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I don't have any intention of ever keeping hots, but I have a question for curiosity's sake. I've spoken to a couple of people who deal with snakes for a living, and they've both said that they consider cobras to be some of the best hots to work with. Seems strange that they would say this about such dangerous snakes. Is there something about the behavior of a cobra that makes it easier to handle, assuming you're qualified to do it in the first place, or is it just personal preference?
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0.1.0 Ball Python - Shaman
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i wouldnt think so but hey i guess it depends on who you talk to.

Some of your Asian species are generaly smallish (4-5 ft range)robust and very perdictable in their movments. They genneraly rear to confront you which actualy makes them easier to control. They generaly dont bounce around and preform the acrobats of other species. This dosent however mean they should ever be underestimated!

Asian cobras tend to have extreamly potent venoms which cause both sever pralysis (mainly of the respitory system)along with massive tissue destruction around the bote site and somtimes up the entire bitten limb. These guys kill many people world wide and as is with any venomous species they should not be taken lightly.

On the same note there are several species of cobra that are extreamly difficult to control. Some of the African species get gigantic, upwards of 7 feet long, have huge ammounts of venom and bounce around like a hose on crack! lol (pardon the analogy)One species in pirticular, the Forest Cobra is renouned as one of the most aggresive and dangerous species of snakes on the planet when confronted in close courters. Most cobras will simply stand their ground and maybe make a few half hearted lunges in your direction. Forest will activly persue you, are slender and agile, much more so then other species and will make every attempt to kill you if given the chance. Not all specimens but its probaly tmore the norm then with almost anyother species of venomous snake.

Well, just alittle insight as to why somone may make the statment that its easier to work with cobras.

Hope this helps.

Take care

I have heard that the forest cobra is one of the worst to deal with as well. Mark O'shea said that a forrest cobra gave him more heart stopping moments than a king. My naja kouthia is pissy when trying to get her kbut once you tail her she calms down. My naja sputatrix is just calm as day but i'm still leary of that snake cause you never know. My suphan....well its a suphan and it's the worst to deal with out of the four cobra species i keep in my possesion. Again some people will say most cobras can easily be dealt with and others will disagree.

Almost any person who has ever kept or worked with Forest Cobras will say the same thing lol They are notorious pains in the arse to handle.

Im my breif dealing with O.Hannah I would have to say they are much more workable then Forest. Probaly because they actualy act like Cobras LOL Forest cobras act more like mambas at times.

As for your Naja, unless taxonomy has been updated recently I belive the Suphans are just a varient of kaouthia. The Kaouthia I have worked with have always been real loud and defensive. Once they get in that stance its hard to get them to go down, even when on a hook.

The spitters are actualy what got me out of hot keeping ; ; I started having alergic reactions from simply opening their cages ; ; Since they so generously share their venom I ended up getting over exposed to dried particles which lead to uncontroable sneezing fits everytime I had to clean, even if they werent spitting!!! Kinda sucks but my new interest has me enjoying feld herping more so then keeping at home. Now I just need money to go to africa lol

I did notice that the taxonomy of the suphan is naja naja kouathia suphaniensis

If you check Wolfgang Wuster's site I belive it states them as merely a phase or perhaps an island varrient of Naja kaouthia. Basicly they share the same exact DNA as normal kaothia. I could be wrong though so I would recomend looking into it further and perhaps contacting Dr Wuster directly about it.

I think your right, i did check out his website and saw something mentioned about the suphan. Its hard these days to keep up on taxonomy when it seems every week something is discovered. To this day i still dont know how many different species of cobras there are. I havent been able to find a sufficiant book on the subject.

Everybody says, aw man Forest Cobras are the worst. I only kept one but he was 6 ft and ALWAYS the calmest elapid in my collection.Snakes are all individuals like us and have their good days and bad days though and this should be expected. The absolute worst behaved and aggressive venomous snake I have ever personally owned was a male Black-Necked Spitter(N. nigricollis).His bad mood was consistent to say the least...
Drew.