ouch!

[drache]

can you believe it?
I got bit by my beardie
he's more freaked out about it than I am though
this is what happened:
Henner has been expanding his food choices (a sign of maturity)
so today I gave him some of the apricot I was eating and he really liked it
I was just pinching it off with my fingers and soon enough I had pulp on all my fingers and . . .
he really thought he had a piece of apricot and bit down hard, which in turn caused me to yank back while screaming, dragging him halfway across the tank
and then
because it really f***ing hurt, I yanked my finger out of his mouth (poor little dude)
I immediately apologized and made sure he was okay
gave him a few more pieces of apricot (put them down in front of him) and he took them
everything seemed fine
then suddenly he looks at my finger and backs away
I hadn't noticed that I was bleeding quite a bit
it seemed to freak him out - the smell probably
interesting

[KITKAT]

VERY interesting! Seems he figured out he hurt you...

[ssssnakeluvr]

My mother was bitten by one of my snakes years ago while hand feeding her fish....the snake wouldn't take food from her hand after that!!!

[drache]

VERY interesting! Seems he figured out he hurt you...
At first I thought that, but I'm pretty sure it was the smell of the blood that bothered him, because he was fine with the other hand, but would back up when I came near him with the bleeding hand
The immediate situation must have been hard on him, because I had absolutely no cool about me at the moment, or else I wouldn't have just yanked my hand back and sort of shaken him off. I'm just so glad I didn't accidentally break his neck.
He did look at me kind of funny afterwards and I do wonder what his view of the situation might be.
While I don't believe that animals think and feel like humans, I do believe they do their version of it.
He's fine today
so am I - just a little bruised and cut

[Morph]

You are probably right about the smell of the blood. It's probably the fear of slightly injuring an animal much larger than himself, especially if you are bleeding adreniline filled blood.

[Snaky]

Interesting thougth. There have been reports of people getting bitten by their garters for minutes and minutes ( >10 min sometimes). They have described their story extensively and described what they patiently tried to do, so the snake would let loose. Their should probably have been no/little adrenaline in their blood if they where so calm... So maybe if you react heavily and adrinaline is pumped in your blood, their reaction would be differently and they would let lose quicker.

PS: I know a garter and a beardie is not the same, but it was just a thinking piste...

[drache]

You are probably right about the smell of the blood. It's probably the fear of slightly injuring an animal much larger than himself, especially if you are bleeding adreniline filled blood.

I hadn't thought of it quite that way, but it makes sense
the backing up he was doing would indicate some fear of that hand

[Morph]

Most things i say are complete rubbish so dont get used to me saying anything slightly intelligent on a regular basis :p

[Stefan-A]

I think you might be making it a bit more complicated than it needs to be. :D I think it's more likely that it just started associating the hand with danger.
Blood = danger
Blood + hand = danger
=> hand = blood = danger
=> hand = danger.

Or maybe I'm just bored out of my mind. :D Anyway, just guessing again.

[Morph]

I think you might be making it a bit more complicated than it needs to be. :D I think it's more likely that it just started associating the hand with danger.
Blood = danger
Blood + hand = danger
=> hand = blood = danger
=> hand = danger.

Or maybe I'm just bored out of my mind. :D Anyway, just guessing again.


the only problem i can see with that theory is that the animal had no problem before with hands. The reason i immediately think addreniline is because its the bodies preparation for defence and attack so if an animal "smells" adreniline then it assumes either attack or defence is likely to occur.

[Stefan-A]

the only problem i can see with that theory is that the animal had no problem before with hands. The reason i immediately think addreniline is because its the bodies preparation for defence and attack so if an animal "smells" adreniline then it assumes either attack or defence is likely to occur.
I was trying to describe the development. :)

This would be the original association:
Blood = danger

This would have been the observation the animal made during the incident:
Blood + hand = danger
Since blood is instinctively associated with danger, the new observation is the hand.

Like ringing a bell made Pavlov's dogs start salivating, the effect would have been much the same here:
hand = blood = danger

And finally the shortened version of the previous step:
hand = danger

[drache]

you guys
this is getting too complicated
I am happy to say that Henner does not associate hands with danger
and to remind you that he was fine with my not bleeding hand even right after the traumatic event, and even with the bleeding one, once the bleeding had stopped
I have to assume that it was the blood he was responding to
whether there was adrenaline involved is again up for speculation
but given that some people faint at the sight of blood, I am willing to conclude that my beardie had a reaction to it
at this point I'm willing to wager that he"s completely forgotten the entire affair and I'll update you on that next time I offer him apricot