Your Worst Mistake

[spix14]

So, I was thinking. As has been mentioned a time or two, on occasion a new person will come around and end up getting jumped on because of some issue or another. I know we all have our "hot button" issues, myself included. And at times it is hard to rein in your impatience and give calm, reasonable replies.

But do you remember way back in the day (way waaay back for some of you, lol) when you didn't know all the ins and outs of keeping reptiles?

Did you ever make any stupid newbie mistakes?

My very first BP, Kain, must have been the toughest snake on the planet for all the screw ups I put the poor guy through. So I thought this thread could be a nice lesson in humility and maybe remind us to be a bit more patient with the new guys that don't quite know all the ropes yet.

Anyone wanna share?

[Xeikeness]

I one time got a snake before I got a set-up with a top. I knew the tank didn't have a top. I got the snake anyway. I cut down a piece of wood to use as a lid. She pushed out of it. When I found her weeks later, I put her back in, and used bricks to weight the top down. I fed her.

A week later, I wake up in the middle of the night as I got showered in bricks.

>.< D'oh.

So, I put her back, and duct taped the lid on, and weighted it with bricks.

The next morning, I woke to find a snake stuck to the duct tape after she'd pushed the lid a few inches to the side.

Double D'oh.

[angrybananapeel]

My pueblan milksnake "escaped" twice. Yeah yeah, they are escape artists, but it ain't art when you simply don't put the top on. We didn't find him the second time. I still do retarded stuff though.

[Stargazer]

Great thread. Yes, I do remember. My very worst mistake by far was trying to feed one snake while the other one was in the same enclosure. At the time, my boas were sharing a tank, and Veronica was deep in shed on one end of the tank. I didn't want to disturb her as she was just about to shed. The other one had been refusing meals. I didn't want to take him out cause it made him nervous. I thought I could just feed him without Veronica knowing. BIG MISTAKE!!!! Veronica smelled the mouse and came flying across the cage at the speed of sound. Her shed was halfway around her midsection. If I hadn't been so freaked out, I would have laughed hysterically because it was a pretty funny sight! I had to think fast! I grabbed Jesse with his mouse in his mouth and pulled him out of the cage quickly. When I got him out, he dropped the mouse and decided to bite my hand instead. (Not a proud moment in a snake keeper's career). I ended up splitting the 4 mice between the two snakes. The crowning glory was that Veronica was too full to finish shedding after that, so I had to peel it off of her.

Update: Now I keep my snake in separate tanks and both eat rats.

[Spartan 117]

wow star, thats got to take the cake.

My biggest mistake is just reaching in the tank, thinking the boa had yet to sense the rat i had just brought in the room. i got bit. it hurt. the end.

[Stargazer]

Originally Posted by Spartan 117

My biggest mistake is just reaching in the tank, thinking the boa had yet to sense the rat i had just brought in the room. i got bit. it hurt. the end.

Been there. Done that. *sigh*

[spix14]

Originally Posted by Spartan 117

wow star, thats got to take the cake.
My biggest mistake is just reaching in the tank, thinking the boa had yet to sense the rat i had just brought in the room. i got bit. it hurt. the end.

That was one of the mistakes I made with Kain. I had just fed him and I reached back in the tank to move something, and he tagged me. I jumped about a mile and then stared at him like he'd turned into an alien. I could not believe -my baby- bit me. I think I actually cried, not because it hurt, but because he hurt my feelings. LOL.