Reptile & Amphibian Forums

well i was watching seven deadly strikes or whatever and he got bit to times in one episode and left one bite untreaded!!! and he basicly free handled every thing but he said the boomslang probaly the deadliest snake(which he also free handled) is this true ? i no they have back fangs so its hard to enject venom and i no there venom was deadly but i dont think its one of the most deadly is it?

I really hate that bastard in that show.. why do they§ have to irritate evry snake they find? I find it sad that he even lives through the bite , how hard this may sound I think when you are irritating an animal you deserve an reaction!! no matter wich one!!

i agree it is no right agitating the snake and if people think they can get bit by a snake and not get treatment or be uncarefull with venomous reptiles then thats a problem

I don't necessarily like him either, but are you really hoping that this human dies of a venomous snake bite? I mean come on. You wish DEATH on someone because you think he is a bad representation of snake handlers?

The last thing I really think any of us should be hoping is that someone dies of a snake bite from this hobby. If a public "professional" dies from snake handling, what about all of us average joes? If not for a fellow human being, hope that people stay safe for the sake of the hobby.

The reason I watch this show is to see the varing snakes, I DO NOT like him at all or his practices. He believes he is superman and he furthered his ego when he was bitten twice in one show and bragged about it. I think that shows his inability to handle snakes.

It is a bit ridiculous that he is photographing these snakes while there is an entire team of photographers with broadcast-quality equipment right there capturing everything for him. When you see his stills edited into the show, they aren’t really that great, the film crew does a much better job. It is above all a “show”. Don’t be disappointed to learn the snakes are brought to the shoot, there is a trailer nearby with the makeup artist, wardrobe, etc. It’s all quite a production. It is suppose to be entertainment above all. To us he’s something of a goof, but I love that giant king cobra clip! You can see it on You Tube. As a fan of that snake, that was very entertaining to me.

See the clip

I am not going to make a comment about Austin Stevens and his handling, but the guy does do a lot for conservation.

I would also like to quicly bring up that many herpetologists are "photographers" by profession in order to be allowed to be in certain parts of the world. Western science is not welcomed everywhere.

i think almos evrybody makes good points heres my opinion. i think that hes a good man that does do good conservation but he has no caution at all which isnt good

Having been involved in a very small Animal Planet production in which our wildlife center was invaded by multiple camera techs, weather people, sound people, producers, etc., I'll just come from a different angle. Many folks criticize Austin Stevens and some of those concerns are valid. But lets not forget that this is T.V. and the emphasis is on entertaining the viewer but hopefully getting across some conservation messages (even if its just making people more aware of the beauty of these animals). What you see on T.V. is much different than what happens in most field research projects (in terms of handling). Mr. Stevens has a sincere interest in herps and knows how to play to the camera. Did he have to do his Tarzan impersonation by plunking into the river to grab the gaboon? Of course not. Do you think these made for T.V. herp folks just stumble across these hard-to-find herps as if it was a live shot? Of course not; they are, for the most part, staged or semi staged...that's show biz and I don't have any problems with that as long as it is done well. Production companies don't have the time or money to waste on spending days and days searching for a single herp. Instead, they maximize their time - get in and get out. His handling skills may seem to be rough but I didn't feel that they were all that bad for a T.V. show; I've seen much worse. Anyone who has done a t.v. show can vouch that it is MUCH HARDER than it looks and all in all, most of the guys we see regularly on T.V. do a decent job.

Rob Carmichael, Curator
The Wildlife Discovery Center

>>well i was watching seven deadly strikes or whatever and he got bit to times in one episode and left one bite untreaded!!! and he basicly free handled every thing but he said the boomslang probaly the deadliest snake(which he also free handled) is this true ? i no they have back fangs so its hard to enject venom and i no there venom was deadly but i dont think its one of the most deadly is it?
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Rob Carmichael, Curator
The Wildlife Discovery Center at Elawa Farm
Lake Forest, IL

http://www.bayareabackroads.com/index.php/pastshows/spiders_and_snakes/

now this guy knows his stuff...
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Cheers
Lateralis
"I would rather be precisely wrong than approximately right"
Marion "Doc" Ford

He swung on a vine and jumped into a river like tarzan and pulled out a gaboon (a very nice one at that). He was making such a big deal about how fortunate he was to catch one. I don't know about yall but I have never seen a freshly WC gaboon that looked like that. I'm saying that was a CB animal. But I was laughing the whole way through.

While the boomslang is rear-fanged, its fangs are situated fairly close to the front of the mouth (approximately under the eye) for a rear fanged snake. A boomslang would have no trouble biting and envenomating a human with very toxic venom.

Additionally, while the boomslang is probably not the most toxic drop for drop, it is just splitting hairs at that point. It is more than capable of inflicting a fatal bite.