aggressive colubrids

Just.....WOW!!!!!!

I can "second" what others have already said. There is no preparation for keeping venomous except keeping venomous. An "aggressive" Colubrid is a scared, stressed-out snake, and you never get out of your mind that it's non-venomous, so you still take chances that you BETTER not take with a "hot" snake! The vast majority of "aggressive" Colubrids will actually become tame, very quickly, and I can say this because I specialize in keeping and breeding two genera-Nerodia and Masticophis-that most people assume are "aggressive". Besides, isn't it illegal to keep "hots" where you live?

pitbulllady

Just forget the aggressive colubrid idea.

Yeah. That's a very dumb idea. I have cribos and rattlesnakes. You can't learn to handle an aggressive cribo and then go try type luck with a cobra or rattlesnakes. You won't live long if you think you can

Just when I thought I seen it and heard it all... 😏😧

Oh, believe me, this isn't the first request I've seen for this. I have had people want to buy Water Snakes and Coachwhips from me for this very purpose, because someone told them that it was good practice for keeping venomous snakes. I have no hesitation whatsoever about putting my hands into a big tub of adult Nerodia and pulling out snakes. I have Water Snakes that sit in my lap while I'm watching the NASCAR races on tv-now tell me HOW that will prepare anyone for dealing with a WDB or a Monocle?

As far as the training part goes, this person is a statistic just waiting to happen. It is only a matter of time till they get bit by something.

The scariest part is that they are going to use this stressed out, aggressive animal to show just how awesome our hobby is. It is people like this that screw it up for all of us in the hobby. I have been keeping reptiles for 40 years and have done 100s of shows in that time but I have never used an animal that wasn't calm and tame. Using an animal that is stressed out and scared will only make people more afraid of snakes and not less. This is NOT educating the public. I can see them from here. They are getting the shovel out of the barn to behead that gopher or black rat snake.

Admin, please consider pulling this add. Thanks!

^^^ So everybody that has discredited this guys add thinks he should start out with venmous reptiles because training with nonvenomous will never get someone prepared to deal with a venomous snake... That makes about as much sense as Raymond Hooser.

Handling non-venomous snakes WILL NOT prepare you to deal with a venomous snake! That IS the point, and I don't even know why anyone would question that. For anyone to claim that keeping an "aggressive"(meaning: scared, stressed-out and defensive)Colubrid will prepare you to deal with a highly-venomous viper or Elapid is analogous to claiming that peddling around the driveway on a Big Wheel is preparation enough for driving a Formula One race car. It's not even close to being in the same league! It's pretty much a moot issue, anyway, since the OP lives in a state where private ownership of venomous snakes of any kind is banned, so unless he moves to a state where it's allowed, he can't keep "hot" snakes. I've kept venomous snakes, and I've had my share of defensive Colubrids and Boids, and there is no way that a bitey Racer, or Rat Snake, or even a Boa is going to get you ready to deal with a snake that has the ability to change your life with one bite, if not kill you. Your mental state when dealing with "hot" snakes must never be anything like what it is when you're dealing with a non-venomous snake, even one that bites at every given opportunity, because even with the biters, you get complacent and even joke about the snake biting, an attitude that will cost you dearly if you get into that mindset around a "hot" snake.

Originally Posted by pitbulllady

Handling non-venomous snakes WILL NOT prepare you to deal with a venomous snake! That IS the point, and I don't even know why anyone would question that.

Black Racers are a lot like mambas. Someone who is practicing handling a Racer with a hook, tongs and gloves and never grabs the snake with his hands could certainly attain skills in handling snakes that would benefit him in handling mambas and cobras. It is indeed strange that so many in this thread cannot understand that.

Even more disturbing is the "black eye on the hobby" fascists who sound like RATS ready to send a note to cops to bust them.

Rats get fed to snakes.

It's pretty much a moot issue, anyway, since the OP lives in a state where private ownership of venomous snakes of any kind is banned, so unless he moves to a state where it's allowed, he can't keep "hot" snakes.

I would wager a substantial sum of money that there are people keeping cobras, mambas and rattlesnakes in Hawaii.