Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I have only one 'hot' being a cobra, but I have a few questions regarding them as a whole.

I have read they do not inject poison in defense most of the time, so I was wondering exactly how that worked?

Is it the temperment of the snake or species itself that determines if they poison you when they bite, or the level of threat percieved by them?

Also if you were to 'milk' a snake or the snake was to inject something with venom, would that reduce the chance of a envemonating bite the next bite? How long would that last then?

A few silly answers from my feeble mind
The snake determines whether the bite is dry or not, and I dont think it's a predictable thing at all, and milking the snake will only buy you about maybe 2-3 minutes tops before the snake is able to replenish it's venom supply.
Im certainly no expert, but this is what I've picked up over time.....
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Tom
TCJ Herps
"The more people I meet, the more I like my snakes"

>>I have only one 'hot' being a cobra, but I have a few questions regarding them as a whole.
>>
>>I have read they do not inject poison in defense most of the time, so I was wondering exactly how that worked?

Venom is injected by the action of muscles surrounding the venom glands which are under conscious control of the snake. So, they can decide whther or not to inject venom and how much. They CAN decide not to bite in self defemse, but obviously they don't do this all the time, or there would be virtually no snake bites of humans.

>>Is it the temperment of the snake or species itself that determines if they poison you when they bite, or the level of threat percieved by them?

All of the above.

>>Also if you were to 'milk' a snake or the snake was to inject something with venom, would that reduce the chance of a envemonating bite the next bite? How long would that last then?

Since they can control the amount injected with each bite, if they feel like it, they can inject venom several times within a few seconds. Milking them probably does a better job of getting rid of MOST of the venom, BUT 1) They really hate being milked, so if there is any venom left they will be much more likely to use it if they get the chance. 2) Milking a hot snake is one of the most dangerous things you can do wih them, and certainly not something a novice should be trying.

Summary: Assume that a cobra is always prepared to kill you.

Before everyone lines up to tear you a new one, may I suggest that these are fairly basic questions that you really should have gotten answers to LONG BEFORE you started keeping any hot, let alone a cobra. You Really should consider getting rid of this snake until you've learned a lot more, gotten some training and worked with some less dangerous snakes for a while...

These are very basic questions. By asking these you are indicating that you jumped into keeping venomous snakes WAY before you were properly prepared. As mentioned it would probably be a good thing for you to get rid of the snake and maybe try keeping venomous snakes further down the road when you're better prepared.

On to the questions:

Milking snakes is VERY VERY VERY dangerous. It is the activity that deliberately puts your hands close to the end that does the damage. It should not be performed by novices. You are VERY likely to get bitten, and even more likely to injure the snake.

As far as venom reserves... Even after a snake has been milked by an EXPERT milker, the snake will have enough venom to inject and cause major damage/death to a human. In fact there are some individual snakes that even when milked will not give anywhere near the amount of venom that they carry.

If you were thinking about milking your venomous snake to make it safer, you're headed in the totally wrong direction.

This may sound harsh, but it's for your own good.

I actually got the chills when I read this person has a cobra and I saw the questions. It is not hard to find problems within the community. Now its just time to try and correct it. This is a good post to add to my organizations responsibility display next week.

I love how the Ky ban needs help is right under a post on exactly why the ban makes sense. Maybe I am over reacting and these questions are just being asked either as a joke or to get more in depth answers than were given. Can always hope.

I really have nothing to add, except to say the responses you have received so far are right on the mark. Be careful.

~~Greg~~

I really hope a lot of posts like this one is a bored drunk with nothing better to do with their time. Here's a pic of my Rattler X Black rat snake. He has run of the house. He loves to lay in the window sill and absorb the sun. He loves to go for walks, but always chases the mailman. I've seen him slither at speeds up to 25 miles a hour. I feed him hotdogs. Just the right size and shape. I'm thinking of breeding him to a garter snake this summer to add some stipes to the bloodline. You can't tell by this picture, but he is around 42 feet long..............o.k. sorry for being ignorant myself, but why do people always want to make the hobby harder for those of us who know what we're doing. It wouldn't have taken much time serching the internet to answer all the questions to this post. They would have also learned so much more information that they really really need if in fact they do have a cobra in their house. My nine your old was able to answer these questions. I know it's not fair, because he has been around snakes his entire life, but why have a cobra if you don't know the basics?

Well...I'll bite , so to speak..

eunectes4: How right you are..no need to look hard why States are banning private venomous snake keepers!

Silvertears (AKA Corpse want-a-be): Why are you in hurry to die? Do you know where the nearest source of Antivenom is for that species of snake? Better find out, your gonna need it.

Al
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Save a Rattlesnake...Skin a Sweetwater Resident!

I see that the poster is asking about milking the snake, etc etc, but I just get the feeling that if this post is ligit, the snake in question is probably incapable of producing venom anyway. There's just something about the way this person refers to it as "poisoning" and such...at the very least, in this case, I *hope* it's a venomoid! (that just feels wrong to say)

Anyway, your questions have pretty much been answered and then some. No, milking the snake is not going to make you safer. Quite the opposite in fact! Ask Bill Haast or Jim Harrison how safe it is to milk venomous snakes often. As far as the dry bites, as it was already explained, the snake can choose. However, Najas tend to be, from what I've noticed, somewhat 'eager' about using their venom (not poison) on people in captivity. Maybe their form of revenge for trapping them in these tiny plastic or glass boxes...who knows.

I'm not going to come down hard on you...well, try not to at least. Lord knows I've been reamed plenty of times myself for things I've done that probably were stupid, but I (luckily) survived my curiosities and am here to type about them. If you truly have lived with your cobra for 4 years, then great, you're very lucky! Don't ever think of yourself as anything more than that. Every time I think back to when I kept venomous snakes, which really hasn't been that long ago, I realize exactly how lucky I was to keep some of the species I did, no matter how long they remained in my care (ex. Naja, Dendroaspis, Hemachatus, Oxyuranus, Dispholidus, etc etc), and remember all the times I easily could've been nailed and probably easily killed, but the snake chose to take pity on my carelessness. Be proud that you can, as of today (hopefully?), count yourself as one of the still lucky ones.
-Chance
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Chance Duncan
1.1 Olive Pythons
1.1 Woma Pythons
1.1 Ball Pythons (Het Albino)
http://www.rivervalleysnakes.com

You know I worked in a reptile store for a few years and was asked odd questions from people who I though knew or knew something about the answer before they spouted their question.

In this case, the guy initially said he was asking silly questions, and not everyone has access to a good library or even knows methods to seek this information. I mean I have handed doctor, lawyers, and people with years of experience, thousand dollar animals and they have no idea or clue to how to care for their new animal. And personally, when you have sellers willing to hand a 18 year old kid a cobra, who is to blame? The kid or the responsible adult? (not implicating that that this guy is a kid or anything)

As such, I wanted to also blast him as first, but his questions were not too far off the scale and I am even guilty of blasting people before thinking. And this forum should permit some space for odd questions regardless of the shadow of our hobby being nailed every instance someone presents as a potential threat to its eventual ruin, as its not the individual that will ruin the hobby, it is the lack of collaboration of individuals who want the hobby to continue that will ruin the hobby, and the politicians that have nothing better to do but get DUI's and mess with other people's lives to revenge their shame and anger.

It was not so much the original post which got the heavy blast. It was the one which is now deleated that took a harder hit and a much more deserving one. I too wanted to give the benefit of the doubt and his questions were answered with some harsh realization he may not be educated enough to be keeping a cobra. If he does not fit the bill of what is implied in others posts. There is no need to worry and he can ignor the harsher commnets or even explain in greater detail and what he did not state compleltely or accurately in the first post. However, this individual decided he would rather compare the dangers of his cobra to the dangers of his bearded dragon. Not an acceptable response and it does show the people who did jump to conclusions were probably correct. I agree colaboration is a must and the forum certainly needs to work on it. People do not like to listen to bashings, but many are willing to accept opinions from constructive critics. I actually had a great conversation last night with someone who posted photos of gaboon, king cobra, and black mamba free handling. He believes people take their own risks and i do agree 100% they should be allowed to when it is themselves at the only risk. But legislation feels otherwise so posting the photos on the internet to allow the public to make the determinations is irresponsible and I had to disagree. Sorry for the winded post.