Least favorite venomous snake?

[snakegetters]

Of all the venomous snakes you've ever kept or handled or worked with, which one was the biggest pain in the butt? Share your stories here.

[old guy]

( Black Forest > Pseudohaje species ? ) due to the uncertainty of how to keep ( in the early days ). Didn't really know the humidity requirements. Tried several differences but the they consistently had probs with shedding. Had some fungal infections with what must of been to much humidity. BUT with the higher moisture, had no problem with shedding. So with trying to keep the humidity down i came up with more shedding problems again. It was stated that they ate frogs but had no problems with mice. I found out later that it was a matter of maybe not having a large enough container of water in cage for them to soak in and a dryer cage. Oh well, a reptile exhibit owned by Max Allen got them eventually and with a larger exhibit cage, they seemed to have done fine after that. These came from Mr. Leaky of Africa.

[hhmoore]

depends on how you mean pain in the butt. one of my cobras ( a male banded egyptian) was always set on making me dead. other than that, though, he wasn't bad to work with. My favorite puff adder, used to manage to get substrate in his mouth whenever I had him offsite for display (always used newspaper at home, but it just isn't "pretty" enough for public viewing). the day after I got him home, I would have to pull him out and clean out his mouth, swab it down, and occasionally do follow up treatment for early mouthrot (he was very sensitive to any foreign stuff in his mouth). that happened whether he was on display for 2 hours or a week. Trying to force feed neonate waglers pinky strips because I couldn't find anything small enough that they would take??? That was a pin in the butt, I think it wins for me...even though once they were big enough to take a whole pink they were easy.

[snakegetters]

Pain in the butt means exactly that - either handling or husbandry.

[Mustangrde1]

Satan my egyptian cobra " Naja haje " plain and simple he wants to kill you. charges mouth open and ready to bite. always an experiance when having ot deal with his cage.

Otherwise i love all hots cant have enough.

[snakegetters]

I have a bad boy like that, only he's 12'. Kings are good fun.

I still think the worst times I've had were courtesy of nonvenomous species. Reticulated pythons can be horrible, and they are bigger and stronger than me. My king is very naughty, but he weighs only 3-something kilograms and cobras are neither particularly fast nor particularly strong. Retics can be both, and I do not like working with them.

I also think that Asian rat snakes are the devil incarnate. I would much rather play with mambas than with those buggers.

[JDSReptilesINC]

I think my craziest snake would be my Canebrake Rattlesnake(Crotalus h. Atricaudatus). He is also appropiately named Satan. This snake strikes out of his hide box, never stops buzzing, and once even sprayed some venom after his strike hit the bin. You think he would be a little more caring since I did save him from a bubba fixing to run him over in Osceola Natl forest.

[SerpenXotics]

I think of all the venomous snakes I have worked with and been around for the worst to handle even to use a shift box correctly would be the egyptian cobras I have owned 3 so far and they are all things of the past I had to sell them simply because they are far more aggressive than even the mambas I have kept in the past I had one egyptian (she now resides at sean palmers cobra gardens) well over 7' she was by far nasty but didn't even compare to the pair of imports I recieved shortly after the male from the pair wouldent even attempt to hood he would just lash out as soon as you enterd the hot room he would strike constantly mouth agape and wide eyed I tryed to use a shift box with him but he would go in to the box when you left the room but as soon as he felt your presence he would flood right out of it LOL makeing it hard to keep him in when I would have to handle him (cage cleaning and water changing ect) he acted like a complete maniac I named him leroy don't remember why but I do remember always saying "LEROY GET BACK IN YOUR CAGE" in somewhat of a country dielect he would never go back in very easily but always came right out after you LOL fun times
Great poll tanith
Joe Lesh

[psilocybe]

I think of all the venomous snakes I have worked with and been around for the worst to handle even to use a shift box correctly would be the egyptian cobras I have owned 3 so far and they are all things of the past I had to sell them simply because they are far more aggressive than even the mambas I have kept in the past I had one egyptian (she now resides at sean palmers cobra gardens) well over 7' she was by far nasty but didn't even compare to the pair of imports I recieved shortly after the male from the pair wouldent even attempt to hood he would just lash out as soon as you enterd the hot room he would strike constantly mouth agape and wide eyed I tryed to use a shift box with him but he would go in to the box when you left the room but as soon as he felt your presence he would flood right out of it LOL makeing it hard to keep him in when I would have to handle him (cage cleaning and water changing ect) he acted like a complete maniac I named him leroy don't remember why but I do remember always saying "LEROY GET BACK IN YOUR CAGE" in somewhat of a country dielect he would never go back in very easily but always came right out after you LOL fun times
Great poll tanith
Joe Lesh


This has to be the longest run on sentence I have ever seen, LOL...;)

[SerpenXotics]

sorry i type like a 12 year old LOL

[Dan Scolaro]

The worse snake you ever handled Joe Lesh was that dying coral snake you sent me and refused to take in return and died. Where is my refund you bum?

[viperboi]

the worst snake is ever handled was a 9ft wild caught black mamba that would climb the hook right up to my hand so i never tailed them i did it once and never again so i tried trap box but you can't get them in they just try to get out the tink gap you put the snake hook in i tried tongs but they go CRAZY they shake and have their mouth open so i ended up cutting a piece of plexiglass that perfectly fitted in the cage with about a 1mm gap on the sides and a piece of wood horizontal in the middle to put in and force him to the end so i could clean his cage

[t. larson]

I have a bad boy like that, only he's 12'. Kings are good fun.

I still think the worst times I've had were courtesy of nonvenomous species. Reticulated pythons can be horrible, and they are bigger and stronger than me. My king is very naughty, but he weighs only 3-something kilograms and cobras are neither particularly fast nor particularly strong. Retics can be both, and I do not like working with them.

I also think that Asian rat snakes are the devil incarnate. I would much rather play with mambas than with those buggers.
Wow. Surprised to see that. Asian rat snakes are the devil incarnate.

I agree actually. Used to have a couple cave rats. Beautiful animals and all. The bites didn't bother me until they got bigger. THEN I learned how to handle them and avoud the teeth. Didn't know I was getting experience to keep hots. I have no interest in hots and will likely never GO there, but I guess I could if I had TOO. The stories I've read about blackforests and mambas and taipans would make me say NO to those of course :)

[old guy]

because of them being pungent, smelly and food intake and husbandry.

[varnyard]

Well there was no choice on the pole for my pick. The sawscale viper. They are so nasty, they will never run. They hold their ground and strike like lightning.

[Tim Cole]

I had a 5.5 ft adamanteas that did not tolerate tongs and would not ride a hook.
I am used to them being easy to handle but this was the exception. When restrained, it would open it's mouth wide and SPRAY venom everywhere!

[Craig B]

I hate any spitting snake. I've kept a few, they are a pain to handle and they mess the glass of the cage.

[Vinny D]

I would have to say my ex banded forset cobra. She was almost 7' and really wanted me dead lol, she gave me the MOST trouble, either moving into trap boxes or any thing else, i have ever had with a hot. the bush viper and the EDB werent too bad, but they got me. And i know why i wasent afraid of them like many of the other species of hots i was afraid of and did'nt tag me.

[Vinny D]

sorry for the typo forest cobra

[da-snake-king]

the largest pain in the butt for me was a col red tail boa..i was watching for a friend...everytime i tried to feed it or clean it's tank..it would try and play tag with me...got me once in the shoulder....damn that hurt

[Rattlesnake]

When I worked at the local Zoo there was a King Cobra who was so intimidating with anyone who was feeding it when they opened his cage. He was probably the only snake I have had experience with that was so difficult. Also, there was a Crotalus viridis that we kept there also and when you would walk, or anyone for that matter, would enter the back room he would start buzzing and wouldn't quit until you left the area. No matter how long you stayed back there, 10 minutes or 3 hours, it was a continuing buzz all the time. Very nerve racking.

[Capetown]

I've never kept them, but in the field the hardest ones I've had to deal with aren't venomous. The rock python is by far the most agressive snake ive dealt with, when I was 19 I was bit and half coiled by a 4 metre (12 foot) female, luckily i was with my mentor and he was able to pull the snake off. A scary experience but I also learned alot from it. When i was 22 I was bitten by a desert horned viper, we had antivenin but still a painful wound, i still say the rock python bite hurt much more.

[christophermchale]

i never much cared for mangrove snakes.

ive had wild caught ones that were the hardest thing to get feeding ive ever had.

[Common King Lover]

For me it would be the Southern Pacific Rattlesnake (C.v. helleri). These snakes were always so high strung and wired. The most aggro and excitable of all the Crotalus that I've had.

[Leftwich08]

While assisting with reading water meters I got called over and asked what kind of kingsnake was in the water meter we were at. We were almost done and I grabbed the hook and headed over fascinated but ready to be home. My first thought was beautiful but as the full snake came into view not just the coloring my brain nearly shut down. It was a gaboon viper, in texas, having hidden and stuffed himself into a meter box. I'm sure he wasn't fully grown but that was no comfort. Expecting slow if aggressive behaviour due to the weather I sent Teddy to get the box we keep rattlesnakes in when this happens with them and wound up nearly dying of a heart attack before enclosing him. That slow behavior was nowhere to be seen he flopped like a landed fish and bit everything in reach! Now I'm sure my newness to venomous at the time plus being as scared as a rat would have been at the sight of him didn't help, nor did constantly knowing the consequences of the bite and that kids lived in the area but that is still my worst experience with snakes or venomous period. I love and hate them and every time I consider working my way to those again I remember that feeling and can't even finish researching.

[WmTaylor]

two candidates.

One was a mamba......
Kept flipping from full one charging attack to freaked out retreat and back. One or the other....fine, but as it was....very annoying.


WC Russles Vipers...
He would not eat on his own and yet kept holding on to life. He was crap brown in color, and missing some of his tail. I guarantee you have never seen a russles viper 1/50th as ugly. After assist.....who am I kidding force feeding for about the three dozen times....I slipped and he scratched my thumb. At that point, I said I was not going to die from such an ugly snake and said.....eat on your own or die. He died.