Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Here is the same snake on a hook. I forgot to post this one last night, I really wanted everyone to see the orange of the ventral side of these snakes.

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It's what you learn AFTER you know it all that counts!

Terry Phillip
Curator of Reptiles
Black Hills Reptile Gardens
Rapid City, SD.

www.reptilegardens.com

I inserted the wrong picture of a different Taipan and proceeded to erase the one I wanted. (not a real computer whiz)
I will try to remember to get a dorsal photo tomarrow.
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It's what you learn AFTER you know it all that counts!

Terry Phillip
Curator of Reptiles
Black Hills Reptile Gardens
Rapid City, SD.

www.reptilegardens.com

...what are the inlands like to handle? Are they as nuts as the coastals? I have, of course, never handled an inland, but our PNG can really make you work! I've seen a few people handling them on TV with no problems, inluding one fool free-handling them and going on about how docile they are (no, not someone from this board). Are they really like that? Inquiring minds want to know...

Larry,

I went into the tempers of Australian elapids in one of the threads below, however:

Most inlands are fairly quiet..much less "trigger happy" than Coastals when they are at prefered body temp. Most are quite nasty when cool/cold. My animals are very nervous..constantly striking or in the strike "pose" when the cage is opened. As for actual handling...more similar to a Big calm Eastern Brown (Pseudonaja textilis) but not unlike a Coastal.

Regards,
Scott Eipper

the older animals I have are pretty mellow. the newest 8 are kinda jumpy and cautious.
My best analogy for us in the states. Is the inlands are more like a large C adamanteus sit and wait, not expending energy to try and deliver a bite. However, if you get even possibly close they take a well aimed enthusiastic stike at you.
The Coastals and PNG's are very individualistic. some mellow some demons. but I compare them more to a C. atrox. Much more irritable and prone to flailing all about trying to get something to bump into the fangs to bite it. Much like large unpleasant atrox.
To be honest, just because a snake technically is the most venomous, does not by any stretch of the imagination make it the most dangerous to work with!
I would rather handle a large pissed off Taipan of any form in a small room, than a large pissed off C. atrox or Bothrops asper in a small room.
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It's what you learn AFTER you know it all that counts!

Terry Phillip
Curator of Reptiles
Black Hills Reptile Gardens
Rapid City, SD.

www.reptilegardens.com

I noticed that a lot of your pics had the inlands climbing. Did you put them on the rods or do they like to climb if given the habitat to do so? I never thought of them as an arboreal natured snake.
Thanks,
Will

No, actually that is my snake hook for small snakes.
It's approx. 11 inches long with a 1 inch aluminum "L" at the end. It is made out of an old arrow shaft. Lightweight and strong!
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It's what you learn AFTER you know it all that counts!

Terry Phillip
Curator of Reptiles
Black Hills Reptile Gardens
Rapid City, SD.

www.reptilegardens.com

Thanks for the reply.

Maybe you should come meet our PNG... Unless you're talking about handling a 7 foot atrox in a 4'X4' space, I'll take the rattler over this guy any day. He's about 5' or so, and I sure hope he calms down a bit before he gets bigger (hasn't calmed noticably in the year and a half we've had him). Even feeding him can get hairy. Slide the glass open just enough to squeeze a mouse through on the foreceps and sometimes you'll hear this train wreck behind his log followed by a black streak flying forward and maybe hitting the mouse or maybe making a break for the opening. I would say that over short distances, he's probably the fastest snake I've experienced yet. He dosn't strike long distances like a rattler, but he can crawl faster than most snakes can strike if he has things to push against...

All my PNG's were always very nice to work with.
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Chad Bachman

I'm afraid I have to agree with Terry on this one (ack, did I just say THAT?!?! lol). I'm much better at handling elapids than I am at handling viperids. I've messed with some rattlers that scared the crap out of me. I've only handled one elapid that came even close to getting the better of me (large forest cobra), but even then it wasn't as bad as messing with its equivalent in the viperid world (something like a big B. asper or very large Crotalid). I've had 3 PNG taipans, one large adult and two young ones. The large one was around 7' and very placid, though I think that tended to have more to do with his probable parasite load than his temperament. He would have likely became quite the beast if he had survived long enough to do so. The young ones were extremely placid when they first arrived. They were nervous and jumpy in the enclosure, but when taken out, they were very mellow and were mostly content to just hang out on the hook when moved or whatever. As time wore on and they packed on size, they became more and more nutty. By the time they left here, about a month and a half ago (they had been here nearly a year by that time), they had tripled their size and quintupled their attitude, especially the male. The day I was packing them up for shipping, he managed to shoot out of the Vision and hit the floor before I could get him back up on a hook. Scary situation that. The female wasn't quite that bad, but would still make a go at me from time to time. One curious thing I began to notice about them was this strange habit of "body flopping." When I would approach their enclosure for cleaning and prepare to extract them, they would make sudden jerky movements. Sometimes these movements including suddenly contorting their bodies so that their heads whipped around and came in contact with their tails. Now if that wasn't an intelligent method for a snake to protect its entire body, I don't know what would be. It was very interesting to see, but as I'm sure you can imagine, it could make them quite difficult to hook. Despite all that, I miss having the deadly little shoelaces around. It just isn't the same not having any venomous snakes. I have plenty of neat pythons to keep myself occupied, but it definitely is a whole other world.
-Chance
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Chance Duncan
http://www.rivervalleysnakes.com

Chance,

I am yet to see a Coastal Taipan not cover its tail....next opp you get with one touch its tail with a hook/tongs etc as the snake goes into its hidebox and watch the head appear from nowhere. I am yet to see another Australian elapid (except Acanthophis) cover their tails like that. I wonder to the Black Mamba keepers out there..is it the same thing? Do they "cover" their tails as the enter hideboxes????

Regards,

Scott Eipper