Just wondering
Hi folks,
I'm Tony Carlisle, from the indigo forum. I don't visit these parts much because I don't keep hots. yet. Iv'e been playing with snakes for about 40 years now, and have caught, and handled many hots. Especially during my time as an animal control officer in south Florida. I love all snakes, but I could never understand why anyone would want to keep a snake that they could not free handle, without fear of dying. I like to handle my snakes with bare hands. To me, that's the main joy of keeping them. Which is why I work almost exclusuvely with drymarchon now. My indigos are not very likely to bite, but I have been bitten by one, {not pretty}, although my death was never in question. I just can't imagine wanting to keep a snake if I can't handle it without fear of dying. Any snake, can bite at any time, so free handleing of hots is out of the question. After I quit jumping out of perfectly good airplanes for uncle sam, I decided I want to live. So tell me, why on earth would I want to have a snake that I can't handle because it can kill me if it gets a chance. Yes Iv'e had big constrictors that could have killed me too, but if you have help with you, and I did, it's not as likely to be killed by a 12 ft. burm as it would be to be killed by one bite from Naja. And yet, I have always been fascinated with Naja. Iv'e always wanted one. Now that I know about venomoids, I want one even more. Is there anyone out there who is reputable, and does good, safe, surgical removal? Sorry folks, but if done correctly, by a repuatable veteranary surgeon, what's the harm? It can't be any more cruel than having your cat declawed so it won't destroy the furniture,...right? My cat still has her claws by the way. When they declaw a cat, they actually cut off the entire last segment of all the toes. I dunno, it just seems like a decent trade off to me, to be able to enjoy a magnificant creature, without fear of it killing you. You can play with loaded hots if you want to, but where's the joy of keeping them under lock and key, and only touching them with tongs. Unless you are keeping them for research, and or venom extraction, I just don't get it. Well, I'm not looking for an argument by any means, but I just had to put in my 2 cents worth, and see if anyone out there knows of a good vet who does good, safe, and humane venomoid surgeries. Fell free to contact me if so.
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Thanks,
T.