Reptile & Amphibian Forums

What is the most common hots in captivity in the USA? I'm living in Sweden and the most common hots here is probably the following.

Trimeresurus albolabris
Crotalus Atrox, C.vegrandis, sistrurus ssp.
Vipera ammodytes ssp
Agkistrodon contortrix ssp

and probably a few more.

Is there any hots that is allmost impossible to lay hands on in the USA?

Hope that you can read my English.

Best regards: Ronny, Sweden

Philodryas@crotalus.se

Five or six years ago that would have been easy, however, with the many varieties to choose from, it is hard to pinpoint the most commonly kept; everyone has their own tastes. BUT, I would say that the copperhead is still a species that is commonly kept as are Sistrurus and various Crotalus...they are certainly among my favorites. Eyelash Vipers have gained significantly in popularity due to their beauty and ease to keep. There is a very devout Elapid group of folks in the U.S. who love their cobras, mambas, etc. and some amazing advances have come about in recent years in captive breeding. Tris are still very popular and one of my favorites. I enjoy my Atheris but due to lack of antivenin, its not one I would recommend. I guess that's a tougher question than I thought!....I could list a bunch more!

Rob Carmichael, Curator
The Wildlife Discovery Center
Lake Forest, Illinois

I really do not know what I think is the most common but I have to agree with Rob that there are a ton of copperheads and that is likely it. I also wanted to mention how amazing I think it is that T. albolabris is so common among collections and research on the animal and information is so rare. Here is a picture of Rob Carmichael's female T. albolabris just for fun since I love those little things.

Well since the others mentioned the most common, I'll mention some of the rarer ones...

Lachesis are kept by some, but still pretty rare
Aussie elapids are pretty much non-existant in private collections, though the PNG variations (i.e. Oxyuranus) are sometimes seen, though by no means common.

Well those are the biggies...I actually can't think of that many that people don't keep, except for obvious ones like Pseudohaje goldii, which I've seen available but to my knowledge only a select few individuals work with.

I just obtained a beautiful Lachesis (costa rican) and find myself just staring at this magnificent creature for long periods of time....my new favorite venomous snake! My big challenge will be to find a female to pair up with this young adult male.

First...Great picture Ronny...Is that one of yours?

Having read all of the posts so far I would basically agree the Copperhead & Cottonmouths are very common here as well as the common rattlesnakes.

Ones not mentioned that are common are the larger Bitis: Gabbys, Rhinos, & Puffs. I have a neonate Horned Puff Adder that is one of my favorites and will work on collecting the dwarf Bitis.I have a CB04 B. asper that is a very cool (but dangerious) snake. I tend to keep things that I can interact with and still remain alive and well. The most toxic snakes I currently keep are Echis carinatus they are curious and not agressive or off the wall.

Cheers!

Al

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Sarcasim is only one of the fine services I offer.

Hey Al,
Great photo!!

You would consider puffs and B. asper common in collections? Yes amazing snakes but I do not know near as many folks with those as the other Bitis (nasicornis and gabonica), C. atrox, and N. kaouthia. And I would bet the copperhead numbers in collections are much higher than cottonmouths. Just my opinion and could be very wrong. Nice animals you have and good picture. I wish I could see it all at once lol.

Hi,

Okay...not aspers but at the shows I see many puffs going out the door along with Rhinos & Gabbys.

Al
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Sarcasim is only one of the fine services I offer.

Ahhh..

Thanks for the kind comment on snake & photo too. Other pictures can be viewed on my msn website.

http://groups.msn.com/SomeLikeThemHot/

Al
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Sarcasim is only one of the fine services I offer.

Tnx.

It is a picture of one of my old prasinas. I sold her and the new owner probably didn't care for her enough.....she died about a month after i sold her.

Thats really aweful

Al
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Sarcasim is only one of the fine services I offer.