How Do You House Your Hots?

This is mainly for those you keep both "Hots" and "Nots". I read the article on Mike Jolliff being bit. Mike reached into the wrong cage when selling a nonvenomous snake.

What I would like to know is how you seperate your venomous and nonvenomous snakes. Do you keep your venomous in a seperate room? Do you mix match venemous in your cages so they are all side by side(or on top) of nonvenomous? Do you have one wall of venemous and a seperate wall of nonvenemous?

Personally if I was into the venemous I would either have them all in a seperate room or up against a different wall than my nonvenemous. I think this is a good lesson for me as I do not keep any venemous snakes, but it did get me to think about the situation.

My venomous are all kept in locked cages that are labeled "Venomous". So even if I don't notice the warning decal, if I have to unlock the cage in order to open it I'll know there's something inside I don't want to get bitten by.

That is really good. I just think it was such a bummer the dude was bit, I wonder what was going through his mind(besides the venom and a few swear words). I have been bit by nonvenemous, which is the main reason why I do not want any hots.

before and if wasn't a fact of me being down in the hurricane site now because of my wifes position of the retail stores that got hit....I'm with others doing the pet rescue thing while she/they are doing re-accessing of the stores, so i can't post pics of before. BUT : > my cages are and always have been with wood, glass cabinets front type doors with keyed locks and the heat source has been by incandescent light fixtures mounted above with either dimmer manual adjustment or controlled probe. I use a indoor/outdoor vac to clean cages and use one of my snake clamps to remove/change water containers. My hot room is a remote room from one of my barns and when in past ( 40 years of keeping hots ) when I didn't have out-buildings I had the hots in the basement and always with locked door to the rooms/s as i do now even with out-building. I know of Mr. Jolliff and all I can say is that I have experienced, there is ALWAYS the chance of a accidental tag when keeping hots no matter what one does as oppose ( this shouldn't even have to be said though ) to NOT keeping hots ! It has been over 20 years since my last " tag " and yes, i have been close to being tag by only trying to put the hots in containers wanting to sell at the venomous shows. Something that i will soon not have to deal with as i am trying to liquidate all of my venomous just because of this reason of above and my age of being somewhat slower and for insurance reasons as well as on-going possible legislation pending of my state that i would normally say " screw it " but.......

Mike, thanks for the reply. With keeping the snakes in locked cages I like that you also kept them in locked rooms, that is a very smart idea. Having to unlock the door into the snake room I am sure it would remind you which room you were going into and put you on extra watch.

I have a separate Hot Room and a Nonvenomous Room. In addition to locked, labeled cages for the venomous, they have their own custom lockable rack system in the Hot Room.

Originally Posted by Junkyard

Mike, thanks for the reply. With keeping the snakes in locked cages I like that you also kept them in locked rooms, that is a very smart idea. Having to unlock the door into the snake room I am sure it would remind you which room you were going into and put you on extra watch.

Well, none of these guys are doing anything special...they are simply doing things the way they should be done. Hots should ALWAYS be kept in locking cages (or secure rack systems), and ideally should be kept in a room of their own that can lock. In addition, all vents in that room should be covered with fine mesh, all windows as well (the ideal hot room doesn't have windows), weather stripping flush with the underneath of doors, etc. Anyone keeping hots in their bedrooms or in fish tanks is just asking for trouble. That being said, I don't see a problem with people keeping non-lethal opisthoglyphic species like false water cobras (Hydrodynastes gigas), mangrove snakes (Boiga dendrophila), and asian vine snakes (Ahaetulla sp.), so long as they are kept in secure enclosures.

That should read "I don't see a problem with people keeping..." the species I mentioned "...outside of a hotroom"

Here is a post from a year ago on my hot room:


My hot room is in a constant state of evolution and there are many more changes/additions I would like to make. But here it is as it stands (the carpet is not my idea).



Before entering, there is of course a door. This door has a keyed lock on it. There is also several hooks and a set of tongs there (in case there is something crawling on the floor when I open the door). There is a large warning sign. Then two more. One at half door and one 18" OFF (Off Finished Floor). The lowest one is there in case of a fire since often fireman are crawling so they are warned of the rooms contents. There is also a Smoke Detector. The bottom of the door is sealed so that nothing can crawl underneath. I find "door sweeps" work rather well.





Once inside the door (looking back) you can see the Panic Button. This is strictly for the event of an envenomation. It is set up through an old X10 remote system to a receiver upstairs. If I hit the button a 120 Db "screamer" alarm sounds to alert my wife. She is well versed in pre-hospital care. I also keep 2 hooks (1 standard and 1 Ultralight) just inside the door. There is a smoke detector next to the door and a Fire Extinguisher behind it. And I have emergency backup lighting installed. These units will turn on in the event of a power failure (not a bad way to spend $15).



Here is a better view of the Panic Button. It has an ON and OFF option, so we can cut it off when my wife gets down to the hot room. You can also see the HazMat Needle container for used needles when giving injections to snakes.




Here is a closer view of the Emergency Backup Lighting (one of two).




I found a smal foot pelel trash can that worked great for a Hook Sterilizer. The inside actually comes with a plastic hanging bucket sot here is no corrosion. I fill the bucket with Nolvasan and simply dip hooks between snakes to prevent cross contamination. (Sterilization became a high priority with the Roundup Rescues).





Here you can see various hooks and hemos on the wall. Of course a pair of Gentle Giants. Permits are in plain view. The vent is sealed on the inside with wire mesh. My Envenomation Protocol kit is in plain view and easily accessible. It contains protocol for every venomous species native ot the U.S. (including Black Widow and Brown Recluse) and everything I need to pretreat on the way to the hospital. Above that is a nice thick notebook with Exotic Species protocols. The large box at the bottom was the locked transport container for the Roundup.




These are my primary enclosures, all Precision Caging. I like them because they are VERY light (great for my programs), they are front downward opening (easy to open and close quickly with a hook), secure, the vent holes are on the back (no worries about someone placing their hands on a screen and catching a fang), and have hasps (custom) for padlocks for added security. Each cage is labeled "VENOMOUS" and has the species listed (common and latin).




I put the Precisions on wooden bases that are 4x2 (the size of a large cage or 2 smalls). Then added 6" 4x4 risers and casters. All in all, they are about 9" off the ground. This serves a couple purposes. First, it makes it easier for maintenance by not having to bend over to far and losing mobility. Second, if a snake decides to leave the hook and go under the cages, it is much easier to hook them out with so much room.






Here you can see my venomous Rack System and a few other odds and ends. There is an extra hook and more Emergency Backup Lighting. There is also a Push Light that is battery operated to offer me more light during an outage (a dark room with a rattler on the floor is not a good idea). I have a large trash can used for storing hots during cage cleaning etc. And a large sealed Work Surface used for med work etc. I simply put the surface on top of the trash can and instant table. There is also a dome light shining down over the rack so that I have more light when working with the animals in the rack. The rack has two keyed locks on each of the two doors. It has Plexi Fronts for spot checking that hit flush with each shelf so that nothing can crawl from one level to the next. And the rear is pegboard with fine mesh cover. This is all so that even if something does manage to get out of the container, it cannot get off the shelf, much less out of the locked rack.











And here is a custom enclosure from UnBoa. They are 4x2x2 with 2 hinge to side doors aith bolts and keyed locks. Above each one, he made a separate chamber for lighting. In this area (keyed) is a mesh port for a dome light and an outlet attached to a dimmer switch on the front. This houses PK and my big female EDB (Snugglebutt). It is mounted on casters.

I just began renovations on both the hot room and the herp room. Tore out the carpet and built in shelving, etc. New cages and so forth. My first pallet of cages came in yesterday. So it looks alot different now. I will post more pics once it is completed.