Reptile & Amphibian Forums

i said i heard they **can be** nasty. every snake is an individual but ive heard that the majority of coachwhips are very aggressive. IMO thats not a bad thing, im just looking to possibly aquire an aggrssive colubrid to train with snake handling tools. if you have any other suggestions i would be happy to hear them but so far everyone is telling me that a coachwhip is the best snake for this purpose by far.
-----
1.1 BCI, 1.0 Bearded Dragon

The hardest one to work with and one of the largest is Pseustes Sulphureus. Water snakes would work well also, Here is a Pseustes.

-----
"Life without risk is to merely exist."

.
-----
"Life without risk is to merely exist."

wow thats an interesting snake. ive never even heard of it lol. where did you aquire that one from? they must be pretty rare because ive never seen one for sale before.
-----
1.1 BCI, 1.0 Bearded Dragon

They are from south america and hard to get but if you want mean there is nothing meaner.
-----
"Life without risk is to merely exist."

What kind of snakes do you want to practice for?

im looking to help prepare myself for venomous snakes in general, but particularly cobras. when i begin keeping hots ill probably start out with quite a few vipers before i get an elapid of any kind but IMO it looks a lot easier to avoid a bite from a viper than from a fast agile cobra. ive been told that coachwhips are similar to cobras and that they are very aggressive in most cases so they seemed like the best choice. im kind of taking the "keep an aggressive non ven for a year and see how many times you get bit" rule to the extreme by hopefully keeping this snake for 10 years before i aquire any elapids.
-----
1.1 BCI, 1.0 Bearded Dragon

Since a Cobra is a Cobra nothing will be quite the same. First you will have to decide which cobra in that they are all different. King? Monicle? Spitter? Then if it was me I would start with a Venomoid (One that has had an opperation removing the venom glands) so you will have the real deal without a lethal potential. That being said Cribos are the non venomous equivelent of a Cobra also Pseustes and Ptyas Coranatus.
-----
"Life without risk is to merely exist."

im mainly talking about a monocle cobra. im not going to start a flame war here but i do not agree with the venomoid procedure and therefor will not deal with them or anyone that sells them. im having a little trouble finding more than a few coachwhips for sale and my number two choice is some type of racer. i have only seen a few cribos for sale as well and all of the racer species seem to be pretty common and inexpensive. however, im still looking for coachwhips as i type this.
-----
1.1 BCI, 1.0 Bearded Dragon

The only source for coachwhips is Strictly Reptiles or the occasional private seller. I am afraid a hatchling would not help you.
-----
"Life without risk is to merely exist."

pseustes...aren't these the snakes that are a rampant invasive species in guam? and isn't there a clip of mark o'shea getting nailed in the face by one in the intro to his show?
kekeke

Sighthunter, I just had to comment, that is one beautiful snake. I've been looking around for a pair of red coachwhips for close to two years now, because I just find everything about them fascinating, I think they're the coolest snakes out there. Where exactly did you get yours from, just curious, or would you have any babies for sale anytime soon? Thanks,
Kevin

I have bred them for ten years with offspring every year but my time now is limited but if you send an E mail I will add you to a list of people who want them. They are from a four mile strech of road in Texas between Alpine and Study Butte.

-----
"Life without risk is to merely exist."

from Alpine 118 to the Long Horn Motel ( flood plains area ). 2 on the first trip we collected both males ( kept one ) and 3 on the Aug. trip but only caught one and fortunately female. The other 2 disappeared as we stopped kind of like they vanished without trace. The temps were in the lower 90ties and except for a few horned lizards the red coaches was the only herps out on roadway. Man ( as some of you know ) they are a FLASH of red crossing the roadway down there. My bud has them and we will see if they produce this year.
-----
I may be old , cantankerous, crabby, and cynical, but......

The nicest ones are closer to Alpine.
-----
"Life without risk is to merely exist."

As sighthunter stated, cribo's are the non-venemous equivalent of cobras. For a large snake, they are VERY fast. My cribo is very tame, but I would be very intimidated if he were mean. I saw on the Classifieds Wild Caught black tails for $65. Send the guy a note and ask him if he has any real mean ones...for $65 it might be worth a shot. Black tails, even wild caught can be handleable, so he might not have some aggressive ones. What you want to look for maybe is a nasty, wild caught "Yellow Tail" cribo. I would say that a large adult with a bad temper could probably test your skills...lol, I'll stick with a "gentle" giant myself

-John

thanks for the cribo info. i didnt know much about them so i looked them up on google and they do seem very cobra-like and aggressive. ill see if i can find that ad in the classifieds. thanks again
-----
1.1 BCI, 1.0 Bearded Dragon

I have a 10 foot yellowtail that reminds me of a King Cobra. The nice thing about Yellowtails is that they have the most attitude out of any of the Cribos and can bite down to the bone venomguy!
-----
"Life without risk is to merely exist."

Yea, there is no way I wanna get chomped on by a Yellow Tail! Might change your mind about getting hots....lol. j/k

ever think of maybe a mangrove snake? i've heard they can be nasty. yeah technically venomous but not dangerous, just mean.