• Responding to email notices you receive.
    **************************************************
    In short, DON'T! Email notices are to ONLY alert you of a reply to your private message or your ad on this site. Replying to the email just wastes your time as it goes NOWHERE, and probably pisses off the person you thought you replied to when they think you just ignored them. So instead of complaining to me about your messages not being replied to from this site via email, please READ that email notice that plainly states what you need to do in order to reply to who you are trying to converse with.

  • IMPORTANT! PLEASE READ!! About the Google Adsense ads being displayed

    =====================
    Posted 08/15/2025
    =====================


    Yeah, I know. They are a pain in the butt. But they pay the bills to keep my server running. Just a fact of life, I am afraid.

    Want to get rid of them? Simple. Just become a Contributor level member or above and they will be gone. -> Please click HERE."

    Is that too much for me to ask of you to keep this site running? Well, sorry about that. I too wish I could get everything for free. But alas.....

    =====================
    Addendum: 01/10/2026
    =====================


    Google Adsense ad revenue for December, 2025 was just $30 over the cost of the lease for the server running this site. So, in effect, the money providing the incentive for me to continue running this site is coming SOLELY from the paid memberships and sponsorships here. Which honestly ain't much....

My "Rare" Venomous Snakes

yasin

New member
Joined
Jun 14, 2004
Messages
161
Reaction score
5
Points
0
Age
44
Location
Europe
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:

jxkd.jpg


ahawkeiadultmaleeye.jpg



Female:

4kxq.jpg


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:

o1fn.jpg


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.

6dj5.jpg


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 .

7n9m.jpg


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.

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. www.academia.edu/download/31054601/2004Scanlon_Lee_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-fraud-wolfgang-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
 

Attachments

  • 1a.jpg
    1a.jpg
    262.1 KB · Views: 1,517
Would you be willing to share your scenting recipe??

I'm always eager to hear what others use that is successful!
 
Would you be willing to share your scenting recipe??

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

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:

t543.jpg


Acanthophis hawkei female:

c64d.jpg


Acanthophis sp. "Dajarra Desert" male:

9w5c.jpg
 
Those are some amazing shots. What kind of camera and macro lens to you use?
 
Matthew,

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

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

 
Back
Top