Note to snakes: my hand =/= snack food

[photigrapes]

I got bit by a snake today. An amelanistic Eastern Kingsnake, to be exact. It's a little sore, but no more so than when you get a shot or give blood. And it didn't honestly hurt that much. My boss had already told me that if a nonvenemous snake bites you (since they tend to want to hold on), jerking away will just make it hurt more. So, I was just going along, cleaning cages... Opened up this kid's drawer (we keep the "backup" snakes in drawer-like bins in shelving units to save space. And it's easier to clean.) and went to pull him out. He (she? I'm not sure...) was acting a little more active than I honestly expected, but I just went ahead, gently pulling him out of his drawer. I had just repositioned my hand on the body when it bit the first time. It bit where my hand had been, moments before. So the snake chomped on itself for a few seconds before realizing its mistake. This is not the brightest snake ever... (This snake, when we fed them last week, not only missed the mouse I was holding IN FRONT OF ITS FACE with tongs, it clamped onto the metal bar of the shelf and wouldn't let go for a good bit. It seems just a tad dim.) It finally got my hand on its second try. I was like, "Huh, there appears to be a snake attached to my hand." And he didn't want to let go. It took me close to a minute to finally get his teeth out and work his jaw off me. I stuck him in an empty drawer (so I could finish cleaning his), washed my hand with soap and water, got some band-aids put on, and continued with my job.

If I knew how to animate, I could make an icon of my adventure!
ME: Lalala! *cleaning snake cages* *pick up snake*
SNAKE: Food? *aims for warmth*
ME: *shifts hand forward several inches, completely by coincidence*
SNAKE: Nomnumnum! *chomps self* Oh, wait...
ME: Snake, you are one dumb animal. I bet you're going to bite me next, though...
SNAKE: You bet right! *doesn't miss this time* Numnumnum!!
ME: Oh, look, I have a snake attached to my hand. Imagine that. *starts trying to work snake off hand*
SNAKE: Noooo! Numnumz!!
ME: Arrgh. Snake, you are too stubborn. What is wrong with you, foo'? You can't eat me! You can't even fit my hand in your mouth! Your head is only as big as my thumb! *finally manage to get snake off hand* *le sigh* Now I must take care of this wound before I can get back to work. Dumb snake.

But seriously, snake, I'm way too big for you to eat. Dude, my hand is NOT your snack.

Although, according to my boss and the vet tech, Kingsnakes naturally eat a wide variety of foods, so they're supposedly more notorious for trying to nibble on anything and everything (including humans, apparently).

Anyway, now I have some lovely marks on the outside of my left hand.

I feel almost like I've completed some weird herpetological initiation rite... X-D