|
1-8 of 8 messages
|
Page 1 of 1
|
|
prospective keeper
|
Reply
|
|
by biff on February 28, 2001
|
Mail this to a friend!
|
|
I am currently interested in keeping hot snakes...have been for several years. I have never kept any snake. I have caught & released several non-ven. in the wild. A friend of mine(he has no hots) suggested I get some non-ven. snakes to start, I explained that I wasn't interested in them at all. I plan to wait at least a year to puchase, if at all. Meanwhile I will read, and observe (learn) from other hot keepers...and who knows, maybe after a year I will change my mind, swallow my pride, and say it's not for me! I don't plan on "show boating", just my immediate family knows of my plans...& herp friends. What say you, forum?
|
| |
|
RE: prospective keeper
|
Reply
|
|
by Mojo on February 28, 2001
|
Mail this to a friend!
|
|
This sounds like a dangerous situation to me. First you say you dont want to show boat or something to that effect but then you say you may swallow you pride and decide not to keep hot snakes. This statement sounds contradictory to me. If keeping a hot snake is about pride for you then DONT DO IT. I also find it strange that you can have interest in hots but not non-hots. I would suggest keeping a nonvenomous before you purchase a hot. There is a whole list of reasons for this. one i can think of is When i was young I used to catch snakes all the time,there are no venomous in my area, and keep them in a cage i had in my house then let them go free after keeping them for a period of time. During this time i had a few snakes get loose on me but it helped me learn how to safely secure these animals. over time of keeping snakes a person learns how to better take care of them. So one day you might have your copperhead and put him in an encloser and think he's to small, fat, big whatever to get out then one day you go to feed him and Doh! your in deep S#@$. I will agree that a nonvenomous will never truely prepare you for keeping a hot but the old cliche "you have to be able to crawl before you can walk" also holds true. I personaly feel if you havent kept any snake and decide to get hot you are looking for trouble. You wont know if its sick, hybernating, why it wont shed completely, the lenght of their strikes ....These are my personal feelings about this issue, its not ment to be a flame please dont take it as that.
|
| |
|
RE: prospective keeper
|
Reply
|
|
by Charper on February 28, 2001
|
Mail this to a friend!
|
Possibly keeping some aggressive non-venomous species such as a Coachwhip or Black Racer would fit the bill? Unless you just like to bleed alot, you will learn how to avoid their bite.
Keeping venomous snakes is a totally different proposition. If you absolutely want to keep a venomous snake, I suggest you start with a species that won't kill you, such as a Mangrove. It will definitely keep you on your toes though.
|
| |
|
RE: prospective keeper
|
Reply
|
|
by biff on February 28, 2001
|
Mail this to a friend!
|
Thanks for your input guys...again, I want to stress...I am investigating this, it's going to be a while before I do anything...I'll be an "understudy" for quite some time. The swallow my pride thing is just a cliche, although I believe there should be a degree of pride in one's "hobby". Hopefully I can learn those issues (feeding, shedding, etc.) from other keepers, although I see many of those questions asked on the ven. forum @kingsnake.
Thanks again,
Any other input would be much appreciated
|
| |
|
Biff?
|
Reply
|
|
by Buzztail1 on February 28, 2001
|
Mail this to a friend!
|
|
You raise an interesting question for me. What exactly interests you about venomous snakes? I have never met anyone who was really interested in venomous snakes who wasn't first interested in snakes in general. Almost everyone I know keeps both venomous and nonvenomous or only nonvenomous. In answer to your questions, there is no book that covers everything about keeping venomous snakes yet, but the Venom 101 website by Allen Hunter comes close. "Hands on" OBSERVATION is invaluable and I recommend you find someone who keeps venomous snakes near you and ask them to "tutor" you in proper handling and husbandry techniques. Even so, this must be approached carefully because there are easily as many "bad" Keepers out there as there are "good" keepers and you might just wind up learning bad habits. Either way, take your time, learn as much as you can, and please, start out with something that won't kill you at your first mistake. Good luck, Karl
|
| |
|
RE: prospective keeper
|
Reply
|
|
by Klaus on March 1, 2001
|
Mail this to a friend!
|
|
Never justify yourself when you're interested in hots. When you're interested in 'em, you're interested in 'em. Period. And being interested in hot snakes doesn't mean that you're "strange", psychologically spoken. Hot snakes are elegant and beautiful, and they demand your undevided attention. Furthermore, this wait-a-year thing doesn't get you where you want to go. My advice: Contact an experienced keeper, let him help you at the beginning, and begin with a small, less aggressive and not-deadly species like for instance some smaller specimen of the genera Trimeresurus or Sistrurus, etc. Good luck.
|
| |
|
RE: prospective keeper
|
Reply
|
|
by Mojo on March 2, 2001
|
Mail this to a friend!
|
|
when i asked him why he was interested in hots and not nonvenomous i wasnt saying he was strange or anything or even asking him to justify it. I was just bring up a point that most people who are interested in snakes are interested in both venomous and nonvenomous.
|
| |
|
RE: prospective keeper
|
Reply
|
|
by maf on March 5, 2001
|
Mail this to a friend!
|
There are people who are interested in venomous species and not non-venomous. Me, for example.
Don't worry, I'm not planning on ever keeping any, but I am interested in learning about venomous (esp. crotalids and viperids) and not really interested in non-venomous.
I don't know why, but that's the way it is.
|
| |
|
Email Subscription
You are not subscribed to this topic.
Subscribe!
My Subscriptions
Subscriptions Help
Check our help page for help using
, or send questions, comments, or suggestions to the
Manager.
|
