Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I keep whanting to try one of these snakes, but i read they are rear fanged but not many sites seem to mention it, are there bites something to be concerned about? I would preffer if someone knew of anything i could read on it or has personal experiance with these aside from just heresay.

A bit of a misunderstanding. You should read some of Bryan Grieg Fry's work on this. He's classified most Colubrids as venomous despite not being dangerous to humans and not having a system for injecting their venom. Gonyosoma included.

So they're a bit like Garter Snakes which are also technically venomous. Their saliva can cause a bit of itching but is not anything to worry about.

I have 13 Gonyosoma and have kept several more. Their bites cause slight itching but I don't worry about it. Actually native Garter and Water Snakes cause more significant itching a redness for me.

Again, please track down some of BGF's work. He's made it very accessible to the hobbyist.
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Currently keeping:

3.5.5 Gonyosoma oxycephalum (Javan, mixed colors)
0.0.3 Rhynchophis boulengeri
0.4 Lampropeltis triangulum multistriata
0.0.3 Rhamphiophis rubropunctatus
2.1.2 Morelia viridis
1.0 Morelia clastolepis
1.1 Coelognathus flavolineatus
1.1 Pituophis catenifer pumilus
1.2 Charina bottae
1.1 Lichanura trivirgata

Not THAT I'm aware of, I kept a WC adult male named Lucifer back in the early 90's. Hardest handling snake EVER! LOL

Matthew

I don't know anything about this particular snake and whether it's not rear fanged. However, I'll add this, using hognose as an example, which are well-know rear fanged snakes. They really can't simply strike you and get those rear fangs in. They have to bite and crawl up on the prey.

As far as the "venom" goes. It's usually just a mild irritant. Yes it can cause just itching and redness. But, it's a whole other ballgame if you're allergic to it. Keep that in mind. I've seen pictures of Hognose bites where the keeper's whole hand swelled pretty seriously. But in the end, that was still the only problem, just a pretty nasty localized allergic reaction, nothing life-threatening at all.

Where did you read they are rear fanged?

I don't know a lot about them but I've never heard that....?

I don't believe they are, if anything, they may have some slight toxicity like in a Garter's. While WC bite like demons, if they were RF we definitely would have known about it a long time ago.

IMO this is, I hasten to add.

Matthew

If Gonyosoma bites were dangerous, I would have been in deep trouble by now
As Chris suggests, Fry has published some good stuff on colubrid venom - definately worth seeking out.
Besides the very likely risk of a little blood loss, you have nothing to worry about. Do yourself a favour though and buy captive bred Gonyos.