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My Venomous Free Handling Article!
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by EPARR1 on July 4, 2008
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Free Handling Venomous Snakes
I’ve been working on a little project over the past 5 months involving free handling venomous snakes and the possibility of taming or calming. I personally feel they cannot be tamed or calmed but opinions without proof don’t mean much. The reason for this research is to educate I have heard many newcomers talk of taming or calming venomous snakes along with free handling and this is very risky business to say the least and should not be done by anyone.
Just for the record I do not condone free handling Venomous Reptiles
I put myself in danger to gather information in an attempt to further understand venomous snakes along with writing an article on free handling venomous with actual hands on research rather than personal opinions.
Ok to get started this project involved 9 Cobras 5 CB babies and 2 WC sub adults and 2 CB sub adults averaging 2 years old. Cobras are my main focus since they are somewhat predictable Vs vipers and such.
The snakes I used:
1.1 Blue Eyed Leucistic Monocled Cobras
1.1 Red eyed Leucistic Monocled cobras
0.1 Formosa Cobra
1.1 Black and White Spitting Cobra
1.1 Black Pakistan Cobra.
I used a variety of species in my research although in my personal opinion cobras have a similar mentality but there are exceptions to every rule. I also handled different sexes of different pairs I will break down in a moment. The snakes I chose to handle in each pair were decided at random but were the only snake in the pair that was free handled. I handled the chosen snakes twice a week from February 15th 2008 to July 1st 2008 the exception is the Formosa cobras since I only have a female that I have possessed since April but she has been handled twice weekly.
The snakes I chose to handle:
1.0 CB 07 Red eyed Leucistic Monocled Cobra
0.1 CB 07 Blue Eyed Leucistic Monocled Cobra
0.1 CB 08 Formosa Cobra
1.0 WC 06 Black and White Spitting Cobra
0.1 CB 06 Black Pakistan Cobra
Now you know the snakes used, we will move on to the handling. It was done Monday and Friday, the reason I chose those days was due to feeding. I wanted to see if it made a difference in temperament on an empty or full stomach. I feed on Saturday so Friday they would be hungry, and Monday 48 hours give or take after feeding they would be full. I handled the snakes for an average 10-15 minutes although some days less due to temperament. I didn’t document each snakes time being handled but I did monitor days, feeding, and temperament.
I know everyone is dying to know the results of this research so I will get to it.
Handling different sex of snake of the same or different species made no difference in temperament of the snakes both acted the same.
Handling on a full or empty stomach also made no difference in temperament.
Now on to my conclusion of the snakes that were handled and the ones that were not. It made no difference what so ever! The snakes that were handled are no calmer than the snakes that were not handled. I brought my little study to an early end of five months originally planning on a year but since the snakes have not calmed after five months the results are clear.
I do believe all the snakes used in this project can be handled using different techniques but as far as taming or calming not going to happen. Free handling is very dangerous and far too risky after this project I can assure you that you are not going to tame a cobra.
The results were obvious to me before doing this little project but I wanted to document and put it on paper. The whole project was very risky and stupid to say the least and some people might say well you must have done something your still here. I know my snakes and there reactions very well but they are by no means tame or calm. The handling made no difference.
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RE: My Venomous Free Handling Article!
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by Rob_Carmichael on July 5, 2008
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When I first read this I really thought it was a joke - it would have made for a museful read if it was meant in that context. Honestly, this is one twisted "experiment" and far from any sort of even remotely valid research project that I would sign off on. Your sample base is far too small - you would need to work with many, many cobras to prove your point. There's nothing mentioned about your procedures but my guess is that it isn't valid in any remote context. But, in reality, what's the motive of this project? All it does is encourage folks to go out and do something as stupid as this "research". Although I can appreciate you trying to dispel some of the myths and dangers of free handling, you basically participated in the very thing that you are trying to encourage people not to do.
Here's my advice for a free handling article...one word...DON'T. Shortest article on earth. Instead, an article on proper use of tools and mastering techniques specific to elapid "handling" would be better advised. Cage design specific to elapids and other topics would be a much better read.
Sorry for the harsh comments but this is the kind of stuff that just gives us a black eye....if you had gotten popped while conducting your experiment, what good would it do and how would that help your goals of responsible handling? Are you using venomoids? If so, the results are already skewed.
Anyway, if this really was just a joke, then I got a good laugh out of it - nothing wrong with a good sense of humor. This was a joke right?
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RE: My Venomous Free Handling Article!
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by EPARR1 on July 5, 2008
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Rob
This was just a private experiment and my observation of the snake in my collection. I did not go into the methods used in handling nor did I get any video footage in fear it would be used for pointers or a guide for people considering free handling their snakes.
Just for the record I'm back to hooks and trap boxes and this little project is not meant to be scientific also very careless,dangerous, not to mention stupid. I know the risk was not worth the out come and I know the possibility of getting bitten was greatly increased. I am in no way trying to justify this experiment or my actions this was very dangerous and 99% of the comments are going to make sure I know it. That is fine if I got good response to this post I would be a little concerned.
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RE: My Venomous Free Handling Article!
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by Cro on July 5, 2008
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Eric, I do like the conclusion that your research proved:
"The snakes that were handled are no calmer than the snakes that were not handled."
Hopefully, that will discourage others from trying to calm snakes by free-handling them.
Trying to change behaviors that have evolved over tens of thousands of years in these animals is likely to be very difficult.
Best Regards John Z
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RE: My Venomous Free Handling Article!
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by tigers9 on July 5, 2008
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This post Is not supposed to be for or against venomous free handling, just something to think about.
Some people in big cat community stop handling their big cats when they reach certain size, I am hands on regardless of their age.
When high profile incident happens, such us when Roy of Siegfried& Roy got injured, all the scared folks and AR would have an argument against people like me; look, if that can happen to experts like SR, it can happen to anybody.
My response to it is, hey, look at the big picture, SR have been doing it for 30 plus years and had hundreds of cats, I would say it is damn good safety record any industry would be proud of. No audience was injured; it was them owners/handlers.
Why is it than accepted/expected to be injured or die in other occupations and hobbies, such as police, army, firefighting, skiing, etc…but in exotic animal industry only 100 percent injury/death free zone is acceptable??? That is nuts, unreasonable expectations.
So I guess in Eric’s experiment, you can look at it, he is nuts, OR, well, he has been doing it for 5 months and is alive and uninjured.
Just like in cat community not everybody admits how really hands on they r with their big cats, I am sure many in venom community do not admit they free handle, because they do not want to be the target of hate emails, and of course do not want real idiots to try it, who might not realize free handlers have years of experience
So, considering how many of us are hands on, I would say exotic animal keeping is pretty safe hobby or occupation, unless you do something really dumb, like kiss your angry rattlesnake ;-)
Z
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RE: My Venomous Free Handling Article!
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by Cro on July 5, 2008
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It is the nature of the news industry.... "if it bleeds, it leads."
They are all too ready to jump on the one kid who brings a knife to school, but say nothing of the millions of kids who went to school without bringing an knife.
Same with exotic animals, they will be very quick to create a huge news story about one incident, and totally ignore the tens of thousands of folks who did not have an incident.
The best thing we can do would be to stop buying news papers, and let those ancient lifeforms go extinct....
Best Regards John Z
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RE: My Venomous Free Handling Article!
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by Phobos on July 7, 2008
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I'm just stunned!
Many of us in the venomous community try and teach safe ways of working with the venomous animals, in hopes of reducing the likelyhood of a bite occuring.
We also like to think at the same time we are showing that were "responsable keepers" by banding together to form organizations like, SCark, NCark, USark. Well this little experiment sort of un-does that idea.
Well at least you didn't get bit in the process Eric. Thank God!
Al
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RE: My Venomous Free Handling Article!
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by pictigaster1 on July 12, 2008
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This is the crap that will kill the hobby.IQ verses EQ.Noteing the very high priced snakes .I can get you some viridis that will kill the project in the first attempt.
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RE: My Venomous Free Handling Article!
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by FSB on July 18, 2008
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Eric, I'd like to respectfully suggest that your research project is unsound on another front that has nothing to do with the species of snakes involved. I'm in dangerous territory here, obviously, so I'd like to emphasize up front that I do not advocate the practice. But the fact is that free-handling snakes successfully is not so much a factor of the type of snakes or their temperaments as it is the person doing it. I do believe that certain persons have a way, a true gift, with snakes, just as there are people who are gifted with horses, tigers or any other type of animal. Grace Wiley comes to mind, and while she has taken a beating in some circles, and while it is true that she ultimately died from the bite of an Indian cobra, she was not bitten until the age of 67 after a lifetime of free-handling incredible numbers of highly venomous snakes. Also, when she was bitten her attention was being distracted by the fact that she was posing for a photograph and worse, she was working with an unfamiliar, recently-imported snake. Again, I do not free-handle venomous snakes, and certainly don't advocate it for anyone else- it is just not worth the risk (the embarrassment of being bitten alone would kill me). As it is written, "thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy maker" (maybe those church snake-handlers should check that passage again). However, I have collected and kept venomous snakes for over 30 years and have never been bitten by one, and my earliest snake experiences predate memory. On a family trip to southern New Hampshire when I was 3, I proudly showed up at the door of the farmhouse we were staying in holding a timber rattlesnake by the tail, much to the consternation of my parents. Since childhood I have been given all kinds of snakes by frustrated people because they were so "mean" and have never found that to be the case, with me anyway. My Amazon tree boas are as tame as they can be, and I just crawled right up to a black racer the other day in the field and got some great photographs from a few inches away. My snakes, venomous or non, are always quiet and placid when I'm working around them, but I have seen them get set off and become very agitated when certain people visit. One guy in particular gets all of my rattlensakes buzzing any time he just walks in to look, and my very mellow female EDB even struck the glass once when he walked in, which is the only time I've ever seen her strike at anyone. She doesn't even strike at her food - just begins swallowing. Snakes are extremely sensitive to things beyond our range of awareness, and certain people alarm them and others don't. Whether it's chemical, an ability to sense fear or just "vibe," who knows? But I've seen enough evidence of this over the years that I know it's true. I have a friend who just loves snakes dearly, but for some reason, they all try to bite him any chance they get, poor guy. It always rankles him when I take the same (non-venomous) snake he's been holding carefully behind the head and let it crawl all around inside my shirt, making no attempt to bite. I can't explain it, but there you go. But again, don't free-handle! Give your your business to MidWest Tongs, not the newspapers.
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