My "Rare" Venomous Snakes
 

Hello All,

I wanted to share with you guys my small venomous snake collection.

Here is the list:

1.1 Acanthophis sp. "Northern Floodplains" (2009/2011)

These snakes come from Northern Australia. The classification is a bit problematic as with most Death Adders. They have been called Acanthophis praelongus, Acanthophis cummingi and Acanthophis hawkei. Acanthophis praelongus is way too general for all Northern adders and does not work for this species. Acanthophis cummingi is a Hoser classification and is not accepted by most taxonomist. Acanthophis hawkei is used due to their genetics, apparently they are almost identical to their cousins from Barkly Tableland so they will probably be called Acanthophis hawkei at the end.

These snakes get to be around 80cm, the overall color is grey but they have beautiful orange/red and yellow bands. My pair will probably breed this coming spring.

Male:

http://imageshack.us/a/img844/6821/jxkd.jpg

http://imageshack.us/a/img850/756/ah...ultmaleeye.jpg


Female:

http://imageshack.us/a/img850/7325/4kxq.jpg

http://imageshack.us/a/img27/341/seaofcolor.jpg




1.1 Acanthophis sp. "Dajarra" (2012/2011)

These snakes come from the Dajarra desert in Australia and they are also a part of a classification debate. Again they are labeled as Acanthophis woolfi by Hoser but they are put into the Acanthophis rugosus group by Wuster. They are desert adapted adder species and have a beautiful coloration, which matches to their environment. Mine will probably breed in 2014.

Male:

http://imageshack.us/a/img703/6691/o1fn.jpg

http://imageshack.us/a/img213/7261/scales.jpg



1.1 Acanthophis antarcticus "Sydney Red" (2013)

Probably the pride and joy of my Death Adder collection, these come from Southeastern Australia, around Sydney area. They grow up to be impressive meter long adders and end up being light red with dark red bands. Adults look spectacular and even hatchlings like mine show a lot of color.

http://imageshack.us/a/img9/6485/6dj5.jpg

http://imageshack.us/a/img34/4283/3lfq.jpg



1.1 Naja (Boulengerina) sp. "Congo Water Cobra" (2013)

One of the rarest captive bred snakes. Only one breeder exists in Europe and he produces only three babies a year if it is a good year. These are probably the smallest cobras available, max out at around 60cm and are quite docile for a cobra when they are captive bred. The live in Congo near a lake and eat fish. Unfortunately, they are under risk of extinction due to gill nets in the lake that they hunt. I was told that switching them to mice is very difficult but took me 10 minutes to do so with my special scenting recipe .

http://imageshack.us/a/img534/4025/7n9m.jpg

http://imageshack.us/a/img577/6106/2yl9.jpg




0.1 Crotalus d. unicolor (2013)

Pitvipers are not my thing. I do not like venomous snakes with additional arsenal but I couldn't refuse this species. Critically endangered in the wild, these rattlesnakes are quite common in Europe. However, the ones available are very dark in color with clear markings. The wild ones are very light, with very faint pattern so I assume the stock in Europe is either hybridized or originated from a very dark pair. The baby girl I got on the other hand is very faint and will surely turn out to be exactly like they are in the wild with a lot of blue and pink. She may be the prettiest snake I have seen with my own eyes.

http://imageshack.us/a/img94/4318/4efj.jpg


Here is my Youtube channel, where I upload regular videos about these beautiful snakes. I also have videos from my previous venomous snakes, my Gila Monsters and my non-venomous reptiles. Enjoy and thanks for watching:

http://www.youtube.com/user/Najakeeper

I'm not a venomous person, but those are all very neat! The ones from the Dajarra desert are my favorite, that's a great picture of your male! :thumbsup:

Very cool! Very interesting animals, I wouldn't work with hots myself, but I do admit that Acanthophis are fascinating critters.

I personally wouldn't worry myself too much over any of Hoser's taxonomic classifications, however. He only publishes his findings in one journal (which I believe he is the editor of) and never has any coauthors, so his findings are suspect. That, and he recently attempted to completely reclassify Heloderma suspectum as Heloderma maxhosersaurus (named after himself? hmmm...), not to mention his interesting takes on Crotalus. His facebook page, Venomous Herpetology, is a bit of a joke too: https://www.facebook.com/groups/34273208781/

Here's a good source of taxonomic information on Australian elapids based upon molecular genetic information that I found with a quick google scholar search though, there may have been more work done since then (non-Hoser). Acanthophis is mentioned in the text. http://www.academia.edu/download/310...ee_Elapids.pdf

Very neat collection. Death adders are really cool. The elapid convergence on that viper body type is really a pretty cool thing as far as snake evolution.

Hoser is a member on here (I think the username is "adder"), and I'm sure he'll eventually find this and spout some nonsense about truth haters and whatnot, but the reality is that anything he's published in his own journal is absolute garbage and is (and will be) completely ignored by current and future generations of evolutionary biologists. Just try reading it if you don't understand why, it's total nonsense. The sad part is, the man is obviously enthusiastic about snakes. If he were to convert this energy he spends on his nonsense into something productive, take a step back and reconsider his life choices, he could make an impact on the herp community.

Thanks for the comments guys.

I am not going to start another Hoser vs. other debate, the point of this topic is not that at all. I just want to share my experiences. But, I have read his papers and I know other people's opinion of him.

Death Adders
 

Ok, let’s clear a few things up.
Citing Wuster as an authority on Australian snakes is like citing Hitler as an authority on human rights!
Neither have any credibility at all!
To get a low down on Wolfgang Wuster go here
http://www.smuggled.com/scientific-f...ang-wuster.htm
I might also add that a criminal in Wales, with little if any hands on experience with Death Adders is not likely to know more than someone who has been dealing with these snakes full time for over 40 years.
Now as for the claims that my work is ignored by scientists, well they too are false. I can merely refer you to such diverse taxa as Leiopython hoserae, Broghammerus reticulatus, Acanthophis wellsei, Pseudechis (Pailsus) rossignollii, and others, all of which are widely recognized in spite of the illegal campaigns by the Wuster gang.
The assertion that Maxhosersaurus is named after me is both a lie and offensive.
It also shows that the poster hasn’t even bothered to read the relevant paper.
Fact is, that the genus was named after someone else who happened to make valuable contributions to herpetology, which is way better than the hate posters here!
Now, having spent a fortnight in the field, dealing with venomous species, including, yes, Death Adders, and others such as Inland Taipans as shown here, it is very tragic to see wrongly labelled snakes, properly classified more than 15 years ago, the classification of which has long since been validated by proper molecular studies!
All the best

Here is the Crotalus d. unicolor:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dAOp7Ycqv-E

Very hard to catch her feed...

Very nice pics, love the scale detail shots

Would you be willing to share your scenting recipe??

I'm always eager to hear what others use that is successful!

Hey everybody...look...It's Hoser!

He thrives on the attention, just let it die.

Yeah...I was being kinda a smart ass :)
Wondering when the "me-monster" will return.

Matthew,

You surely are not referring to me as Hoser, are you?

Sure.

There is a fish from Black Sea, Engraulis encrasicolus, a.k.a Hamsi or European Anchovy. The smell gets the fish feeders crazy. I usually mash some up in a food processor and freeze the slurry for further use.

In the meantime;

Here is an update on the unnamed species of water cobra, Naja (Boulengerina) sp. "Congo".



And here are some pictures:

Naja (Boulengerina) sp. "Congo" male:

http://imageshack.us/a/img12/980/t543.jpg

Acanthophis hawkei female:

http://imageshack.us/a/img594/1106/c64d.jpg

Acanthophis sp. "Dajarra Desert" male:

http://imageshack.us/a/img707/8418/9w5c.jpg

Those are some amazing shots. What kind of camera and macro lens to you use?

LOL! No Kerri...sorry...I should have been more specific. I was referring to The One And Only, Legend In His Own Mind Raymond Hoser....

Sorry about the confusion. :)

Canon EOS 70D camera and Sigma 105 mm F2,8 EX Macro lens. I love the equipment.

And here is the famous Crotalus d. unicolor feeding while being filmed:

Acanthophis sp."Dajarra" female in shed:

http://imageshack.us/a/img845/2176/ghm9.jpg

Eye macro:

http://imageshack.us/a/img17/9134/l1ei.jpg

Law of priority says Pythom reticulatus is the retculated python.

Law of priority says Python reticulatus is the retculated python. Various subgeneric names have little value, other than to cause confusion in scientific studies.

Here is my Acanthophis sp."Call her whatever you like" feeding on a small adult mouse.



I may consider breeding her this season...

Common Death Adder eating a fuzzy:

Acanthophis antarcticus (Common Death Adder) from Sydney:

http://imageshack.com/a/img18/1995/jdsr.jpg
http://imageshack.com/a/img855/2636/qcdc.jpg
http://imageshack.com/a/img827/2199/fzi9.jpg

Acanthophis hawkei happy Death Adder dance:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HN6sl7vbK6c

Acanthophis sp. Dajarra slowmo strike:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DN7Ll9gJ6uc

Here is my beautiful Crotalus d. unicolor:

Head:
http://imageshack.com/a/img546/5625/vp5t.jpg

Scale detail:

http://imageshack.com/a/img577/2535/bqnn.jpg

Rattle:
http://imageshack.com/a/img268/6615/8kje.jpg

And here is a video:

Muhammed Yasin Cakmak.....Nice collection!!! Hope alls well in Turkey! I see you on Face Book.....Now I've connected the two!

Yasin!!

Quit it with those gorgeous pictures!!
You're going to make my homeowners insurance go up again! I got out of hots due to the expense, and you're making me regret it.

(In all seriousness, you're a great photographer and I love your collection. )

Hey Keith, I am not on facebook so now I wonder if somebody opened an account using my credentials. I remember you though as I bought a very nice water monitor from you guys in 2004.

Thanks mate. They are worth the expanse and the risk.

Here are a couple interesting pictures:

Here is a desert snake enjoying some fish:

http://imageshack.com/a/img203/5981/ivrm.jpg

And here is the valley of Death:

http://imageshack.com/a/img42/8141/955i.jpg

"The Valley of Death"!
 

Great title for the pics!

Here is a new feeding video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LXvxLN-_PDE

She is coming close to 60cm even though she is still somewhat thin. Growing very fast...

Some more Death Adder action bit a tiny bit more:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ES6nfECCqYY

Well guys, time to go out and buy the latest Cogger book as he uses all those allegedly terrible Hoser snake names! Better yet, he even tells Wuster and Kaiser and their idiot plans to go take a running jump to oblivion!
Meanwhile I have got to go and do what I do most weekends and that is valuable reptile show education in Melbourne as well as educational kids parties to make sure that the next generation of children likes reptiles like I do as seen here http://www.snakebusters.com.au/kp4.htm
Then I have to deal with yet more baby snakes from beautiful venomoid parents.

Here are the new enclosures for these guys:



They are doing amazing and getting more docile every day.

Yas, these are absolutely amazing!
Thanks so much for sharing!

I don't envy much, but this collection has me at a breaking point!

:D Thank you. It took me a while to get it together.

This girl just gets better looking everyday!

Crotalus durissus unicolor:

http://imageshack.com/a/img842/9936/fqmz.jpg

http://imageshack.com/a/img843/3386/g0vi.jpg

Rattle:

http://imageshack.com/a/img835/9428/lwuc.jpg

i like to look at venomous snakes like these beautiful animals and shots, same time my spine is straightening and telling me to get the heck out of dodge looking at these shots (same response when i take a peek at the living thing in the flesh when i'm at a expo)

Here is the Crotalus d. unicolor eating a large food item for a change:

http://imageshack.com/a/img836/9751/vpyu.jpg

Beautiful snakes. I had to go watch a few of your videos after seeing this thread. I thoroughly enjoyed your video on tease feeding over force feeding. How long would you typically attempt tease feeding over force feeding? Like x amount of minutes over x amount of days.