Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I'm considering getting some death adders and have a fair understanding of their husbandry requirements but was curious if anyone had any tips or tricks they'd care to share.

Thanks in advance.

I don't have much sage advice on husbandry, but I'll just tell you to remember that they are elapids and occasionally behave like elapids. They can literally leap off the ground and can crawl much faster than you expect if they get off your hook.
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Larry D. Fishel
Side effects may include paralysis
and death but are generally mild.

Thanks Larry,

I know what you mean I've worked with them in other peoples collections and they don't behave anything like viperids despite the vaguely similar apperance. I agree they're not a snake to be underestimated.

The first link on the page at:
http://www.smuggled.com/addcag1.htm
will see the caging used for these snakes.
They do fine in simple cages (see pics) -
anything else, er, well,
that's a bonus!

Death Adders - Links to all major sites on Acanthophis species, husbandry, etc

I've kept Antarcticus and Wellsi.
Adders are gorgeous snakes.
I've never seen one literally "jump", but they do strike like lightling at anything resembling food and moving within range.
There strike range is small in comparison to other large elapids, but be warned they are deadly accurate.
They are all dangerously venomous and should be handled with the appropriate caution.
Captive adders tend to get way too fat.
I've seen and weighed enough wild ones to know that most captive ones are hugely obese.
When your pet adder wriggles its tail at you - its hard to resist the temptation to offer a mouse.
I keep an eye on their weight, sometime leave a note on the cage to remind me not to feed for 6-7 weeks. And she is still chubby.