Reptile & Amphibian Forums

hey my name is steve and i live in ny. i am interested in purchasing a cobra, i dont know which on yet. i was wndering if anyone can tell me how to house them and take care of them i would appreciate it. also i always wondered how you feed a venomous snake. its easy with my brazilian rainbow boa b/c i just drop the mouse in there. but isnt it a lil harder with a venomouse snake.. wouldnt they go after your hand.

thanks
steve

Under no circumstances get a cobra. Especially if you can't figure out how to feed a snake without putting your hands near the pointy end.
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"The serpent crams itself with animal life that is often warm and vibrant, to prolong an existence in which we detect no joy and no emotion. It reveals the depth to which evolution can sink when it takes the downward path and strips animals to the irreducible minimum able to perpetuate a predatory life in its naked horror."
Alexander Skutch

The question to ask yourself is, "Do I have professional level zookeeper's skills, and professional quality secure housing and handling tools? Can I handle the paperwork and expense needed to import and purchase antivenom? Am I willing to bet my life every day on the quality of my skills and tools?"

If you don't have a really good answer to any of these questions, you don't want to buy a cobra.

Here's an even more important consideration from an ethical point of view. Will your veterinarian see this cobra when it becomes ill? Can you catch and restrain the snake for treatment? I regularly catch up my cobras and look them over carefully for things like retained eyecaps or bound tail tip sheds. If you don't have the skill to do this, your snake's health may suffer, and you should leave its keeping to people who are experienced enough to give them the care they need to stay healthy.

Snakes are not toys or decorations. They are living, feeling animals that deserve care and consideration. If you cannot care for a species really properly, please avoid keeping those animals.

Cobras tend to be a little on the aggressive side. But the mambas...mambas are pussy cats. Just kidding of course. You have got to be kidding as well. I'm sorry but i just cant take your post seriously. If in fact you are serious though. Get a secure lockable cage. Big leather welding gloves. A snake hook. A grab stick. And practice on a very aggresive and fast non-venomous snake. Then, after feeling confident in your ability to not come into contact with the business end of the aggressive non venomous snake, pratice for another 2 years. After you've completed your training maybe you should consider a copperhead or something else not so.....unforgiving.

I have had coppers that crappy additudes too......LOL..... Besides what can a copperhead teach someone about keeping cobras....... I dont agree with a "starter hot"....... And I dont feel that there is a particular time frame in which someone can be ready to keep hots....... It all depends on the individual..... And I also dont feel that a non hot can train you to deal with hots....... If you know something cant hurt you you wont respect it as you would something that can...... Nothing strikes or acts like a cobra but a cobra...... The best advice is to find someone that can train you spacificly on the species you want to keep..... Let the person and your own feelings decide if you are ready or not to keep one yourself..... And like MsTT said you should really make getting AV a priority before you buy the actual snake..... Dont do anything stupid becaus you WILL regret it...... Venomous keeping is a big step and you cant do it half assed...... Remember also that just because you have AV does not mean you will survive a bite...... There can be other complications......Good luck......

I have to agree with the concept of keeping an aggressive, fast moving, NON VENOMOUS snake first. While Gaboon is right that nothing really prepares you for a venomous snake like a venomous snake, there are valuable lessons to be learned from a "Nasty" Black Racer.

The first is, that handling a Black Racer without getting bit is a good test of your handling skills. While it may not move like a Cobra, it is fast and (slipery) enough to be a real challange.

Secondly, working with a Racer can really help you become familiar with handling tools (hooks and tongs). A very good prep for when you start to train with the real thing.

And listen to what you are being told here. Snakes are NOT Toys. Cobras can kill experienced handlers and have done so. I have worked with many venomous species for over 30 years and I will not allow one of those in my house. You really need to think long and hard as to-why you want to keep one...and Are you up to the serious commiment that this involves.

If you want something venomous than I suggest that there are a lot of very cool rearfang species that don't come with such a high penalty for errors.

Frank
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"The luxury of not getting involved departed with the last lifeboat Skipper..."

I agree both with the nonvenomous thought, as well as the no really good starter venomous part. I grew up here at my house in Arkansas catching all sorts of colubrids. Mostly these consisted of black racers and prairie kingsnakes. I got a lot of experience in handling very high strung specimens of both species. Those of you who haven't dealt with aggro prairie kings, you don't know what you're missing I am a firm believer that my childhood played a key role in helping me to develop the handling skills I have now. By no means am I just an awesome handler, but I've yet to have a situation that really just tested my abilities. I see a lot of similarities between racers and the faster terrestrial elapids, but really, they are pretty asimilar to most cobra species. I'd be more inclined to say they are more like small taipans or mambas than a kaouthia or something. All the kaouthia and naja (the species) I've dealt with have been relatively slow moving compared to a very high speed snake like a racer. I would have to say that, in my opinion, w.c. cribos are pretty good trainer snakes for most Naja's husbandry (because of the size potential, body build, and tendency to be snappy), and a nice big false water cobra would be a good any snake trainer on learning how to stay out of the way of a wild feeding responce. Some of the smaller, nasty-tempered terrestrial boids are comparable to smaller viperids, such as the aptly name viper boas. Most of them will not hesitate to land a bite on you, and if you've ever been tagged by one, you'll quickly realize that hot or not, you don't want to repeat the procedure!

All that being said, of course there are no nonvenomous that can completely prepare a person for keeping the real thing. If you can find someone willing to help you in your area, that's a great thing. If not, just use a little common sense. Most of us can do this to some degree at least. Sit down and take a realistic look at the snakes you want to keep. Talk to people who keep them and see what they say about them. Try your damndest to see them in person, being handled preferably, before you decide. Then, after all that, if you are ready for whatever and know for sure that you are capable of handling it, I don't see a problem with going with that snake. Disclaimer: consider my talk about common sense up there; a common sensical step is not to go from not keeping anything to suddenly keeping mambas. Just have fun with whatever you do, be completely careful, and be prepared for whatever consequences may befall you.
-Chance
River Valley Snakes

I think that there are plenty of valuable lessons you can learn from handling non venomous snakes. Espescially if you make believe its poisonous. Handle it like it really IS a cobra, and that its bite will kill you. Not only that, but many non venomous snakes are very similar in body type, movement, and behavior to venomous species. And i also disagree with just jumping into the hobby with something like a cobra after (from what i understand) having only owned a rainbow boa. And I believe that starting with a copperhead or something of similar or less potency would be a very smart decision for an aspiring cobra keeper. If he were to get tagged by a copperhead, he'll get a feel for how dangerous these animals can be....and he'll more than likely walk away with his life and limbs intact. At that point he may decide he really doesnt want these things in his life anymore. Or he may decide that this really IS what he wants to do, and wants to further his knowledge and handling techniques by graduating to a more potent species. If he were to be tagged by a COBRA...well, lets just say he could stand to lose a LOT more. His money, house, car, an extremity, HIS LIFE!, etc...

There were a lot of points that i do agree with. And i STILL think the original post is joke. lol

I have seen garter snakes (Thamnophis sirtalis similis) actually stand up and hood, though they do it with their head bowed down rather than up.

Asian rat snakes can be even more aggressive than a cobra or a mamba. They will stand and face off with you, perfectly ready to strike. They puff like a boomslang, move like a mamba and stand their ground with their heads raised like a cobra. I would generally rather deal with a mamba or a cobra than a big, nasty Asian rat. Any handler who can say that he or she is 100% competent and comfortable with bad tempered adult Asian rat snakes is definitely ready to start with the smaller elapids in my opnion.

Nothing moves or strikes exactly like a cobra, but there are a number of snakes that are much faster and more accurate at launching a strike than a cobra. I'd say get competent on the big Asian rats and then pick up a baby cobra that will grow as your skill does.

I think people are focusing too much on learning a single-species handling skill when the skill you really want to learn is general snake handling. If you are going out into the forest, you should be able to identify all of the trees, not just one type. And if you have a really good solid background in identifying trees, when you see a totally new species you should easily be able to use the skills you have already built up to help you classify it.

In short, a lengthy course of experience with numerous kinds of bad tempered nonvenomous snakes is the best preparatory experience I can think of.

I suppose Elaphe carinata qualifies as a big Asian rat... sounds like I have a lot to look forward to when mine grow up.
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"The serpent crams itself with animal life that is often warm and vibrant, to prolong an existence in which we detect no joy and no emotion. It reveals the depth to which evolution can sink when it takes the downward path and strips animals to the irreducible minimum able to perpetuate a predatory life in its naked horror."
Alexander Skutch

np
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"The luxury of not getting involved departed with the last lifeboat Skipper..."

Since you live in NY and are ready to jump from boas to keeping cobras, do you at least have your NYS venomous license?