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Just finished reading an article about a red tailed boa that killed its owner... The article went on to explain how city ordinances allow pythons but not poisonous snakes. They also confirmed that red-tailed boa constrictors are not poisonous. I wish they would have continued on and explain that along with boas, cobras, rattlesnakes, copperheads, etc are also NOT Poisonous! Media... gotta love them! article link - http://www.kmtv.com/Global/story.asp?S=12628906
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Bryan, Atlanta GA

0-1-0 Rescued Ball Python - Athena (formerly Apep)
0-0-1 Rescued Bearded Dragon - Zeus
0-0-1 Rescued Non-Alpha Green Iguana - Bud
2-3-0 Rescued Rats... no wait... ROTTEN Little Cats - Ra, Vader, Bastet, Isis, Angel
1-0-0 Horse... whoops... BIG Golden Retriever - Jake
0-1-0 Wife
2-0-0 Kids

I'm going to bet that the reporter somewhere read where these snakes are actually venomous and not poisonous, and didn't know quite how to interpret the information and put it back out in article form and keep it accurate.

My brain isn't working quite up to par today and I went back and reread the article and your comment...

As far as the whole poisonous/venomous debate... Yes, snakes are venomous... what is your average person going to call them on the street? Poisonous... And that is who the news reports to.

While they are technically incorrect, there are much bigger fish to fry.

People get way too hung up on the semantics of poisonous versus venomous - hell, many well known people slip and say "poisonous"; not that big of a deal in the context its being used. Plus, if you want to be technical, there is one species of snake that is actually "poisonous" so there you go. "We" know that we should describe most snakes possessing venom glads as venomous but too many folks get hung up on this when dealing with the general public. Bottom line is that this is another story that is going to kill our hobby.

>>My brain isn't working quite up to par today and I went back and reread the article and your comment...
>>
>>As far as the whole poisonous/venomous debate... Yes, snakes are venomous... what is your average person going to call them on the street? Poisonous... And that is who the news reports to.
>>
>>While they are technically incorrect, there are much bigger fish to fry.
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Rob Carmichael, Curator
The Wildlife Discovery Center at Elawa Farm
Lake Forest, IL

Not to belabor this point, but I work at a zoo and give "talks" to the public, and I ALWAYS mention that there isn't such an animal as a "Poisonous snake", I always correct the public misconception, i.e., the difference between poisonous and venomous. While I'm not going to change the general populations choice or description, when describing a "poisonous snake", I still feel that I educated them to to proper connatation.

Randal Berry

I agree 100% Randal (imagine that!). Anytime we are doing a venomous herp talk this topic comes up and we enjoy dispelling the misconceptions folks have about these animals and also setting straight the difference between something that is venomous vs. something that is poisonous. During the course of a weekend exhibit we'll hear what seems like 100's of folks say "Dat dem thang is a poisonous killer"....after a while, you just say WTF, shake your head and keep a smile on your face - you can only do so much "educatin"

>>Not to belabor this point, but I work at a zoo and give "talks" to the public, and I ALWAYS mention that there isn't such an animal as a "Poisonous snake", I always correct the public misconception, i.e., the difference between poisonous and venomous. While I'm not going to change the general populations choice or description, when describing a "poisonous snake", I still feel that I educated them to to proper connatation.
>>
>>Randal Berry
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Rob Carmichael, Curator
The Wildlife Discovery Center at Elawa Farm
Lake Forest, IL

I go through the same thing with my programs.

I usually have a Marine Toad or Gulf Coast Toad on my display and I challenge the audience to point out the one poisonous animal on my tables!

Or I approach this topic when talking about the Eastern Hognose Snake and challenge the students to identify what poisonous animal it eats.
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Tim Cole
www.austinherpsociety.org
www.AustinReptileExpo.com/
www.AustinReptileService.net
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Conservation through Education

I don't even like snakes at all, but I have used "venomous" as opposed to "poisonous" since I've been interested in thm (from a faaaaar distance).

What is this one "poisonous" snake?