Reptile & Amphibian Forums

How many of you have a Designated Hot Room... When I think of snakes and pets (or whatever you wnt to call them other then pets) I always wanna see them.. lookin at the TV if a commmercial is on, give the animal a glance or watch it for a while.. I dont think I like the idea of a secure totally enclosed room in which you really cant watch, observe the animals unless you lock yourself in in which case it would feel like a sensory deprivation tank/room

1)What are your thoughts on this?
2)How many of you Have rooms designated to ONLY Hots
3)How many of you have your hots (be it one or many) in the living room or where ever

Thank you

Here are my thoughts. I have one room that I call my hobby room. It houses my computer, my guitar equipment, and my snakes. I have 5 snakes, 3 of which are hots. I keep the door closed all the time, and there is no room to get under the door. I know, guitar equipment and snakes in the same room, sounds like a bad mix, but they dont complain too much.
I have a buddy who keeps his snakeroom under lock and key. I followed an example I saw once and put a warning on the door as well which reads "Cautions, venomous snakes in cages, enter at your own risk". The lightswitch is right inside the door, and at night, after the cage light timer goes off, Im always sure to turn the light on and shoot a quick glance around the room and at the cages to make sure everyone is where they should be before I get comfortable in the room. The caging I use is the Critter Cages, which are terrariums with screen lids built in that slide into place on rails and I always keep a "key" in the locking mechanism to prevent any curious snakes from becoming lucky escapees.
If I had it my way, I'd put my pair of Pygmy's in a decorative tank in the living room, but my wife fears it would keep people from coming over at all, so they will remain in My Room.
My .02 cents

Does the potential of criminal negligence(sp) ring a bell? How about manslaughter? I think it is in ones best interest to protect themselves as well as that of the surrounding public.

creep

I've got a snake room which houses all my snakes including hot snakes.

This room was built with hot snakes in mind, so it is absolutely escape proof.

When working with hots my opinion is that you have to be able to move and interact according to the movemenst of the snake you are dealing with..

That is not possible inmy living room, besides, I alsohave a dog and a cat..

>>How many of you have a Designated Hot Room... When I think of snakes and pets (or whatever you wnt to call them other then pets) I always wanna see them.. lookin at the TV if a commmercial is on, give the animal a glance or watch it for a while.. I dont think I like the idea of a secure totally enclosed room in which you really cant watch, observe the animals unless you lock yourself in in which case it would feel like a sensory deprivation tank/room
>>
>>1)What are your thoughts on this?
>>2)How many of you Have rooms designated to ONLY Hots
>>3)How many of you have your hots (be it one or many) in the living room or where ever
>>
>>Thank you
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"No one likes us, we don't care"

I keep all of my venomous snakes in padlocked cages in a secure and locked room. I wouldn't feel comfortable with less security than that. The first priority of any venomous keeper should be the safety of those around and keeping the security at least this tight is the first line of defense against any accidents. Atractive setups and ease of viewing is way down the list when it comes to working with venomous snakes. Remember we are dealing with potentially deadly organisms.

So, a well secured cage, and an attractive setup are 2 mutually exclusive terms? If that were the case, zoos wouldn't be able to have any dangerous animals at all.
I normally dont have too much to say on this forum. This is gonna turn out to be my first rant. It didnt come unprovoked though.
Im all for being cautious with the snakes and my best interest is protecting the people I love, but I think you can overkill the subject of security beyond a reasonable amount. To hint that keeping a venomous snake (in my case it would be a copperhead or a pygmy, not something rediculous like a cobra) in a room of the house where any guest might view it is just asking for trouble, is impyling that I would be stupid enough to simply display the animal in a tapperware container with no top. Not true! It would involve a cage with just as much security as if it were in a designated hot room. If you dont trust the cage security, dont keep an animal in it. You shouldn't need a second line of defense. I have no interest in harming anyone, losing an animal, and Im certainly not one of those people who walk around in public with their pythons draped over their shoulders looking for attention giving the rest of us a bad rap.
I dont see any issues with a secured decorative cage displayed in a family access room environment with a hot snake in it. Anyone who feels different simply has a different opinion, so rock on with your Masterlock, newspaper and ceramic water bowl.

I agree to some degree and a lot will depend on what type of traffic your common areas of your house receive. If you have young children crawling around who could knock a cage over, or kids who, like most kids, have their friends over a lot (and perhaps during times when you are not there to supervise), have young kids that can slide their little fingers into a small crevice of the cage exposing them to some unperceived danger, have dogs/cats on the loose, then I would adamently recommend keeping even a single venomous snake off display. Within the venomous community, it is a fairly agreed upon edict, and one that I adhere to, that venomous reptiles kept by private individuals should be kept in escape proof and locked cages and then those cages kept in a locked room. Now, with that being said, if done properly, there is no reason why you shouldn't be able to show off your little pygmy or copperhead in a beautiful, naturalistic enclosure for others to see and enjoy AS LONG AS it is done responsibly (and from teh sounds of your email, it sounds like you have the right perspective on this issue). I am curator of a wildlife center that specializes in reptiles, including venomous and my office "mates" are a beautiful eastern diamondback rattlesnake, several bush vipers and a cerastes. The public comes in regularly just to see these snakes in their beautiful naturalistic displays (certainly not to talk to me). BUT, when I am not in my office, the office is locked; period. As a parent, as much as I hate to say this, if one of my daughters went to a friends house whose mother/father kept venomous snakes on display in the living room, I would have a real problem with this and would probably not allow them to go over there (and this sounds very hypocritical, however, since I have come across so many irresponsible owners, I have a good validation for my feelings). Anyway, sounds like I am riding the fence a bit but it is a bit more complicated than it sounds.

Rob Carmichael, Curator
The Wildlife Discovery Center
City of Lake Forest Parks & Recreation (IL)

Rob, that one sentence says it all. It is very complicated.
If you are a solitary person who lives alone and don't have to worry about whether someone else will bump into your cage, then maybe a living room display could be feasible if it can be properly secured.
But most of us are not solitary people. We have children who are curious or friends who may not share all of our interests who would come to visit. A few years ago, one of the regulars here had a neighbor come over for a few beers. The neighbor brought a friend. The newly uninhibited (by ingestion of alcohol) "friend" decided to show off his lightning reflexes and opened an unsecured rattlesnake cage and reached in to grab it. The snake didn't agree with his assessment of his reflexes and sent the fellow on his way to the hospital to contemplate reality. The owner, who was considered to be a knowledgable and responsible keeper by most here, wound up having to get rid of all of his snakes and a major portion of his assets to pay for his neighbor's folly.
My point is that you not only have to be safe for yourself. You have to be able to be absolutely certain that anyone who can get at your cage, whether you are with them or not, cannot get themselves injured. A locked herp room goes a long way toward that certainty. For instance, my wife and children who live in my home have been around snakes for years and would never take a chance with a venomous snake. Does that mean that it would be safe to keep a copperhead in a planted vivarium in my livingroom (the concept of a glass-topped coffee table is always a magically delicious idea)? What about that one time a year that my (family member to be named at a later date) visits with his/her less than brilliant spouse who would think that a copperhead is just lovely and such a preciously beautiful animal would just know that he/she means it no harm and therefore it could not possibly bite him/her if they just reached in to gently rub it? Sound to far out to be true? I assure you it is not!
Whether or not a living room display is safe depends entirely on the living room which contains it.
Just my personal opinion,
Karl H. Betz

But most of us are not solitary people. We have children who are curious or friends who may not share all of our interests who would come to visit.

I'm considering a more secure setup for the NON-venomous snakes I keep. I came home last night to discover that my sister was visiting with my nieces, 3 and 5 yrs old. The three-year-old LOVES my snakes, and always (usually) waits paitently for her Uncle Peter to open the cage so she can hold one. She only gets the docile ball python to hold, and has always obeyed me regarding things like not touching the head, only stroking one direction, washing hands afterwards, etc.

WELL.... this resourceful little girl decided not to wait for me to get home and had slipped away and into the library/office/snake room. I arrived to find her with not one but BOTH of the pythons out, crawling around the floor (including the very nippy one that has to be handled with tools like a freaking Gaboon)! God help me if I'd have had venomous!

Thank God she didn't get into the rattery....... I'm still wondering how she got Frank out of his cage without losing a finger - that boy seems to like the taste of human flesh.

Im glad Im not out on a limb with my viewpoint. I guess all I need to add is that in my house, it's just myself and my wife, no kids ever come over, we dont ever entertain, and if anyone does come over, it's certainly not the kind of situation where there will be unsupervised people in a room left to get into trouble.