• Posted 12/19/2024.
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    I am still waiting on my developer to finish up on the Classifieds Control Panel so I can use it to encourage members into becoming paying members. Google Adsense has become a real burden on the viewing of this site, but honestly it is the ONLY source of income now that keeps it afloat. I tried offering disabling the ads being viewed by paying members, but apparently that is not enough incentive. Quite frankly, Google Adsense has dropped down to where it barely brings in enough daily to match even a single paid member per day. But it still gets the bills paid. But at what cost?

    So even without the classifieds control panel being complete, I believe I am going to have to disable those Google ads completely and likely disable some options here that have been free since going to the new platform. Like classified ad bumping, member name changes, and anything else I can use to encourage this site to be supported by the members instead of the Google Adsense ads.

    But there is risk involved. I will not pay out of pocket for very long during this last ditch experimental effort. If I find that the membership does not want to support this site with memberships, then I cannot support your being able to post your classified ads here for free. No, I am not intending to start charging for your posting ads here. I will just shut the site down and that will be it. I will be done with FaunaClassifieds. I certainly don't need this, and can live the rest of my life just fine without it. If I see that no one else really wants it to survive neither, then so be it. It goes away and you all can just go elsewhere to advertise your animals and merchandise.

    Not sure when this will take place, and I don't intend to give any further warning concerning the disabling of the Google Adsense. Just as there probably won't be any warning if I decide to close down this site. You will just come here and there will be some sort of message that the site is gone, and you have a nice day.

    I have been trying to make a go of this site for a very long time. And quite frankly, I am just tired of trying. I had hoped that enough people would be willing to help me help you all have a free outlet to offer your stuff for sale. But every year I see less and less people coming to this site, much less supporting it financially. That is fine. I tried. I retired the SerpenCo business about 14 years ago, so retiring out of this business completely is not that big if a step for me, nor will it be especially painful to do. When I was in Thailand, I did not check in here for three weeks. I didn't miss it even a little bit. So if you all want it to remain, it will be in your hands. I really don't care either way.

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    Some people have indicated that finding the method to contribute is rather difficult. And I have to admit, that it is not all that obvious. So to help, here is a thread to help as a quide. How to become a contributing member of FaunaClassifieds.

    And for the record, I will be shutting down the Google Adsense ads on January 1, 2025.
  • Responding to email notices you receive.
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    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.

good beginner venomous snake

Taking photos of my male king is somewhat problematic because he is SUCH a bad@ss. I don't really want to take my attention off of him to look through a camera. He alternates between trying to jump at me open mouthed and trying to run under the nearest heavy furniture when I open the cage door. I could get someone else to take the shots while I do the wrangling, but then I don't get the pics I really want.

At some point I need to do a proper photo shoot with him, but it's going to have to be in an empty room with lots of space to work in.
 
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You guys should be very proud you saved that mambas life! It looks great now im totally against venamoiders it is the most wrong thing i can think of! I hate people that have them just too look "cool". Tanith do people just send you their messed up mambas for free and you fix them up if so thats great I hope i can see your king sometime i bet that would be pretty hard to get a decent pic of him do to their stealthyness. I just love elapids!
 
I agree Tanith do you deal with any black mambas. I also had a question could you breed a green mamba with a black mamba i was wondering if it would work but i thought that it seems like the greens are pretty arboreal and the blacks are more terrestrial what do you guys think of this is it possible are my facts correct just what it seems of many hours of watching the discovery channel lol.
 
With all the whacked out morphs on the market now adays I have come to the conclusion anythings possible lol. But why would you want to breed them together. No way I would want a Black X Green. If i wanted an arboreal monster with speed agility and super hot toxin ill get a Pseudohaje goldii
 
When a batch of badly messed up venomous snakes comes in, sometimes an importer will be kind enough to phone me and let me know that I should come and do what I can to save them. At that point I go visit the vet clinic, get the prescription drugs necessary for the situation, and head down to the importer's. The vet "sees" the patients initially via digital photo transmission and I do the actual administration of what he prescribes. This way I can legally hand out pain relief medication to animals that badly need some.

I am not a veterinarian, though I do hold some certificates and licensing, and I take about 100 CE hours in reptile medicine yearly. I am operating legally under the direct supervision of a veterinarian. But since I cannot charge for practicing veterinary medicine, I ask that the importers give me the worst off patients that need intensive daily care. Since these are animals that would not survive without intensive veterinary care anyhow, importers don't mind handing them over.

If I'm doing such a massive @$$load of patients that the drug bill gets really ridiculous, I ask the importer to pay for the medicines. Otherwise money does not change hands to avoid legal complications.
 
I have actually considered attempting to crossbreed blacks and greens. I expect they would be cross fertile, but my concern would be that they might kill one another rather than mating - wrong behavioral signals. So I may attempt a closely controlled introduction at some point, but I would be very hesitant to leave them together unsupervised.

I'll keep folks updated if it ever does happen.
 
It was just something i thought of when i was looking at a reticxburm and it came to mind i'd like to see it happen i think it would look nice. But Mustang is right lol it would definately be an arboreal monster! I kinda like the rhino X gaboons too. Wow tanith your vet bills must be very expensive but you should be very proud. Just wondering Tanith what do you do for a living does it have to do with herps i'd like to specialize in a job with herps but honestly i'd rather be a big time breeder then a herpatologist. Thanks and happy herping!
 
My views of venomous keeping MINORS, PLEASE READ.

I am attempting to bring the subject back a few pages, sorry if I repost, or fall off, I did not read ALL 22 pages...

None of the follow do I recommend, I am just showing my venomous steps to help guide people in the right direction...

I am currently 17, becomming legal this monday the 17th.

I have kept venomous as a minor for about 4 years or so.

I started when I was approx. 14 years of age, with a pair of copperheads that I kept in an aquarium with books on it. I then moved to a pair of T. albolabris, kept pretty much the same way. In my defense, I killed none of these animals, I did my research, I was just ignorant of proper caging. I then went from various vipers, pit vipers, so on and so on. Yeah, now you can yell, scream, threaten my life....If I was you id be on the way to my house now with a shot gun.

Anyway, I learned of proper caging approx. a year after I began keeping. I aquired a pair of timber rattlers and a decent pair of vision cages too. They thrived and bred for me giving me 7 babies. From here I hadnt learned my lesson, and I shipped them through Airborne. YUP KILL ME AGAIN. I deserve it.

Gulp....when I was somewhere in my 16th year, I aquired my first Naja, it was Naja naja (spectacled), he did quite well. I kept him for a year or two, and traded him for an EA green mamba (gulp again). The stories go on and on and on....

Anyway, to this date, I currently own 1.2 Naja kaouthia ( 1.1 albino 0.1 het), 1.1 Naja pallida, 1.0 Naja naja (indian), and recently lost an imported forest cobra.

Once again in my defense: I have become an extremist when it comes to safe keeping. I NEVER have and never well handle any venomous snake. I even rarely hook a snake, I tail and hook only to inspect. I own bags, tongs and hooks. I stand by dividers and trap boxes.

Do I premote such a story as the above? NOT AT ALL. I very well could have added the the hobby declining as it is currently approaching, and in these next few days I could....I am not saying anyone have to or even should agree with my current placement. I have only had one close call as far as being bitten, in which I take the blame for, I pushed my limits and never will again. Me being bitten could potentially ruin my life, the hobby, and my bank account. All things riding against me, Im still here. I do not recommend such a thing to anyone for the laws and the money involved.

If it werent for laws, Id base venomous keeping on knowledge and maturity. Not to boast or brag, but I would place myself higher than many many many adults. Anyone can be quite irresponsible when ignorance lack of common sense, or ego arrises.

I stress too all of you minor keepers reading this. Please, do yourself and the hobby a favor and wait until you are legal. I regret my wrong doings, and I am very close to legal and will continue my safe keepings right through then. From what I see, Snakekid, the originator this thread has his head in the right place. He is willing to wait, and it is a wise decision.

I could talk about this all day, and ive already rambled too much about it as is, but remember, one slip up could take your life, your money, and your future. If you live through a bite or any other complication, you could ruin your chances of ever keeping hots again. You have your entire life to work with hots, with the wrong moves you may only have an entire few hours.

Any questions feel free to contact me, or continue it on the thread, I feel that Ive come around well and would be glad to assist anyone feeling that they could be approaching my position, or anyone in general looking to get into hots.

Sorry for the overlong post.

Chris Foley
 
Chriss. Thank you for posting and you have come a very long way since i first started talking to you and it shows. You are one who as an adult will make this hobby better.

Again thanks for posting I think its important for minors to be able to hear it from their piers. Now gimme your pallidas
 
There are people who consider hybridization to be an even worse offense than creating voided snakes.

While I see venomoids as being nothing but negative, the only animal affected is the one who actually undergoes the procedure.

Hybrids are a potential danger to every single captive animal of either parent species.
 
Seamus Haley said:
There are people who consider hybridization to be an even worse offense than creating voided snakes.
Click to expand...

I've given a lot of thought to the matter, and come to my own ethical decisions regarding "custom breeding" including hybridization, breeding for color and pattern, etc.

My feeling is that *all* captive bred snakes are genetically different to some degree from the animals that would have survived in the wild. Natural selection doesn't happen when you have a litter of babies that you separate and feed individually instead of letting them fend for themselves in the outdoors or wrestle with each other to see who gets to eat their siblings. Also it's a good bet that the parents of these snakes were selected deliberately by the hobbyist for things other than fitness to survive in the wild.

Any captive bred snake released into the wild is very bad news, for more reasons than just genetics. It's irresponsible to do this. If you plan to do any breeding for wild release, the parents should be wild caught and very strictly quarantined from any other captive snakes.

Funny genetics floating around in the captive gene pool is a potential threat to the long term survival of a species in captivity, especially if this animal becomes rare or extinct in the wild and can no longer be wild caught. If you are irresponsible with your captive bred animals, if you sell randomly to the highest bidder, you can make quite a mess.


While I see venomoids as being nothing but negative, the only animal affected is the one who actually undergoes the procedure.

Hybrids are a potential danger to every single captive animal of either parent species.
Click to expand...

The venomoid procedure involves causing a snake pain and damage. No animal suffering is involved in simply existing as a hybrid.

Irresponsibly distributed hybrids are a danger to the captive gene pool. But I think you know my policies well enough to figure out that nothing I breed is likely to end up on the open market, even if it's just an ordinary copperhead.

In particular if I ever produced any hybrids, their distribution would be *extremely* limited, and I would be keeping close tabs on them. They would not be entering the common gene pool and their offspring would certainly not be presented to the general public as belonging to either species.
 
I agree with Tanith once again venamoids have been basically tortured. Hybridalization is not if done right and if you keep them in captivity cause if not it could mess a bunch of things up. But you never know hybrids are becoming more and more popular. I would even maybe want to try to make a hybrid just for <font color=red>[**censored**]</font>s and giggles it would be interesting to me what it came out as. I've wondered if it was possible to cross breed a rosy boa to a kenyan sand i think that would be neat but i still have much more studying before that becomes a more serious thing since Im not sure if the care and size range is similar enough. Well ill end my rambling. Thanks and happy herping.
 
Scott i have a question who was your trainer in venomous reptiles just curious? I never knew it required that much work for venomous i still want to follow through and get my license i dont want to be a slacker and not even bother about training thats not fair to the snakes anyways your article was really good.
 
Irresponsibly distributed hybrids are a danger to the captive gene pool. But I think you know my policies well enough to figure out that nothing I breed is likely to end up on the open market, even if it's just an ordinary copperhead.
Click to expand...

Can you say the same for whoever you might be inclined to sell it to?

How about anyone THEY decide to sell offspring THEY produce to?

Creamcicle corns are a good example of genes ending up loose in the general population... They were originally created by crossing in emoryi which had the erythin values which were desired. They were never properly represented to the general population, many of whom cross "this here snake with this here other snake cause they's all I gots" with little or no regard for the genetics of any given animal... The offspring of which are sold off again, to neighbors or friends or wholesalers... the animals are further embedded into the population...

I'm currently uncertain if it's even possible to obtain verified pure corns without catching them yourself. Certainly any animal which isn't from a handful of well known breeders is chancey.

How long do you think it'll be until the same thing happens with "Jungle Corns"?

Any captive breeding removes certain elements of natural selection, with regards to both which animals survive and which ones are capable of getting any given female's attention (or holding her down)- I really don't think it's much of an excuse for throwing every single shred of ethical forethought out the window and creating true abominations against nature. There are behavioral isolating mechanisms as well as physiological ones- just because two animals CAN produce fertile offspring doesn't mean they WOULD or SHOULD.

Are you really that bored with every beautiful aspect of the two species... the appearance, the behavior, the adaptations to environment and the way they have fully encompassed their biological niches... that you need to go Frankenstein (That's Frahnk-en-shhhhhteen) solely for your own amusement?
 
Seamus Haley said:
Can you say the same for whoever you might be inclined to sell it to?
Click to expand...

If I could not, then I would not sell, give or trade the snake to that person.

I think that labelling a hybrid an "abomination against nature" is a bit much. Yes, there are legitimate issues and concerns which deserve careful attention. No, I don't consider it to be abusive or hurtful to the animals if they are kept responsibly.
 
Eric.
As to who my teachers were." Lets say still are" as I believe there is no time to ever stop learning. And that is simple to answer EVERY KEEPER is my teacher you can learn something be it good or bad from them all. I have loved herps since I was a kid and like most boys always was bringing one home. It has been a lifetime of learning and a lifetime still of learning.

My first teacher was myself Stupid as it was I kept a Mojave and Southern Pacific when i lived in cali along with some westerns from time to time. Luckily and i do mean luckily i wasnt bitten. I was a deffinate candidate for the Darwin Award several times.

When i Moved to FL I had to get permit and Ray Hunter trained me here for my VRL Permit. In learning with Ray I saw many things i did wrong and was exposed to many of the worlds venomous snakes and how to deal with them safely. Now here is my standard disclaimer. Anyone thats seen Ray's sight might get the wrong impression of him being dangerous. Fact he is extremely safe and really hammers in key points and will never allow anyone to work with or near him that does dangerous acts. I guess the biggest reason I yell about getting trained and waiting till your 18 is because I relised after training how damn lucky i was not to have been bit.
 
Seamus i think your getting a little carried away with the hybrid thing and i also feel i worded what i meant wrong with the rosy and kenyan sand boas. I wouldnt breed them just for my amusement but to learn about it. Their is much controversy over hybridization and i havent quite figured out whether im against or with it im still thinking about it. And with the hybrids being worse then venomoids i dont agree with that but everyone is based to their own opinions. Thanks and happy herping!
 
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