Reptile & Amphibian Forums

This is what I did (over the past 28 years, and several institutions), go to your local zoo, wildlife park, etc.. and beg the reptile keeper to let you volunteer. Clean cages, sweep floors whatever it takes but get experience from people who are professionally associated. Working for that crack pot organization (Snake Removal Inc?) performing removal is NOT the way to gain experience.
At least in a professional orginization you will have access to LEGALLY obtained and maintained animals that will expand your knowledge beyond the local crotalus spp. You will also get more recognition for your efforts with an AZA institution or similiar than you will get for working with "Joe Shmo" and maintaining his collection of illegal hots. CDFG has STRINGENT laws regarding exotic venomous, likewise the yardstick that they measure experience with is not flexible at all. Study the local crotalus, they can teach you alot about venomous snakes
I am all for you getting your experience just make sure its the best you can get.
Cheers
Brett

When I got into Venomous Snakes I did it the Easy way. That is, I found someone dumb enough to sell a Rattlesnake to a 18yr.old kid and I bought the snake.
I soon had a fairly Awsome Collection of Animals Including but not limited to, Rattlesnakes(All kinds), Cottonmouths, Copperheads, Gaboons, Rhinos, Puffs, as well as others and all of this within my first year of keeping Hots. All this time I had No Clue how much Danger I was Placeing on myself as well as others in my house and would have considered myself as mostly ignorant looking back.
My collection soon became more and more Hot untill I had a upstairs room with Lord know how many Elapids covering the walls from floor to ceiling. I had everything from Texas Corals to King Cobras and Everything inbetween Including Black and Green Mambas. The Hotter and meaner the Faster the More I Had to have it. Hell, I even kept Deathstalker Scorpions Just becouse they could kill me.
I soon became fairly well known for my knowledge as well as my Unbelievable Cobra Collection and started leaving advice on this forum whenever I got the chance. By me leaving this advice I had to Study. The more I studied the more Knew the more I knew the more I Realized. Pretty soon I started to Understand the animals that I had the Honor to interact with on a daily basis and I Realized that all those Close calls that I Just Brushed off and forgot about could have verywell been The Last "Close call" of my life. I have since decided to get out of Hots and Focus more on the snakes that made me happy as a child. I know have a 3yr.old girl and a 12 week old girl and could not imagen them living without me or worse yet me living without on or both of them.
I really cannot say I am better off right now becouse I am keeping Retics, and Boas but at least I feel safer at the moment.
Dont get me wrong I Still have a Place in my heart for those Giant Bushmasters and Those Never happy and always Angry Cobra. I still believe that there is nothing in life that takes my breath away more then an adult female Gaboon or EDB. BUT, You would not believe how many people are out there keeping these animals with not the slightest clue of the Dangers involved in haveing them for "Pets".
I know I used to just keep my Cobras caged in Large Rubbermaids and I know alot of other people that do the exact same thing. Looking back I cannot imagine what I would have done if I woke up to a Cobra wanting to Kill me instead of my Wife wanting to Kiss me. Everytime I look back I tremble at how Stupid I was to have these animals in the way that I did. All becouse I could buy another Cobra for Less then I could buy a Cage for it. It is Amazing that the only Cobra I ever had get loose was a Venomoid that I took in on Trade (My Wife Caught it before I got home). My Father almost stepped on a Green Mojave Rattlesnake that I had get out one time while he was going to the closet to get me a shirt (This snake was Hot as the Arizona Summer But, Luckily he had been in a cage on the floor most of his life and was used to people walking right up to him all day). I have felt the 1.5" fangs of a Gaboon Viper hit me on the back of the hand (I Still dont know how the hell I got away from that one. I had no idea that a Gaboon could do backflips if they really wanted to sink fangs into your hand)
I think you all will read this Even though it is Long and maybie Hopefully you will go on with a new found Respect for the Animals you keep in your homes.
Here is what I would like to see for the Future to be secure.

1. Money has to be forgotten when you are selling Hot Snakes. Just remember how much money would you be willing to place on another humans life?

2. The Snakes you keep are all Very Unique and all have differnt needs. Please make shure you can fully furnish these needs before you consider the purchase of that new snake.

3. If you want a snake you Must first Realize what the Dangers are. Please understand that you are not only placeing the threat on yourself you may be signing the Death warrent for others in your house as well.

4. I know that knowledge is the key. If you get the knowledge you need and you make all the demands of the snake before you make that impulse purchase There is no doubt that you will have a Amazing experiance with the animal you choose to keep in your care.

Rubbermaids, and other like boxes ARE NOT Made for Venomous Reptiles. Spend the money and buy the Higher priced"Safer" Cage that has been made for these little excape artist that you have chosen to keep in your home.

Once again I LOVE HOT SNAKES and I would have a Million of them if I could supply myself with the Antisirum and all of the proper caging in a room that was lockable and not atached to the same house that I put my Kids and Wife to sleep in. Dont get me wrong this is JUST MY THOUGHTS and I am sure I will get one hell of a flame war over this but, all of the Imature actions of Hot keepers have got to come to a Halt. People should prove they are knowledgeable about the animals before they are able to make that Purchase.

I write this becouse I am 100% Fed up to my neck with stories of Cobras getting loose in Apartments and Laws being changed for good making it a Crime to keep these animals. Someone HAS to Keep Venomous and Someone Has to Breed Venomous. We are losing the Wild animals that we all seen growing up and the only ones we will soon have left will be the ones that Responsible Keepers are breeding.

Alittle Extra Money at the moment is not worth the loss of our Freedom later.

Please be Responsible when you are dealing with these Awsome creatures. It is a Honor to care for these animals and they deserve not the Best you can afford But the Best Period.

Just a Long Drawnout .02cents worth of my rambling.
Only the ones that Trully Listen and Learn are the ones that are willing to Breed for the Love of the Reptile and can put aside the Love of the Money.

You guys Be Safe and We will be able to write stuff like this 20yrs. from now. One Mistake is all it takes to turn the law against your favore. Just remember to the lawmakers of america and all of its cities We are a Bunch of Stupid Morons with no respect to our life or the lives of others.

Take care
Justin Monroe

I also started out pretty ignorantly. I have always had a love for snakes and since i was old enough to read i read any and every book in the librarys around. i had a nice collectoin of colubrids at all times anything from garter snakes to an indigo. But one day at about 15 yrs old i was walking around te woods near my house and found a juve cottonmouth. i quickly grabbed a stick and an old bucket that was nearby picked the snake up, placed him in the bucket and headed home. i kept him for about a month inside of an old camper in a 10 gallon aquarium with about 2 inches of water and sand and grass growing. I had a clip on screen with tape wrapped around the aquarium that had venomous written all around it and an index card on the aquarium with "COTTONMOUTH" and "VENOMOUS" written on it. every so often i'd throw him a lizard or a frog and he'd snatch it. But id also reach down in the tank with one of those little green aquarium nets to get him out and place in a bucket to clean his tank .
i had no idea of te requirements to keep them, the danger i had placed upon my self, or what i'd do if i had managed to get bitten. And this was just the first. soon i had quite a few cottonmouths, a few pygmy rattlers, a diamondback, a timber rattler, and a couple of copperheads!. these, with a few exceptions, were kept in the same manner as the first.
Then the worst happened, one of the cottonmouths had escaped without me knowing, i walked into the camper, and as you can guess, it got me. right on the back of my leg. I ran out of the camper to my house and told my mother i had been bitten. everybody went into panic. my dad was throwing a tournequet around my leg cutting off the circulation. and my mom was about to have a heart attack. so we jumped i the car doing a little over 120 mph down the highway headed to the emergency room. got to the emergency room and was immediately rushed to the back. the monitored me for a while, then moved me over 100 miles away to new orleans for treatment.
When i got home my entire collection was gone. My dad had taken the liberty of letting them al go while i was in the hospital.
now its 2 yrs later and im stuck with my colubrid freinds. im now and have been studying up on hots and keeping them. I'm thinkig about once again starting a hot collection next year if i feel im read.
So for all of you that think your just going to jump in and get a hot, take my advice, don't. this is a great hobby and doesn't need any more bad press. there are stupid people getting tagged all the time because the think that they can go pick that rattlesnake up and impress there freinds, or want a cool pet and have never kept a snake in there lives and run out and get a rattlesnake. I was ignorant when i was younger. i felt that i was ready and that i was preparing myself for life ( going into herpetology ). But i wasn't i was displaying stupidity and now i see that. so take this info with an ope mind and dont be as stupid as me.

Chris Stevens

I Just want to say thank you for your post. I am glad that you decided to wait and do it right. I am Sorry however that you had to learn the "Hot" way. I could not begin to think about how bad a Bite would feel. I am Very lucky to be the one that got away from Not one but Several Very Close calls that could have been prevented with either a clear mind, Proper caging, and/or knowledge.
I know we are not the only ones and I hope Many more of you will come in and tell your stories of "Starting Stupid" and I hope that these post will help someone else to NOT make the same mistakes that myself and MANY others have made.
Once again
Thank you
Justin

Your post must be an eye opener for starter hotsnake keepers.

Thanks for sharing
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"No one likes us, we don't care"

This post would have an effect on a potential hot keeper, but I've read others that had an effect on me. Mainly, "Is it worth dieing over?" I'd definately say no. I would like to keep some local rattlesnakes to breed and release the kids in the nature preserve because over the years there have been less and less rattlesnakes. I know of one potential den, maybe a few more, and I know there is an overabundance of field mice. But I am waiting to do this. I am waiting for the money to build a shack seperate from the house, some large top opening cages (I think that would be best), and the actual knowledge of handleing these snakes. This is just a dream right now and for a while, hopefully one day I can perform this service.

P.S. The area is Jamul, CA. Eastern part of San Diego County.

Brett, very good advice!

In addition to hearing from those who learned the wrong way, or learned the hard way, I'm interested to hear the experiences of those who feel they entered the realm of hots the right way and received the proper training.
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MichaelB

Michael, I caught an EXTREMELY lucky break and came across a skilled handler over the internet who was willing to supervise me handling his hot snakes. While I'm most certainly still a novice, it's sped up the learning curve by years compared to sticking with books and quite possibly never having the chance to put a hook under a venomous snake.
Sincerely,
Bill Huseth

When I turned 17 i decided to work for a reptile rescue. I had many cages store bought, and home made. I started out as just a foster home for non-venomus snakes, lizards, turtles and tortioses. After about a year i worked my way up to Norther director of opps. I still was fostering herps but i also was finding them homes and doing show to educate the public. I stayed with this possion for 2 more years. I was haveing some dissagreements with the main director on what animals show be "put-down", so i desided to leave the rescue and start my own. I currently still run this rescue, but i have moved out of state to expand its reach. In 2001 my rescue took in its first hot. It was a beutifull cainbrake rattlesnake about 4' long and very friendly and easy to handle. The person i had taken her from had found her hatching in the wild and had brought her home. She was in excelent condision, very healthy and flawless (no scares). I had gotten her out on a regular basis to keep her relitively calm. When i desided to move down south (la) I had to figuer out what to do with her so i left her with my ast. director. When i got down here and went out to look for snakes i didnt know what i was getting my self into. The first 30 or so snakes i found were all cottonmouths. I knew that these are some of the most agressive snakes in north america so i was very carefull when handleing then. One day i had seen a southern water snake just down from my house but was not able to catch her, so i waited for another chance. That chance came the very next day. I walked down to were i had sen her the day before and there she was. As i moved slowly closer she started to dive for the water and grasses. I was fast enogh this thim to catch her tail. As soon as i grabed her tail i knew something was wrong. She felt all squishy and boney ( not like a heathy snake). I was so so sure i had the southern water snake that i wasnt to worried about secrueing the head first thing. As i started to pull her out I saw movement out of the corner of my eye. I my disbelief when i turned to look it was a southern water snake moveing into the water. At the same time i reliesed i was watching the snake i thought i has retreat into the water, I felt 2 sharp stinging pains in my nuckle. I turned my attencion back to the snake i currently was holding to realize i has a very sickly cottonmouth chewing on my nuckle. My first reaction was to drop the snake, but the snake hung on. after about 2 or 3 seconds the snake let go.I took off my shirt and wrapped around my lower arm and held my hand just above then bight very tightly. I then walk home, about a mile. When i reached the house i got out my snake bite kit and began to pump out the venom. I called a friend who then rushed me to the hospital. The area i live in has about 50 to 75 snake bite a year but since it is a privately owned hospital they do there best to ship you else were without any treatment. Luckly i am also an EMT so i asked if they would do some blood work befor i got shipped out so the next hospital would have some kind of a heads up. well to make a longer story short I was ok in the end, though in a lot of pain. I had thought i was ready to handle at least native hots at the time but after the bight i desided to give it a little more time befor i go hunting for more.

Chris stutz
Reptle2@cmaacess.com