Is This a Good Idea?

http://www.faunaclassifieds.com/phot...sort/1/cat/524

Check out the picture above then tell me if this is a good idea. Looks like an accident waiting to happen.

Perhaps it is a venomoid and he/she is just trying to get a "rise" out of people by not mentioning that? If it is truly "hot" then they are just asking for trouble. In my opinion.

why laws are passed if this person gets nabbed if this is not venomoid. Even if it is , it 's not the type of thing we want to propell in an image of venomous keepers or collectors. Maybe the person considers the snake to be low toxin because it is a juvenile ? And maybe if envenomated it won't be to serious. Probably true but still...................

Has someone informed Lonermon of this thread? Perhaps he'd come here and explain his thoughts on this.

I don't know how old the neonate in the picture is, but it seems that I read something somewhere that if it is 1 - 10 hrs old it doesn't use its venom yet. (help me out here) But they are just as deadly, if not more so that the adult is at that age.

Well, it says in the title that it is about six months old...I wonder when he is going to start going to church and dancing around with it?
greg

But they are just as deadly,

I think it might be a stretch to call a cottonmouth "deadly". While I won't argue that they can inflict a nasty bite, I live in an area abundant with cottonmouths and have not heard of a death in decades. Certainly the very young and the very elderly are at higher risk for a serious reaction, a normal healthy male doesn't have much risk of death. I, myself, would be more concerned about a reaction to the antivenin than the snakebite itself.

Actually, it is not a stretch to call a cottonmouth deadly..... They can and do kill....... There was a cotton bite that proved to be deadly not too long ago....... Within 6 years or so...... Heck, people have even died as a result of a copperhead bite..... Venomous snakes are able to use their venom as soon as they are born..... They are not deadlier than the adults..... That is an old wives tale...... A neonate is not able to do more or even as close to as much damage as an adult because of the simple fact that they have a much smaller yeild...... The venom of a neonate is not any more toxic than an adults...... But it may be true that neonates do not have as much control over the amount of venom injected in a bite..... Anyway, venomous snake should be respected and not freehandled no matter how "mild" their venom is considered......

Actually, it is not a stretch to call a cottonmouth deadly..... They can and do kill.......

Considering that the U.S. averages 12 fatal snake bites per year, and 99% of those are from rattlesnakes, I think it's a stretch. You're much more likely to be killed by a dog or a bee sting.

That being said, you won't find me freehandling anything venomous, and I don't find it a responsible thing to do (mostly because of the bad impression it gives of hobbyists).

Unless this animal is a venomoid, or venom void as I call them,...YES this is a bad idea. But it's not an accident waiting to happen, it's an incident waiting to happen. And when it does happen, and it will, sooner or later, it will be just one more nail in the coufin of herpeticulture. Our hobby is under attack every day by zealots from PETA and The Humane Society because of irresponsible stuff like this. Every time some hot keeper gets bit, it makes the powers that be alittle more prejudice against us. And then they pass another stupid law which makes us ALL suffer. Please don't do this. I don't care if it's venomoid or not. It makes us all look bad, and it makes us all pay!
T.