Bill Haast

[Lasher]

Hey hot keepers! I have a question for you. My wife recently found a copy of Bill Haast's book "Cobras in his garden" on Amazon and was nice enough to purchase it for me. It prompted me to wonder what the status of self-immunization was. Is anyone doing it these days? It seemed to work for Bill and he said in the book that 2 others were trying it at the time and it seemed to be working for them. Has it been scientifically proven to work?
Secondly, I was disappointed a bit in Bill's motivation for working with snakes all these years. If the author of the book is accurate, Bill sees snakes as nothing more than a venom factory. He routinely "tosses them away when they die and gets more". I admire him as a philanthropist, but my motivation for keeping 26 snakes is much different. I find them interesting. I like to get to know their personalities, quirks, even bites. I have never gotten mad when bitten, only mad because I made a mistake. I wouldn't say I "love" my snakes, but I defiantly feel for them if they are sick and enjoy working with them. This would be a bit different if I kept hots, as handling would be minimal. Thoughts?

[cobraman]

Lasher,
Keep in mind when that book was written. I have worked with Bill at the new Serpentarium, and when a snake dies, Yes, it is disposed of. What else can be done with it? Bill has compassion for the animals he works with, but he does not keep up to 1400 venomous snakes as a hobby or as a collector. They are there for the venom. I have never seen him mis-treat any snake, and I know that it bothers him when they die. I doubt that Mr. Haast has the same love for his snakes that you wrote of in your post, but then he has MANY more, and runs that entire opperation with only the help of Nancy, his wife.

I have been self immunizing since 1991, and can attest to the fact that it does work. There are a few pros and cons to the practice, and I generally do not recommend it to the average collector/hobbiest. Far more than two people are self immunizing now. I know of at least three in Florida alone. Bill is now 93 years old, and still in good health. I personally doubt the venom has anything to do with it. I believe that he is in love with his work, as well as with life, and that keeps him going. Bill uses 32 venoms in his shots, but I only use nine different venoms in mine. Hope this answers some of your questions, if not let me know and I will try again.
Blessings
Ray Hunter

[SCReptiles]

What did your wife pay for that book? i have been looking for it for years. cheapest i have seen it was about $250, which of course is more then i would pay. Bill himself only has 2 copies of it.

[jay72]

I paid $130 for my signed copy on Ebay. I was looking for a copy for a long time prior to this. Keep looking on Ebay they come up every so often.

Sloane Russeck

[BWSmith]

Yeah, people keep beating me out on ebay as well. I have been trying for about 5 years now.

[Mugwump]

Hey Cobraman,

I was wondering if you could go into a little more depth regarding the pros and cons of self-immunization. I would imagine the most obvious pros are diminished reaction to envonomations (duh) and a strengthened immune system (I forget what the word is for it, but there's a medical theory that ingesting small quantities of poison actually benefits health.)

The con: anaphylactic shock once the regimen ends? I've heard some speculation about this and it sounds nasty.

[cobraman]

Anaphylactic shock would not come AFTER stopping the injections, rather it could result if you hypersensitize yourself to venoms while injecting yourself. I doubt that ingesting venoms could be of any benefit, because your stomach acids distroy the proteins and enzymes of the venoms right away. I would not suggest that method. To me the worse thing about self immunization is that it tends to make you very complacent.

Feel free to call me if you need more details.
Ray Hunter