Reptile & Amphibian Forums

upon reading how do Corals and (Crotalus ceraste)sidewinders rate on the ok for first hots list. I read that corals while venomous have poor delivery skills and that sidewinders admisister very small amounts of venom "Comparatively". is there any truth to the above and would anyone say that these would be ok for a first hot?

thank you all for the advice.

to answer a few questions i am over 18 (age was mentioned in a response to a previous post) im 24. and i do have moderate experiance with snakes.

Unless you have a ready year-round supply of small snakes & lizards, a coral might not be a good one. Eastern corals can be maintained on that diet, but some feed well & some don't. The same may be true about the westerns.

~~Greg~~

Don't believe that Corals have a poor delivery system, as they may be small fangs but they still work as designed. It only takes is a small nip on a finger, not a chewing bite as thought, to get the job done.

As a keeper of a specialized feeder (Krait) Greg is right, finding food is a real problem.

Al
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If you give somebody a match and they can keep warm for a while.
If you light them on fire, They will be warm for the rest of their life.

>>I read that corals while venomous have poor delivery skills...

Here's a little something a put together to help combat this rampant myth:
www.madprogrammer.com/snakes/CoralSnake/

My wife is starting with sidewinders as her first venomous. They are incredibly cute little critters, short strike range, and most hospitals have CroFab to treat the bite. Make sure it is already feeding on rodents, and not a lizard muncher.

First, I agree, little C. cerastes are indeed very cute and probably a decent first rattlesnake. BUT, I will also say that not all hospitals carry CroFab, AND, I personally feel that this is the responsibility of the private keeper. Realizing that a minimum supply of CroFab will run close to $10K most folks won't pay that kind of money. So, my recommendation is to joing a venom bank like the one that Al (Phobos) is developing. Just something to think about.

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

>>My wife is starting with sidewinders as her first venomous. They are incredibly cute little critters, short strike range, and most hospitals have CroFab to treat the bite. Make sure it is already feeding on rodents, and not a lizard muncher.
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Rob Carmichael, Curator
The Wildlife Discovery Center at Elawa Farm
Lake Forest, IL

I had some experience with sidewinders in the past. I found that the CB babies and yearlings I had were easily agitated and could strike quite a bit depending on time of day, etc, but their strike range was very short.

The adults I had were very mellow, though I never handled them with bare hands.

They are so cute that one is tempted to hold them, especially the babies. But you would be wise to not do so. Even though the odds are you won't be dying from a bite, it still isn't fun.
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Mark G
Montane snakes are the coolest...