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The Coastal Taipan In Captivity
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by oxyuranus on January 15, 2001
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Scotty,
A very good effort mate!
I would however extend a word of warning regarding a couple of points:
1. From experience keeping two subadult (>1000mm) specimens in the same 800 x 800 x 600 mm enclosure is a tragedy just waiting to happen. Taipans are just simply too fast and flighty to keep together, especially at feeding time. Except for mating purposes I honestly suggest you keep them in separate accommodations.
2. Feeding ... best practice is never to condition taipans to expect food when the cage door opens ... you are begging for a bite! Either confine the snake inside the trap box before placing the prey item on the cage floor, and then open the trapbox ... or remove each snake to a separate "feeding cage" at meal times ... we usually feed them by transferring the snake to a clean plastic garbage bin containing the prekilled food, allowing it to eat in private, while the cage is cleaned ... after the snake has eaten it can be transferred back to it's cage.
3. For taipans over 1200mm total length the minimum cage size should be at least 2400x600x600mm. Remember that these are very active snakes, which like to "prowl" their enclosures.
Cheers
David Williams,
Tropical Herpetologist/Biomedical Scientist,
Papua New Guinea Venom Research Project,
Department of Biochemistry & Molecular Biology,
James Cook University,
Douglas, Qld, 4811.
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The Coastal Taipan In Captivity
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by rihnoruss on April 29, 2004
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yeah,what he said.double the snake , double the danger.keep it as simple as possible , and keep it safe.
no credientials , except a lifelong love.
russ
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The Coastal Taipan In Captivity
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by Scott7590 on August 10, 2005
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Ihave kept gaboons and rhinos, but have avoided taipans, mambas, and kings. They are simply too active.
Keeping antivenom is usually not practical. It is VERY expensive and, if you are bitten, who is going to administer it? A bite often means a loose snake, and I, for one, do not want to be around when one of these guys is prowling around.
If you want to keep a taipan, make a deal with yourself: If you get bitten, you're going to die. So, too, are other members of your household and your neighbors.
The bite of the taipan falls into the "How dead is dead?" category. The real question is how many people you want to take with you? Same with the mamba and, to a somewhat lesser extent, the king. Don't misunderstand me: The king is truly bad news, but a big one is not too hard to see, so you have a chance, if you can run fast enough.
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RE: The Coastal Taipan In Captivity
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by Bowerbird on January 19, 2006
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The reply above was correct - take it from someone who has actually nursed patients bitten by the beggars. Rapid descent into critically ill. The Taipan has both pre-synaptic and post-synaptic neurotoxin. One patient I nursed who had only a glancing strike (not even a true bite) was vomiting almost uncontrollably - already unable to open his eyes fully (one of the first muscle groups affected is the eyes) and was almost moribund in 20 minutes it took to get him to hospital. We gave, if memory serves 4 doses of anti-venom but the record is 10 doses!! Remember with anti-venom we have to match the amount to the amount of venom injected so if the snake has not been milked lately it can have quite a reservior.
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The Coastal Taipan In Captivity
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by billt6 on June 21, 2006
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Being a new member I have spent hours reading stories and needless to say have learned a lot. I am no longer a keeper and haven't been since 1980 I have always been intrigued by venomous snakes. One of job trainers back in 1958 told me if I don't know how to do something don't do it without first learning how. My first seriously kept hot was a Western Diamondback aquired from a man who every year went to the rattle snake roundup. About ten years prior I had caught numerous copperheads and kept them 2 or 3 days and released them in the woods far from the house instead of killing them as requested by the folks that lived there. The only good snake is a live snake in my opinion, dead snakes can't kill and eat rats and mice and hours of entertainment & enjoyment to people like us. Thanks, Guys & Gals that love snakes.----Bill
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RE: The Coastal Taipan In Captivity
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by djlen on January 3, 2008
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Back in '93 in Townsville in North Queensland, I was performing a routine voluntary snake rescue at James Cook Uni., when I was bitten by an Eastern Taipan.
More important than the antivenom at the time of the bite is the immediate first aid. Without that compression bandage, I wouldn't be here writing this reply today. I can't stress that point strongly enough. The ambulance arrived 45 minutes after I was bitten. It took another 45 minutes to get to Townsville General where they cut the bandage where we'd marked the "X" to show where the bite was (on my right hand). They will always test the venom to be sure of the snake variety (even if the victim is an expert). When the test came back positive for Taipan, they then removed the bandage to allow the venom to go through my body. I was fully conscious and speaking with the Emergency staff while all this was going on. Within a few minutes, a headache began in the middle of my head, and very rapidly escalated to the worst I've ever had. My eyes went on separate trips (I have no idea how chameleons do it). A few minutes later, I began vomiting, and they then administered one ampoule of antivenom. They said that I had a significantly large envenomation, but they only had 4 more ampoules, and being the middle of summer, they could need it for other potential victims.
As it turned out, I only needed the one ampoule. I spent 2 days in intensive care (taking myself and my iv outside to have an occasional smoke). Then I spent 3 days in a public ward before being discharged.
My next 2 weeks at home were interesting, as it seemed that each day, I woke-up with something different wrong with me.
Today, I still feel a tingling in my hand and fingers near the bite-site.
Do I regret being bitten? Hell NO!! As someone whose always loved snakes, I found that whole experience to be the most interesting of my entire life.
Do I recommend that anyone try this experience? HELL NO!!! I was lucky that everything went as per the text book..
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RE: The Coastal Taipan In Captivity
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by inlandcornerman on April 2, 2009
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well i have just reasonly meet Shane King and would like to say this young man would be 1 of the best Taipan breeders as i veiwed his taipans the health and size amazed me at 10 foot the male and the female reaching 9 foot he was explaining to me to keep the tiapan in 2 differant inclosers is the only realy success he has had he is breeding this year and i think some people do know shane on this site his last clatch 9/living offspring
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