Calling all "Hot Heads"

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AttackFish

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Apr 10, 2007
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I felt there needed to be a thread for keepers of venomous species. Snakes/Lizards/frogs/spiders/scorpions. All things venomous!

How did you get started in keeping hots?

What do you keep?

Why do you keep them?

And lastly, anyone in Washington with hots? I need a mentor! :grinno:
 
AttackFish;956864; said:
I felt there needed to be a thread for keepers of venomous species. Snakes/Lizards/frogs/spiders/scorpions. All things venomous!

How did you get started in keeping hots? After keeping tarantulas on and off for a few years I wanted to get in to scorpions. I bought my female from a LPS employee who didn't know what it was other than it was venomous so I bought it and had some pics taken for ID. The male I bought a couple years later for breeding purposes...so far unsuccessful (far as I know). :(

What do you keep? I keep 2 Parabuthus transvaalicus (scorpion), I also have a Scolopendra subspinipes (centipede) if you consider them hot.


Why do you keep them? Death wish? j/k

And lastly, anyone in Washington with hots? I need a mentor! :grinno: Nope
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i *almost* bought a 16" western rattlesnake when i was 14yrs old but was talked out of it by the family. i kept about 16 bark scorpians and let them, had a bunch of torantulas(sp?) when i was a kid, had a couple big female wolf spiders(pretty freaking awesome) a lot of jumping spiders and a few black widows. i have yet to get into hot snakes but i want a mangrove snake and eventually a king cobra, the only hots i'm not interested in are the gaboon viper and mambas.
 
I used to want to keep venemous snakes, and there are some I'm still pretty interested in, like canebrake and speckled rattlesnakes and cottonmouths, but I've realized that I have too many responsibilities (my wife and the snakes I already have) and not enough money (for doctor's bills if I were to get bitten) to take that kind of chance.

It's something to think about before you get into animals that could possibly kill you.
 
Would I keep a hot? No. Have I handled them before? Yes. I respects them, and I tries to avoid conflicting with them.

It is not a matter of if you get bitten, it is when you will get bitten. If you are serious about, try keeping some aggressive snakes and everytime you get hit, just write down in a diary "I could had died today," "My balls could had dropped off due to the toxins," "the trip to the doctor would cost me this much," and so on.
 
Yeah... I don't know about the whole if but when thing... although yes when you think about it, everytime you have to deal with them, you are putting yourself in harms way, and for every other time the probabilities get stacked against you. You have to be prepared to have to hold your hots when needed, assist feed young, assist with sheds and remove retained eye caps etc (with snakes at least) and so anyone thinking they can put it in it's cage and not have to remove it or do anything without having to touch it or do anything risky... shouldn't do it. Knowing of plenty of experienced hot keepers there are people who have kept them for 30 years and been bitten three of four times, and others that haven't been hit at all. Most the time it's down to the keepers fault and they are happy to admit, but it isn't ALL the time.
I am as yet undecided on keeping hots, but I wouldn't be suprised if it is something I'll venture into. Glad you started this thread... I've been meaning to do one for a while.
 
Guys!! How does one get experience with venomous snakes?? What, if one wanted to get there, should be done for starters?
 
ummm... well over here I'd try to get someone help me by mentoring (either from a shop that deals with them, or from a friend... but of course not everyone has that luxury, nor would every hot keeper necessarily want the liability of you, but some people are quite accomodating. A lot of people think that there are snakes you could start with like false water cobras etc so you get a feel for a snake that acts like a hot... but really I don't think that helps, you would still not treat them the same way. There are so many snakes that aren't hots that you could keep I think that a general knowledge and experience level should be reached just keeping those. I don't think the first time you need to feed a tricky snake should be with a russels viper or some other hot. IMO it would require a lot of research on the husbandry of venemous, even more on particular species you want to keep (this would include information on the venoms and any antis that may be available and what you would have to do if you were tagged), a great deal of knowledge keeping snakes and preferably some previous experience with hots. Then again I know someone who first went into hots before any previous snake keeping experiance and went with a copperhead and started from that and is doing fine, probably because he spent a year or more preparing. There are a lot of knowledge there and people to help though if you look. Most people regard snakes such as copperheads as a reasonable "starter" hot. It's never something to be taken lightly though, it is a big deal.
 
:popcorn: :popcorn:

Even in cases where the fault lies with the owner, who can say that no one will have a bad day, a trembling hand, or just plain misfortune...all owners face that risk, everyday..

My hat off to guys who deal with hots.

Will follow this thread, for sure..
 
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