Venomous - to keep or not to keep

[red ink]

Originally Posted by percey39

I have neighbours with young children living next door on all sides of my house. I let my hot's cruise around in a certain area of the lawn with strict supervision of course. I know that many would frown apon this but i am competent in stopping an animal trying to make a 10m get away. I will also be looking at making some outdoor enclosures to keep some of my animals perminently outside. This i will be discussing with my neighbours as i feel they have a right to know where abouts i plan to put these pits.

None of this is meant to come across as arguementitive so please dont take it that way.

Mate you might want to check with the federales about this as well as they "may" have very strict guidelines about this (if you haven't already done so).... No point of them swooping in and cleaning up your collection just in case somebody see's the right to inform them of what you do in your own property. At least you would be compliant if they do come around....

[red ink]

Originally Posted by Damion930

I can fully agree that with the current system you should need a license for both hots and giants. I also think ther is a line that is streaching when you try to regulate things to protect everyone from the risks in the world. Who is qualified to assess all the risks and tell others they can't take them. Wher is the line drawn between acceptable risk and unacceptable and who gets to draw it. Just stirring the pot for thought

You need to protect other people from the risk of hots as it is not a risk they are interested in taking.... it is a risk that you decided to take and not them... A child gets killed by a giant python and all of a sudden the senate is trying to ban all giant snakes. I am not trying to trivialise this tragic accident but do you guys over there really need more bad press about reptiles...? If you don't take responsibility in your own hands the government will do it for you to protect the populace... that's technically part of their job.

It would not be too difficult to risk manage and assess the handling of hots and to be ceritified.. The same practices applied in keeping them in zoos or catching and relocating them in the wild would be the same safe practices that would be recquired for keeping them in private collections... Don't see too many zoo staff getting tagged by hots.... or them escaping from zoo enclosures.

[Reptile_Reptile]

Originally Posted by infernalis

Oh it will stay civil.

i believe that to advance the hobby the study and keeping of these animals is beneficial.
will i ever own one.
not unless god gives me a new pair of brass balls.

[Aaron_S]

I'll weigh in here.

I don't believe venomous snakes should be kept privately. There's a very small handful of people that have the knowledge to do it safely and even less of them actually do it.

I won't hate Aaron or anyone else for doing it but I don't believe it should be done. There's far too many risks for it to be beneficial in 99.9% of venomous snake keeping situations. I just think there's too much at risk and I've heard far too many first hand accounts of a slip up that possibly not only cost the keepers life but others too.

[percey39]

Originally Posted by Aaron_S

I'll weigh in here.

I don't believe venomous snakes should be kept privately. There's a very small handful of people that have the knowledge to do it safely and even less of them actually do it.

I won't hate Aaron or anyone else for doing it but I don't believe it should be done. There's far too many risks for it to be beneficial in 99.9% of venomous snake keeping situations. I just think there's too much at risk and I've heard far too many first hand accounts of a slip up that possibly not only cost the keepers life but others too.

I completely understand your point of view mate. We all have close calls once in a while, but many wont talk about these near misses. I too believe alot of people keeping these animals are NOT competent in doing so, but if you were to talk to some of the older herpers that had no real info or training when they started out they will tell you they were not competent at the start either. There definetly needs to be a better regulation system put in place with manditory training and courses to be deemed competent by an assessor. This will eliminate some of the new keepers even bothering to get these certificates for the license and will also make it harder for people to jump in over their heads with keeping too many to quick.

[Reptile_Reptile]

To add in on the certificate thing. i think if they did the initiation thing for hots i think it would be wise for it to go up by levels. like lvl 1 has common venomous snakes that have lots of anti venom, and it progresses to end up with gaboon vipers and such