Reptile & Amphibian Forums

hello,i am interested in tree vipers and most arborial snakes for that matter.i am looking into purchasing my first hot snake and was wondering what the least toxic species of tree viper is.i figure i should get the least dangerous for my first snake.i love golden eyelash vipers but suspect there is a species of small(i like smaller vipers) tree viper that i may like almost as much,and would be less dangerous. what about popes vipers? are they as dangerous as eyelashes ? any other suggestions?

Eyelash vipers can be/are lethal. Pope's and White-lips generally are not. Keep in mind though, just because it won't kill you doesn't mean it can't cause a world of other problems. I've heard stories saying Pope's are no worse than a bad bee sting, and I've heard stories about people losing fingers and almost dying. They're all second hand stories, so which are actually true I couldn't tell you.
-Will

You can see the main varieties of Trimeresurus (along with a lot of other great pics of other species)....
here

Don't know if you'd be interested, but while you're biding your time, researching and waiting for your son to grow, you might consider Amazon Tree Boas. I've seen some gorgeous ones.
And considering that (from what I undestand) they're high strung semi-small display animals with a hell of a (nonvenomous) bite, they may be a good option for your situation.
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0.1 chickens (Condor)
0.2 dog mutts (half ownership, only mine when they misbehave, Lucy & Amy)
0.1 Halflinger horse (Crissy)
0.1 Normal phase California Kingsnake (Sophia)
1.1 parents
Still searching for 1.0 WC human

There is a long-time poster on this forum(I will let him identify himself if he wants his name mentioned) who knows someone that almost died from an eastern hognose bite-when the breeders warn that you never know how you'll react to venom, it's very true.

All tree vipers have a cytotoxic (cell destroying) venom which can cause serious and permanent injury, and/or death. Some are more lethal than others, but all of them are capable.

The best hot snake to acquire is the one you have antivenom available for. Therefore, most exotics do not make the best hots for new keepers. To be honest, I'd suggest you get some experience under your belt with native venomous (which won't neccesarily gain you experience in arboreal viperids, but will at least get you familiar with hots), or like the other poster suggested, get an arboreal non-venomous such as an ATB, something nasty, to train you a bit.

As for species like Pope's delivering a mild bite, I suspect the "bee-sting like" bites were mild envenomations, and not a true picture of what the venom can actually do to you if delivered in a moderate dose. Don't buy into the notion that ANY viperid bite will be "mild", because they all pose the danger of at least costing you a digit or two.

This is from a STRICTLY SCIENTIFIC and not experiential point of view but I believe the East European Medow Viper (Vipera ursinii)
is currently regarded as the least toxic terrestrial viper and the Australian Half Girdled Snake (Simoselaps semifasciatus) is regarded as the least toxic terrestrial Elapid.