Even non venomous snakes can be quite dangerous. I wouldn't like to be throttled to death.
They are VERY strong animals and you have to remember that as well as them being a creature that sees things different to us.
Just like Cats and Dogs, you can also find different tempriments in snakes with some taking so much to stir up while others are just a fireball of agro. It is hard to see what is going on behind their eyes, but a lot of the time you have an idea of their mood by their body language, although the female that I lost a few months ago had a hair trigger and her agro switch would go off quite unexpectantly.
I've seen Zen in good moods and bad moods (he's hit me a few times over the years) and have been surprised by how much he can put up with at times when young children are playing with him.... dragging him around and poking at him and I even found him one day just after some children had tied him in a knot.
Many years ago he was handled by more than 90, 7 years old children within an hour and he did not even look like snapping at any of them.
