best beginer venomous snake

i think im going to get a nile croc for christmas. After all I have worked with an purty nasty green iggy.

Originally Posted by Vince

Unless things have changed by law you need so many hours before you can even get a licence.

A valid point, but not universally applicable...many states do not require a license to keep venomous, and not all of the ones that do require any documented experience.

As for the question about what nonvenomous snakes I would recommend in preparation for venomous...that would depend entirely on the desired venomous snake. Before you go throwing examples at me, I'll give some basic criteria. The "prep" snake should be adult (sub adult may be ok, depending on the species and your interpretation) , and freshly WC. There should be some physical and behavioral similarities between the it and the desired hot. EVERY aspect of care should be undertaken as if it was, in fact, that animal. That means everything, with no lapses/breaks...no hands on contact that you wouldn't have with the hot, no reaching in to get the water bowl while the snake is "sleeping" or turned away. It still isn't a fair comparison, but it will at least get you used to the techniques...until your rattlesnake jumps right off the hook and ends up loose on the floor; or the cobra either slips the hook or turns, and starts crawling up the hook towards you.

I know that some will squawk about my saying the "prep" snake should be a freshly WC adult, but working with CB or LTC just doesn't require the same finesse or awareness...they are significantly easier to deal with, and much less driven to defend themselves (they don't try as hard to get to you). Of course, one has to go into this with the awareness that they may be stuck with that snake...I mean, face it - most people would rather spend the money on a CB or LTC than your used up "prep" snake that you have put no effort into calming/handling.

Originally Posted by Vince

i think im going to get a nile croc for christmas. After all I have worked with an purty nasty green iggy.

Somebody who had worked with a few nasty green iguanas would probably have better luck trying to keep crocodilians than someone who had never kept a lizard in his life and decided an alligator would be a Really Cool Pet. More to the point of this discussion, he would definitely have better luck with beaded lizards or gilas.

I might also add that there are a lot of idiots keeping hot snakes, and comparatively few of them wind up getting killed or maimed by their animals. I'm not endorsing this kind of behavior, but it does seem that there are folks out there who are going from nonvenomous to venomous keeping without suffering loss of life or limb in the process. (Of course, lots of people who smoke cigarettes don't get lung cancer and lots of drunk drivers don't wrap themselves around poles either...).

Originally Posted by Rakshasanyc

I might also add that there are a lot of idiots keeping hot snakes, and comparatively few of them wind up getting killed or maimed by their animals. I'm not endorsing this kind of behavior, but it does seem that there are folks out there who are going from nonvenomous to venomous keeping without suffering loss of life or limb in the process. (Of course, lots of people who smoke cigarettes don't get lung cancer and lots of drunk drivers don't wrap themselves around poles either...).

That is true...but how many of the snakes die prematurely, because the person did not care for them properly (I know, this happens to a lot of reptiles, but perhaps more so with hots)...anytime routine care becomes too much of a chore, or frightening to the keeper, the animals suffer. I did a rescue some years ago, in which a cobra was abandoned in an apartment...the cage was absolutely disgusting, the snake was thin and dehydrated because it was aggressive and the guy was afraid to open the cage to do routine care. (the thing that got me at the time was that when I contacted the landlord, he had no idea that there was a venomous snake there...thought is was "a ball python, or some damn thing"). Sadly, this is the fate of many venomous snakes...if not due to withholding of routine care, then the withholding of medical care...because the keeper doesn't have the necessary skills, and (if he even tries) he cannot find a vet to deal with it. At least with nonvenomous snakes, they can get passed around to enough people that eventually some of them get lucky and find good homes

Originally Posted by hhmoore

That is true...but how many of the snakes die prematurely, because the person did not care for them properly (I know, this happens to a lot of reptiles, but perhaps more so with hots)...anytime routine care becomes too much of a chore, or frightening to the keeper, the animals suffer. I did a rescue some years ago, in which a cobra was abandoned in an apartment...the cage was absolutely disgusting, the snake was thin and dehydrated because it was aggressive and the guy was afraid to open the cage to do routine care. (the thing that got me at the time was that when I contacted the landlord, he had no idea that there was a venomous snake there...thought is was "a ball python, or some damn thing").

*sigh* Some people exist solely to serve as a bad example. Dollars to donuts says the idiot had little or no snakekeeping experience of any sort, and decided a cobra would be a bitchin' pet... only to find that gee, my pet wants to kill me and is capable of doing so.

We will have fools with us always, and many of them will be drawn to keeping venomous snakes for the same reason they are drawn to drag racing down city streets, drunken bungee jumping, and other Stupid Human Tricks. I should have included a specific disclaimer in my earlier post stating that the person keeping his first copperhead should have an IQ in triple digits and actually want to treat his hot snake as a living being, not as overcompensation for his underendowment.

In my conversations with a friend of mine who keeps a lot of hots, including cobras, mambas, and a few other Very Toxic Beauties, I've gathered that finding vets who will work with hot herps is difficult to impossible. So if you want to keep hots, you may find yourself dosing your snake with antibiotics or antiparasiticials, removing retained eye caps, etc. If you aren't ready to do this, you may want to think twice about getting a hot.


IIRC, and I've never kept cobras, so I may be talking out my posterior here, not only are cobras fast-moving, quick to strike and potentially lethal -- their husbandry requirements are a bit more exacting than many snakes. So that's yet another reason (as if we needed more reasons) why they make singularly bad First Hots.

Exactly my point. Over the years, I have had to work inside the mouths of cobras, puff adders, and rattlesnakes. I have force fed babies, given injections, and peeled skin (my first cobras retained shed on their faces for the first year, for some reason). There have been a few dumbasses in this state (NY) that got bitten, and most those bites were met with legislative response (State and local laws) Have I mentioned how much I dislike the rules in this state recently? Unlike many, I obey them, but it has led me to focus on different animals - since most of the ones I liked are now illegal

I have a ton of experience with burmese pythons and blood pythons, and i used to have quite a few watersnakes. What would the best "prep" snake be for a copperhead, are they as aggressive as the watersnakes(freshly wild caught).

Whether or not the watersnakes were a good primer depends alot on how you were dealing with them. If you were working with them as I outlined above - no hands, treating them as hots - and had no escapes or bites, then it was at least good practice. There is really is no ideal "prep" snake...but working with aggressive species as if they were hots helps alot - practice, practice, practice. I saw this on another forum, I hope it is okay to post the link: http://thereptileroom.org/forum/inde...showtopic=2113

the best prep would be to work with someone who works with them already.