Venomous Snakes
 

Anybody wanna talk about hots?? Personally venom and venomous snakes are my favorite topics, since I was very young I loved seeing venomous snakes and learning about all of them, Unfortunately in the state I live they are not legal so I have yet to have any hands on contact with there beautiful creatures. However, I am enrolled in school for biology on the long road to PhD in zoology so I can work as a venom extractor professionally. I plan on moving south before graduate school so I can get some legal hands on training while obtaining the degree (PhD's don't help when staring down a cobra). I started studying them intensely at age 10 and now a short 8 years later I can tell you the common, and Latin names of most hots as well as venom toxicity, venom components, venom effects, natural habitat locations and regions and most features that make one snake more significant than another. My favorite hot is Bitis parviocula the Ethiopian Mountain Adder because its a big bodied bitis and has those striking green X's along its back, I used to call it the X-box snake when I was young because it looked similar to the original X-box logo.

So whats your favorite? And why?
Do you work with hots or just like them?
Tell us about your hot history, how did get into owning them?

Everybody loves pictures!

Obtained from Google Image

Favorite hot is the rhino viper. The look and bright colors speak for themselves. Hopefully I will successfully breed them in captivity some day. Really anything in the bitis family is my choice of hot.

Rhino Vipers are definitely in my top 10 list, the colors on some individuals are incredible, I cant think of any other animal who displays suck a vast array of color on a single specimen. When people say "Snakes are so ugly" which I'm sure happens a lot to all of us, I show them a picture of a Rhino and I've been able to change a couple opinions so far!

As far as what I've kept, I think the monocled cobras were my favorites. They're also the only ones that managed to scare the bejesus out of me. I have more than enough sense to have a healthy respect and fear of any hot I've kept, but there's just something about being stared down by a pissed off cobra that gets the blood pumping.

I don't currently have any hots, but intend to start keeping them again in the not-too-distant future. I started out with a Canebrake rattler, next came a pair of Puff Adders, and my last hots were a pair of monocled cobras. When I start keeping them again, I'm leaning toward a rhino viper.

I'd always been fascinated by hots, but it wasn't completely of my own volition that I started keeping them. I knew someone who simply had no business keeping venomous snakes, and had a suspicion that his lack of sense would eventually put me into the position where I'd have to take over his animals to save him from himself. I'm sure some of the older members won't have too much trouble guessing who I'm talking about. He stopped having his stupidity rewarded with trips to the hospital and I ended up loving the challenge of safely working with them. All's well that ends well, I suppose.

It's unfortunate that often the irresponsible owners are the ones who get the most attention whether it be by the media or fellow keepers. I often worry whether or not my future occupation will even be legal by the time I am ready to step into it. It's a scary thought and can almost solely be attributed to irresponsible owners.

I went on a trip to costa rica with my school to study tropical forest ecology. On the plane trip there I was sitting next to some random woman telling her all about how excited I was to see a fer du lance. Other students on the trip have gone the whole time without seeing any snakes, but I was hopeful. We spotted 8 different species which I was thrilled about. Anyway, on day two I caught and handled a venomous snake for the first time. And had my buddy take a picture of me holding this fer du lance behind the head. It was awesome. The instructor thought it was pretty awesome too for the first day. Then banned me from holding any more hots. We also saw a yellow bellied sea snake washed up on the beach. I wanted to put him back but respected the ban.

Thats cool! Bothrops Atrox is a very cool snake, but look very similar to the Bothrops asper, any pics??

I think copperheads are pretty cool. I would like to have a few.

Eyelash vipers are awesome looking snakes. I love the variety of colors they can be.