What is a great beginer hot snake

[seanrforrest]

I would appreciate any recomendations on which species I should start with. I dont want somthing that is going to get to big or is to aggressive. What do you recomend i start with. Also I dont want it to be to expensive and pretty easy to care for. Now that I am asking for the world lets see if there are any hot snakes out there that would fit my needs. Thanx guys in advanced.

[peterm15]

It really all depends on the backround with snakes you have. whats yuor experence with snakes.. maybe a pygme rattler.

[boidboi]

I would have to say false water cobra mildly venomous and quite tame.

[peterm15]

a fwc isnt really venomous.. its a rear fang snake..im pretty sure of that... there not classified as a hot. if you looking for something like that you could go hognose

[boidboi]

ya well thats what im saying its a rear fang so even to put some venom in your system it would have to chew

[Reticsrule]

from the way you spoke in your initial post, it doesnt sound to me like you are ready for a venomous snake. go to www.venomousreptiles.org and look at some of the bite pics, read a few of the articles, and ask a question like this on their forum. you will get much better answers than you will here.

there is no "great" beginner hot because they ALL have the ability to kill you. now if you decide that you still want a hot after going to the site i mentioned, then a few examples of possible starters are a copperhead or a pigmy rattler. i agree with boidboi. an even better choice for a first hot is a rear fanged species such as a false water cobra or a mangrove. both of these snakes have very potent venom, but they do not have a very good delivery system. none the less, a bite from either should be considered medically significant.

also, have you checked your state and local laws pertaining to hot herps? many states have outlawed the private keeping of venomous snakes and even if the state allows it, your county may not. there are tons of other things to check into before getting a hot and it is something that should not be taken lightly.

[peterm15]

from the way you spoke in your initial post, it doesnt sound to me like you are ready for a venomous snake. go to www.venomousreptiles.org and look at some of the bite pics, read a few of the articles, and ask a question like this on their forum. you will get much better answers than you will here.

there is no "great" beginner hot because they ALL have the ability to kill you. now if you decide that you still want a hot after going to the site i mentioned, then a few examples of possible starters are a copperhead or a pigmy rattler. i agree with boidboi. an even better choice for a first hot is a rear fanged species such as a false water cobra or a mangrove. both of these snakes have very potent venom, but they do not have a very good delivery system. none the less, a bite from either should be considered medically significant.

also, have you checked your state and local laws pertaining to hot herps? many states have outlawed the private keeping of venomous snakes and even if the state allows it, your county may not. there are tons of other things to check into before getting a hot and it is something that should not be taken lightly.

great post..

now even if your state doesnt allow hots thing like fwc and hognose snakes are still availible and not illigeal. in most cases at least... because there a rear fang snake there are not considered a hot. eg. in most of canada hots are not alowd. but rear fangs are. there not classified under the hot species.

[prosimians]

Copperheads make for a good begginer hot specimens, it was my first, but i must implore that you seriously consider any and all possibiliteis with getting one of these snakes, and if you want maybe a lead in to venomous snakes, agressive tiger ratsnakes are pretty good for handling and if you get bit your hand isn't going to have any hemo or neuro toxins running through your body. Best of luck on your choice.
Regards

[redtails]

I had sidewinders as a first hot for me. Cute little sand worms they are, and mine came free from a friend. They are pretty venomous, but non-aggressive and usually stay under 2' long, so unlikely that you could die or get too seriously injured. Don't get babies though, they often have great problems feeding. A buddy of mine just lost 11 babies this year due to them not wanting to eat at all & mine eventually died of the same thing, but ate a couple times for me. Check out venomousreptiles.org like dude said, they have a great site there. There's even pics of my cage on there in the pictures section(can't remember exactly where though).

[jparker1167]

where are you from and how old are you, false water cobras are venomous and can be aggessive plus he said he didnt want something big and fwcs can get 8 feet. copperheads are pretty aggressive and my adults dont hook well. if you want a venomous snake you should be ready for it to be aggressive at some point it may try bitting you a few times.

[Boots]

While it is a really old post and they were pulling his leg, or at least I hope they were pulling his leg. I would have suggested a garter snake as a great beginner snake. They are active, do not require huge amounts of room and do not grow very large. Best of all there are many color variations, and they make a great pet, except for the whole musk thing till they get used to you...but that is another story. :)

Jason

[jparker1167]

well he wants to know what a good beginner hot (venomous) snake so copperheads and some rattlers would be a good pick for him depending on his snake keeping expirence

[Boots]

Sorry, I missed that part of the question.

Jason

[crotalusco]

Well more important than which snake is your knowledge and experiance. Once you have verified that it is legal for you to keep HOTS in your town/state etc etc. You then should learn what you can online and try to find a mentor. Someone currently keeping snakes in which you can go to their facility and work with theirs under their supervision. Once you have done some time with a mentor you will have a better understanding of the species you like and you and him can discuss where your limitations are.

[RIBBIT]

no such thing as a good beginner hot but something with little venom is good

[DOMI]

the thing I find funny about all this it let's say you own a cobra and get stupid then taged by it you have time go get to the hospital and get anti venom but if you get stupid with a burm or any other large constrictor you got less than 5 mins.
moral is what ever snake you have respect it and DONT MAKE STUPID FEEDING ERRORS

[reptiven]

well in my opinion i've been working with venomous snakes since 10 years and i must say that i still think that there's no such thing like the one less dangerous all venomous snakes are dangerous and they are unpredictable animals for example i had this Crotalus durissus cumanensis that was so calm and tame then one day doing the same procedure as always i almost got bitten by this one that suddendly was very angry this things happens to me and other people that passed trough accidents my advice is if you are enough expert dealing with snakes with venomous you have to be triple expert one mystake and you could be in trouble don't take unnecesary risk unless you what to work with this snakes

[Herpkid101x]

you could get a garter like boots said or a milk snake,rat snake, or ball python

[TailsW/Scales]

Figured I'd chime in a little.

I know a lot of venomous keepers (myself included lol) at not one of them started keeping hots with less then 10+ years of snake (especially large python) keeping experience. That's with starting small and working your way up the venomous food chain so to speak.
They started with Mangroves, and Hognose. Then moved up to little Copperheads. If you are really serious about owning a hot then start out with a rear fanged. I would suggest a Hog (like others have suggested) or maybe start fresh with another False Water Cobra. But a pissy one.
A great way to test if you're ready to handle a venomous snake is to work with a really fiesty, roudy, pissy, spastic, and mean Retic or Burm. Use hooks!!! If you can handle the snake to where you do not get hurt or bit and ZERO "close calls" then you may be ready to handle something like a little Copperhead. If you cannot control the snake safely, you get bit, or have any "close calls" then hang up your hooks and your not ready!!! I'm not talking use a little 5' Retic /Burm either. 7' + . If you know an importer or someone that has a snake like this great. Another great snake to use for this is a large Scrub python.

So ............. have at the very least 10 years + snake experience. Especially with really hissed off large pythons. Start small. Even a, what is considered mildly venomous Copperhead is very fast striking, wirey, and agile. If you get bit plan on being in the hosital. You're going to be in extreme pain!!!! No amount of morpheine will help.
Another thing ..................... and this may sound bad of me to say but I am going to. If you are under 20 years old. Maybe even 25 DO NOT get a venomous snake. No offense meant but at that young age (mostly for males) your mindset is different. Not as mature. Owning /keeping venomous snakes is more then just time, money, blah blah blah. Your mindset is very important. Especially when handling a venomous snake that could potentially kill you.

Just my two cents.

P.S. This is all in my (and a few others) personal experiences. It's not said /meant to offend anyone. I'm just tellin it like it is.

[snakelady13]

I'm all for the mentor idea! I don't care how much you have been around snakes, hot is a totally different world. You should definitely work with someone who has experience w/ hot before you dive in head first. Good Luck

[gaboon69]

Whitelip tree vipers Id say.

[jparker1167]

i would stay away from arboreal hots for first ones

[hecate]

I'd have to recommend working alongside an experienced keeper with an established collection before taking on anything venomous yourself. Not sure what this community's opinion is of zoos (new member) but working at a good one can be a great chance to learn.

That said, I got a lot of learning opportunities in how not to do things at good zoos . . .

It helps to have a rock-solid base in nonvenomous snake care to provide sanity checking.

[jparker1167]

i agree with working with an experienced keeper too hecate but i dont think he will be able to go to the zoo and work with venomous animals, if he got a part time job at the zoo it most likely wouldnt be working with animals.. look up some reptile shows in your area and go and talk to some vendors and ask about working with hots and see if someone will help ya out

[hecate]

That's where you have to have an in with the zoo folks (reptile curators, head keepers) ahead of time by membership in a herp society, etc. The main benefit is not necessarily that they will let you handle hots yourself, or even the more challenging nonvenomous species. It's seeing what techniques work and don't work around dangerous species of varying temperaments. What specialized equipment can help make things easier and safer. What SOP's have been developed, like nobody works certain species/individuals alone, or each venomous cage having an emergency medical tag on it. What their requirements are for having antivenin on-site with personnel trained in its administration. Whether they check if employees are likely to have serum-allergic reactions to antivenin.

Of course, by now the forces of political correctness may have relegated all zoo volunteers to working in the gift shop or leading tours. The stuff we did thirty-odd years ago would probably have the lawyers foaming at the mouth today.

[pseudechis]

I really dont know where to take this, as it is a slightly outdated thread, but I thought I might add a little in there being we are restricted to what we can keep being we can not have imported "exotics" in Australia. People always ask what is a good first Ven to keep, this will be debated until snakes are extinct, especially in the realm of the amount of deadlies we have here in Australia. My answer to most people is get a colubrid, B. irregularis, D. Punctulata or a T. mairi, you have on your mind that their is a venom in it, that you still need caution cause you still dont want to get tagged and you still keep your mind on the game rather than get complacent like you might with a boa or python. As far as the elapids go, I recommend a the Pseudechis porphyriacus, can get 1.5-2 meters long, not very agitated, would rather bask in the sun than have a go at anyone, and if one should get tagged, its to the hospital, but not as serious as its cousin P. australis, but can still kill. Bottom line is I see young people want to sport up and get themselves a O. scutellatus fist go, so they can be the hero on the block and say they have a Taipan. I have O. scutellatus and O. microlepidotus, there is no way one should even remotely consider them a first hot, just sheer bloody idiots. Again I know this might not be relevant to the original post, but thought since my selections to choose from are slightly limited to most places that someone might put it to good value and do their research on snake temperments, and toxicity, while keeping a few mild colubrids around just for a bit of practice on awareness