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RE: mental prep for the hot room...
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by agkistrodude on October 8, 2009
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I just make sure my head is straight and clear. Not tired, sick, etc. However I always take my phone in with me in case of an emergency. It won't in any way distract me if it rings, I just won't answer it if I'm busy.And I usually play music, but not loud stuff, just the radio or a CD on softly in the backround.I NEVER enter my hot room barefoot, nor does anyone else. And when I'm working with them I always make sure someone is around that can drive.Karls suggestion on never working with hots late at night is a good one, I hadn't really thought about that before. But I'm not a late night kind of person anyways. Take care, Marty
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RE: mental prep for the hot room...
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by najasuphan on October 8, 2009
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I don't do anything really special mentally. I never work with venomous if I start to get tired at all. I also talk to my snakes when they start acting up. It just keeps me calm for some reason. -Jamie
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RE: mental prep for the hot room...
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by Buzztail1 on October 8, 2009
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Not criticizing at all, Marty, but a couple of reasons why I chose to do things the way I do.
Can you imagine, you have a big rattlesnake on your hooks and the radio announces that the President has been shot (I remember the Kennedy assasination - it was shocking but of course - I wasn't keeping venomous just yet). That and I just tend to get caught up in my music - so better for me to just remove the temptation to tap my toes.
I really like the "two-person-concept". For instance, when a woman goes into labor, you never hear the guy say "Okay Honey, you call the hospital and I'll go get the car." LOL Of course she probably won't be getting the car either. If your back-up person is calm and reliable, they will be much better on the phone than you - they aren't freaked by being bitten!
Again - not that my ways are the end-all-be-all - they are just what I have reasoned out to work for me.
R/
Karl
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RE: mental prep for the hot room...
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by Buzztail1 on October 8, 2009
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Jamie, I have seen a lot of people who talk with their venomous snakes that they are working with. It seems to help keep them focused on the snake. Maybe not a bad way to go.
R/
Karl
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RE: mental prep for the hot room...
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by Peter on October 8, 2009
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Don't ever, ever, ever put you hand (or head or any other part of your anatomy) into a cage with a snake in it. Even if its waaaay over on the other side and you just need to grab out that water bowl real quick. Just DON'T.
Don't pile crap all over the place so you can fall over it or lose snakes into it if (when actually) one hits the floor.
Don't show off for people...not friends, not significant others, not playboy playmates or the Dallas Cowboy Cheerleaders or anyone from Animal Planet or National Geographic. Don't let anyone who you don't absolutely trust to be sane into the room and even then watch them carefully. For example, some people don't realise it isn't a good idea to lean their butt on a screen covering a rattlesnake cage.
Don't mess with snakes while chemically challenged ought to be common sense but the two most common substances found in the body of snakebite victims (other than venom) are testosterone and Budweiser. Just say NO.
Know your limitations...if you arn't absolutely sure you are capable of doing whatever your contemplating doing you probably arn't. If you are sure you can do it but there is a safer/better way, do that instead. You are not going to get points for style in snake maintainance. Just cause you have had a Copperhead for 6 months doesnt mean your ready to keep Mambas. If your worried about how your going to get it from the crate into the cage your probably in over your head.
Lastly but most important probably is KEEP YOUR HANDS OFF THEM! Its almost never necessary (especially for routine maintainance), they don't enjoy it, its assuming a huge unnecessary risk, and if you get bit while being "hands on" with a snake just about every "professional grade" venomous person is going to think "what a twit" when they hear about it even if they routinely do the same thing themselves.
Everything else everyone says is good except for the music bit...I'd feel totally lost in the snake room without my Pink Floyd! :-)
Stay safe!
Peter
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RE: mental prep for the hot room...
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by plainblain on October 8, 2009
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Karl is good. He is kind of like "ice Man". When it comes to safety, he has no emotion other than staying safe at any cost. His procedures and protocols, i'm sure come from the Navy and how he had to handle nuclear weapons. I really like what he wrote. The after dark stuff is heavy. I am going to add it to my procedures.
And I would like to add one other thing that no one has touched on. Here in Austin, we have very good networking of extremely competent hot keepers and we all know each other. I have called Tim Cole when I had a problem that I didn't want to handle and he was at my disposal in a heartbeat. He probably doesn't even remember. Another time, I needed to clean a Klauberi cage and I was getting over the flu and just wasn't up to the task, so I called Brandon Rubel and he came over and squared the Klauberi away.
When you have dangerous animals and there is something you can't do, for what ever reason, call within your network and get someone who can do it. This procedure ALSO keeps you safe.
Blain
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RE: mental prep for the hot room...
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by lanceheads on October 8, 2009
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That's AMAZING Karl, I mean, AMAZING that you could remember the Kennedy assassination when you were 5 years old!
Simply astonishing.
Randal
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RE: mental prep for the hot room...
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by Peter on October 9, 2009
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I do to...I was POed that they canceled the afternoon cartoons for a whole week to show the funeral on all the TV stations...:-( The psychic scars have yet to heal.
"And watching, for pigs on the wing."
Although my particular favorite is "Careful with that Axe, Eugene."
Peter
There used to be a really neat pamplet that someone put out (purina mayby?)called something like "100 useful tips for zoo men" which was full with good advice like where to aim for if you had to shoot an escaped lion and NEVER move dangerous animals on Wednesday afternoons cause thats when all the doctors leave early to play golf and can't be found.
Peter
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RE: mental prep for the hot room...
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by agkistrodude on October 9, 2009
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Karl, I see what your saying, but the phone isn't for me to call 9-1-1.Although I could if necessary. Its there to find my wife or daughter in a hurry. They could be upstairs, downstairs, in the barn, riding a horse in the pasture or woods around the house, etc.Point being I wouldn't have to go looking for them.I don't work with my snakes when nobody else is home, but at the same time, I don't expect them to sit calmly on the couch till I'm done either. Also I'm the type that always focuses on what I'm doing. I'll completely tune out the radio when I'm moving that EDB from the cage to the soaking barrel.Happens to me at work all the time.I'll be focused on what I'm doing, and someone is trying to get my attention for something, they have to yell, or tap me on the shoulder, or throw something at me, or something like that.If a news bulletin came across about the president getting killed, I most likely wouldn't even hear it. (I too remember JFK)Like I said its just on softly in the backround, Not turned up like I might have it in my car or in the house.What works best for one person might be slightly different for another.
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