit) if bitten how do you get a rear fsnged snake off you without hurting it?

[SerpentineDream]

Originally Posted by jossh27

Just picked one of these guys up. Lol. Fortunately not everyone reacts to a bite like that- i hope I'm one of the fortunate ones

Edit) if bitten how do you get a rear fsnged snake off you without hurting it?

Gently but firmly push upward on their rostrum (little hog snoot, the prominent scaly protrusion that they burrow with and that gives them their distinctive look). Don't wait. Don't snap a photo of them hanging off your hand. The longer you let them chew on the more venom they can work in.

Hoggies don't bite often, and when they do it's almost always a feeding response. So if you watch your hands at mealtime and don't handle them when your hands smell like food (ANY food, and they *really* dig tuna fish for example. There was someone on this board that got bitten because she had lingering tuna scent on her hands from the day before even after several hand washings) you should be OK.

I do hook Diego to take him out of his cage so I don't accidentally catch him by surprise while he's sleeping or otherwise disinclined to be picked up. I do not wear gloves to hold him, but now I'm wondering if I ought to. It would suck the hard way to find out that I'm sensitive to hognose venom.

[Andy_G]

Originally Posted by SerpentineDream

Gently but firmly push upward on their rostrum (little hog snoot, the prominent scaly protrusion that they burrow with and that gives them their distinctive look). Don't wait. Don't snap a photo of them hanging off your hand. The longer you let them chew on the more venom they can work in.

Hoggies don't bite often, and when they do it's almost always a feeding response. So if you watch your hands at mealtime and don't handle them when your hands smell like food (ANY food, and they *really* dig tuna fish for example. There was someone on this board that got bitten because she had lingering tuna scent on her hands from the day before even after several hand washings) you should be OK.

All of this is correct! The only thing to add is to be careful not to let the snake latch onto the fingers that are pushing on the nose!. They can be very prone to this as a natural response. While digging with their noses, if they feel food against their snout( a toad, for example) they will latch on and begin chewing out of instinct. To add to this a little bit just for fun, sometimes "trouble" feeders or those on a seasonal fast will latch onto a food item that is pushed against this part of their body, especially if you withhold water for a couple of days and the prey item is wet. One of the tricks of the trade that is often overlooked, you could say.