best first venomous snake - Page 2

Mustangrde1 · 02-23-04, 08:54 PM

The best first venomous is the one your most comfortable with.I.E. trained with a experiance keeper that has the species your wishing to keep and with security and safty always in mind. With that said certain species are never good first hots to have. As a first something with a very readily available AV is always a good idea.

I would say arboreals and elapids and rattlers are not the best choices to make. Copperheads, rearfanged animals excluding boomers are not a bad idea mangroves are usually very pretty and highly aggresive Asian vines are another nice animal. still coems down to what you personaly like and are comfortable with and have had experiance with.

monitor boy · 02-27-04, 01:40 AM

hey bartman i would recomment getting a snake that is horrible for handling like tiger rat snake and try taking care of that for 3 years with out getting bit once then you know u have mastered the skills of the hook and then you would feel more comfortable with a hot

Bartman · 02-27-04, 04:07 PM

Good point i guess, but if i got a crazy hot that isnt for beginner im not ever planning on handling it at all, even with a stick...I would rather not even take it out of the enclosure so it would still be hard to get a like a ratler or something?

Would it ever be nessessary that i need to take it out or would i be able to use poles and sticks to do whatever i needed to do in the tank...thanks for all the replies

Matt · 02-27-04, 05:11 PM

you have to be prepared to deal with the snake....period, you cant just hope it will never need anything which requires you to take it out

of course with hots, the ideal situation is to not deal with the snake, and observe from a distance, great!

.......but, trust me, thats NOT how its going to work, you will eventual come across a situation when hooking it (they arent called sticks, they are called hooks) out of the cage and dealing with it will be necessary....possibly even needing to pin the snake

yes, you will need to take it out, or couse you should use tools to do this, but you cannot have a snake and get by with never needing to take it out.

crazyboy · 02-27-04, 05:51 PM

What are good rearfanged snakes..do hognoses count?..and what type of hook would you guys use for these?

Mustangrde1 · 02-27-04, 06:03 PM

I think the point is not what is a good rear fang but being honest with ones self as to you abilities. Either you know your ready for a hot or your not. If someone was to get a less offensive rearfang and work with it for a time its doing nothing but giving them a false and possibly fatal since of security with hots.

Just because you can handlle a rear fang does not train you to be able to handle a viper and working with a viper does not train you to work with an elapid. Even withen the same species I have seen very docile to { hello im going to kill you} attitudes. You have to be ready for anything at anytime with a venomous. There is no way you can keep them without someday needing to remove the animal from the cage , be it from it growing out of the cage to soaking to medical care to all out cage cleaning. You will have to remove it sometime. Find the experianced keeper and get trained in the species you wish to work with is the best and safest advise.

Bartman · 02-27-04, 07:05 PM

I agree, your right that im forsure gonna need to take it out some time or another

One more question, i was watching croc hunter and he found this puff ader in africa...she seemed very docile, of course striked once or twice (he also explained there reallly fast) but it looked like that would be an easy one to handle after some training. What do you think about that type of snake?

ChokeOnSmoke · 02-27-04, 07:11 PM

I think puff adders are one of the fastest striking snakes so I wouldn't imagine it would be a good hot to begin with. I could be totally wrong.

crazyboy · 02-27-04, 07:15 PM

i wasn't going to run out and get one. im not sure im ever going to get one. i was just wondering what you guys would recommend. i am only 13 so i am kind of like the above. i agree about it giving you a false sense of security but i was just wondering.

Mustangrde1 · 02-27-04, 07:55 PM

NEVER WATCHING IRWIN THE HORRIBLE is a first step to staying alive. Puffs are extremely fast and very deadly. Keep in mind the one you saw steve handling was probably chilled in a cooler for sometime before he handled it.

Bartman · 02-27-04, 08:19 PM

Good point...thanks!

Mustangrde1 · 02-28-04, 09:37 AM

I didn't want to come off as a hard ***. I just would hate to see people think what he does is safe or acceptable. The TV personalities and that's what they are for the most part are showmen. They are there to get high ratings and promote their own shows just some of them do stupid dangerous things to give the audience a greater thrill so we as the viewing public will keep coming back to watch them.

That being said the shows do offer some value however if you ignore the idiot free handling a probably well chilled animal and pay attention to the habitat and surroundings you have the ability to learn where the animals you wish to work with and own come from. Paying attention to habitat and climatic conditions will give you great insight as to what we as keepers should strive for in our own collections.

As you watch these shows right down what you see as far as the country they were found in the type of habitat {scrub, forest, swamp, rain forest, desert, etc., etc.} did the host appear to be sweating or was he in a jacket was it raining or dry was he had sea level or high elevation and what country was he in?

After you watch the show and write it down get some books on the country or jump on the net and do more research on the country and the climatic conditions the host was in and verify the species is actually from that type of climate. This would certainly go for any animals not just the hots. Remember Husbandry comes from research and knowledge and these personalities do offer us some useful information by taking us to countries many of us will never get to go to.

-WilleM- · 02-28-04, 11:05 AM

hey,
I had a question and I thought it was a little stupid to open a new topic for it.It's also about a first hot,I have been looking and looking for a good first hot(for me personally) and when I read all the info on the net,I see that a snake like the vipera aspis would be perfect.But I just can't find info about keeping them.I'm from Europe(where they live) but are you allowed to keep them in captivity?(I find pics on the internet of these animals in terrariums).And does someone keeps these snakes?
I thank you all
Cheerz
Willem

Mustangrde1 · 02-28-04, 11:29 AM

Willem im not up on international laws for keeping my best advise is contact your local goverment branch that deals with wildlife and find out. If they are legal then try diffrent classifed adds to locate one. Wish i could help you more

-WilleM- · 02-28-04, 12:36 PM

thnx,
But are there people in america that keep them?
Cuz I can't find any caresheets:-s
Do you somethimes see them for sale?
I have asked the same question to a hot keeper from the netherlands..But I'm still waiting for an answer