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good beginner venomous snake

S

snakekid13

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i have always been fascinated with venomous snakes and i would like some suggestions on what would be a good beginner venomous snake due to me being legally underage for venomous im talking in about six years or so. so please share your opinions with me.
thanks and happy herping
 
I got a FL dusky pigmy rattlesnake for my birthday when I turned 13, and it worked rather well, small strike range, mild venom, small, easy to care for. Just make sure to get a couple good hooks.
 
well ill check the rattler out but since im only thirteen i think it would be wiser to wait till im older since i wouldnt want to make herp keepers look bad if i happened to get bit but thanks.
 
Snakekid, that's a pretty smart and mature point of view.

Some kids do end up keeping venomous snakes, for better or worse. I hid sidewinders under my bed in jars when I was a little girl. LOL As an adult I no longer think this is a good idea, but you can't really stop a determined kid from bringing critters home. So education is better.

I advise parents whose children want to keep venomous snakes to let them start with the "theoretically venomous" species like hognoses, mangroves, paradise flying snakes and other rear-fangers that cannot cause any real or serious envenomation. These animals should be treated as if they were truly venomous and kept in high quality locking cages for handling with snake hooks only. A few years of maintaining these animals plus a few years of experience working with belligerent nonvenomous species should well prepare the young keeper to start safely with venomous species.
 
get some rather large asian rats snakes preferebly WC and work with those for a few years as "psuedo" hots gto gain your skills in hooking, pinning tubing , medicating ect. six years of work with those and some evil wild caught racewrs MIGHT just have you ready in six years.........
tannith, i want sidewinders and im a big kid!!!!!!!!!!! but no hot keeping for me right now.. my husband does but i have chosen not to since losing alot of my vision due to a eye disease the first of the year... i look through the cages but thats it for me.. plus i got two of the nasties asians you could ever want, bout 7-8 feet long so thise are a good handfull for me!!!!!!!! LOL
 
Heck,

Just get yourself a foul tempered racer or coachwhip to practice with and maintain for a couple years, after all most of the issue of "hot" keeping is to NOT get bit, EVER, and there are subjects you could maintain to help fine-tune your eye and skills to prevent it from happening. Racers are a fast and very agressive species that do not "tame down" with frequent handling. If it's really your goal to deal with hots, and you have a few years to train, with a couple species just train yourself how to not get bitten, period, by any snake, and progress to a more advanced stage after you have a little functional experience. Remember, freehandling hots is a always dangerous game!!!!!! It's always important to have the appropriate equipment (hooks/tongs) and a steady hand. -Eric Lago *MS Reptilian Hobbyists*
 
mangrove snakes

I was looking at the mangrove snakes is thier venom pretty bad or would u suggest something else for a first time venomous herp i think thier colors are very pretty please post if u think this is a good first rear fanged snake or would u suggest something else. thanks and happy herping.
 
Boiga dendrophilia is not a life threatening bite. It may give you a pounding headache and nausea but that's the worst I'm aware of that has been reported.

Some of the other Boiga have more potent toxins, but mangroves are relatively harmless. Unless of course you have a particularly bad reaction, which is always a possibility. Remember that people do regularly die or get hospitalized by wasp stings due to a bad anaphylactic reaction to the venom.

If you ask on venomdoc.com you'll probably get a much more thorough rundown on B. dendrophilia toxin. Also search the Internet for toxicology studies on this species.
 
B. dendrophila is a very rewarding species to keep. Their venom toxicity is pretty mild (though I've not been bitten by mine), and unlikely to cause serious symptoms (though as Tanith said, people have severe reactions to bee and wasp stings, so don't take "mildly venomous" as gospel). They are also very adept at climbing, and it's not much of a challenge for them to pull themselves up their body length while your tailing them, at an alarming speed. This is true with most arboreals, and is obviously a much bigger deal with a mamba or boomslang than a mangrove, but still, be careful. These are not the best snakes to hone your tailing skills on (as I learned myself), but as said before, the consequences of a mistake are not likely to be heavy. I personally treat mine like any hot, and use the appropriate tools (hooks) whenever its neccesary to handle them. I believe this is the best way, because complancency is contagious, and if you get a little to comfortable with your mang, you might get a little too comfortable with more venomous species as you move along in this hobby. Bad habits are very easily learned, and very very hard to break. It's best to not learn them in the first place. Just my .02 and I hope it helps.

Best of luck,

AP
 
hey

Hello,

I just recently got my first venomous snake, a northern copperhead, agkistrodon c. mokasen. I am 14, and I'm now looking into getting a pygmy rattler, I have practiced on many aggro snakes, whitelips, burms (although they're kinda slow,lol), retics, amazon tree boas, and rat snakes. I am also getting a coachwip since that seems to be what most reccomend as a "practice venomous."

Good luck!!

Steven k. Ray
 
Hi Irwin,

I'm glad your parents are supportive and are allowing you to get some early experience keeping these snakes. You can learn a lot about handling safety at www.snakegetters.com/demo/

Secure housing is important - have you built absolutely secure cages that are kept locked? Aquariums with screen lids are not good places to keep venomous snakes, so make sure your caging is professionally secure. You don't want to stumble over loose copperheads on your way to the bathroom at night.

I don't know where you live, but we get plenty of very nice looking dusky pygmy rattlesnakes here in Florida. If you are anywhere nearby, and you can show that you have good quality husbandry and secure housing, I'm sure I find a spare pygmy or two. We remove a lot of those on wildlife nuisance calls and some are not relocatable because they come from areas where their habitat has been built over. I would have to give the snake to your VR licensed mom or dad, and then it is up to them to give the snake to you.

Do you have a veterinarian who will see your venomous snakes when they need care? That's pretty important - it's not cool to keep pets that you can't take care of when they get sick. Try to establish a relationship with a local vet before your snakes need one, because eventually it is very likely that they will.
 
also

i've also heard green vine snakes make good starter snakes but thier harder to get eating do u guys agree with this or no? trying to talk my mom into a rear fanged snake
 
Hello

Hey,
Thanks for all your support, yes I have a very secure cage for it, he/she's just a tiny one, so even the smallest crack is dangerous, but we have the lid screwed down and locked and everything. I have read your article about snake handling many times, you have some very useful and important stuff there, that helped me a lot. I live in Virginia, so its about a 2 day drive to Florida, but I do get to go there every once in a while, because I have an aunt that lives there, so next time I get to go, I'll certainly look for you.


Yes, I have a pretty good relationship with my vet who sees herps only, and will treat venomous, even though his main customers are boids.

Snakekid,
I'm not very familiar with vine snakes, but I have heard that their bites have an effect like a bee sting, but don't quote me on that. I have also heard that they will take anoles as a food supply, and that many will take a rodent that is scented with an anole.

Thanks, Steven Ray
 
Drop me a note before you come visit, Irwin, and I'll see about rounding up a little pig or two for you. Remember that I cannot give venomous snakes to a minor, only to an adult legal guardian who may then choose to give the snakes to you. Also if any permits are required in your state I'd need to see those. Happy herping!
 
Florida

Thanks a lot, I'm not sure when I will get to go to Florida, but probably this year, I'll be sure to let you know, and schedule a meeting point or something, the aunt I earlier reffered to that lives in Florida is in Cape Coral, close to Ft. Myers. In Virginia you need a permit for timber rattlers (crotalus horridus) and the brown tree snake, but that's all that is illegal as of now. My parents or a legal gaurdian will be there with me, so they will sign or whatever procedure is required.

Steven K. Ray
 
It sounds to me like there are a couple of young ,budding herpers with good heads on their shoulders.Very impressive.Hell I had a kid email me the other day wanting a Naja....I told him he should get an iquana and ait a few years before he get anything too dangerous.
 
thanks for the compliment glen it is very important to me to not ruine herping for other people we already have too many herping laws especially here in richardson and i wish some people cared as much about that as i do unlike that guy that sold that 17 year old an african bush viper and he claimed he got bit. His mom called and said he was kissing it on the head!!! people can be so stupid. Thanks and happy herping
 
I'm going to have to dissent from some of the views espoused on this thread...

While I feel that working with multiple species, of any kind, is a great way to increase the knowledge and experience of a keeper, I truly feel that there is no non-venomous species which can act as a substitute when looking at potentially keeping a hot. Sure, there are species which can be used to learn basic restraint techniques and every species kept gives a certain indefinable measure of competence to a herper but...

The best "first hot" is one that belongs to someone else. Locating a suitable individual who already keeps venomous species and volunteering to clean cages and fill water bowls in exchange for a hands on education about the animals is the ONLY way to go. From there, the best species for any given individual to keep is one that is not considered capable of a lethal envenomation and that they personally feel comfortable working with. I learned (meaning had pounded into my head) handling techniques from my father, who kept crotalids and thus I personally feel way more comfortable hooking a massive, agressive atrox than I do handling just about ANY elapid (I also grew up with corals, but the behavior of a coral is vastly different than the behavior of a cobra or mamba) because those are the species I "leanred" on.
 
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