I know exactly what you are talking about with the black racers. When I bought my store it came complete with a particularly feisty one. I wasn't as brave back then so I put on large leather welding glove that went about half way up my arm and reached in to grab the snake. I picked him up with about 3 inches of his neck and head protruding out from my closed fist. He proceeded to corkscrew his body around about a half a dozen times and with each revolution his head (the part with the teeth) extended further and further out of my fist. They say snakes can't see very well but this guy knew exactly where the glove ended. After twisting 5 or 6 times he started to bite and within the space of about a 1/2 a second (it seemed even faster) he bit me three times no more than an inch above the glove. 1 less revolution and he would have hit the glove. It all happened so fast (the whole thing probably lasted less than 5 or 6 seconds) and I am sure it was funny as heck to anyone watching but I dropped him back in the cage and went about looking for another way to move him.

I am hoping that my garters do settle down a bit as they get older. I have caught wild ones that were not as bad as my babies now so there is hope.