Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hello. I am seriously thinking of purchasing a venomoid gaboon viper. I have a few questions about venomoids in general. I have researched the procedure and know that the animals are given pain killers and sedated during the surgery and it all sounds like care is taken not to hurt the snake. I'm sure that they are sore for a while, but what are the long term effects of this process? I know that when you de-claw a cat, their paws hurt every time that they attempt to claw something. Does it hurt the snake everytime they try to bite down to inject? Also do venomoid snakes tend to be more aggressive? I know this sounds like a dumb question. I have heard of several venomous (not de-venomized) animals being tamed down, but I was wondering if being de-venomized makes them more likely to bite (even if they aren't venomous, I don't want to be biten by a gaboon!!) I know I'd be bitten quite a few times if I decide to get one, but I don't want it to be every time I go in the tank! Also I know that their venom, not only kills their prey but also begins the digestive process, will a venomoid snake have problems feeding without the pre-digestive poison in it'd prey? Thanx for reading!!
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Alone, alone, all, all alone. Alone on a wide, wide sea.
-Rime of the ancient Mariner

I was not even going to answer this because of the good chance of it being a trollish post..... But I desided to do so on the off chance it is legit and to educate you alittle.... I will answer your questions and I have a few for you as well....

If the surgery is done legally by a VET, the animal is sedated and given the proper pain meds after the operation.... The problem is, the majority of the voids on the market are done by people/hackers that are not vets and do not have access to the proper meds and are also doing the operations illegaly with no regaurd for the snake..... They just want the cash..... Alot of venomoid snakes die during or right after the operation and some die later on due to other complications.... Some do live out their life with little to no problems..... Some will not aggree but vipers like gaboons DO need their venom to properly and fully digest their food..... I have seen this first hand and I have a necropsy done by a vet to help prove that.... I took in a void that was not doing well with its original owner..... The snake wound up dieing..... Its meals were not being digested fully from the start..... A snake will not be more or less aggressive because of the operation.... Generally, venomous snakes are calm for the most part...... the fact that a bite can kill you should be enough for someone not to handle them without the proper equipment..... But not everyone has the brain power or common inteligence to properly and safely keep venomous snakes..... You should also know that this operation is not 100%..... There have been many reported cases of a supposed void actually being hot.....

Now my questions to you...

Why do you want to keep a venomoid???? If you are not able to keep a fully intact animal, you should not be keeping it at all....

Do you know anything about the captive requirments to properly maintain the gaboon viper???? They are not as easy to keep as some might lead you to believe....

Are you even allowed to keep venomous where you live????? A venomoid gaboon is still a venomous species and are illegal to keep in areas where venomous keeping is restricted....

Do you have the proper tools and caging for the maintainance of a gaboon viper????? Even voids should be handled and caged with the same causion as if it was hot.....

Do you realize that a bite from a void gaboon or any voided hot, can cause a serious infection that can cause many problems????? Also as I stated, a void can still be hot..... When unlisenced persons do these hack jobs, there is no telling what mistakes they made.....

Are you willing to put your life in the hands of someone you do not know???? Are you willing to put your life in the hands of anyone period????

What if you are bitten and the snake turns out to still be hot???? Without a bite protcol and the proper AV, you are as good as dead.....

My advice to you is to get the proper training to keep venomous snakes and do not take short cuts..... Do not get into voids.... Do not support these hackers by buying animals from them..... If you are not ready for the reponsiblity and challenges of keeping a fully intact gaboon, you should not be keeping them at all.....

I hope I helped you out with some of your questions....

Thanks for your input! I know that their are some very sick people out there that do do hack job surgerys just for money, I wouldn't purchase an animal like a gaboon without personally speaking to the person, getting the phone number to the vet who would be doing the surgery, blah blah blah..I would treat it just like I would if I was getting a dog, making sure that it had some sort of papers, along with vet records. I also don't mind paying top dollar for an animal as long as I know that I'm getting exactly what I want. I also have a friend who milks snakes as part of his job, who I would ask to attempt to milk every now and then, just to make sure. I also have easy access to a herp vet. I have been keeping large snakes and lizards for a few years, so I know all about animals needing a very specific environment. This isn't something that I just up and decided I wanted to do last night, and this isn't something that I think that I will go out and buy tomorrow. As for getting bitten by a hot gaboon, like I said before I have a friend who Milks snakes as part of his job (he's apperenticing being a herp vet) so I know that their is antivenin avalable in case something bad happens. Even if the gaboon wasn't hot, those fangs are huge!! What you wrote back makes me think that mabye it isn't the right snake for me, because I deffinately would try to handle it and tame it down as much as possible. I know that there is a big chance of infection, but I have experience getting bitten by large reptiles and know how to care for the bites. Thank you for answering my questions, and in a few monsths when I'm ready to make the decision, who knows, mabye I'll be posting pictures!!
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Alone, alone, all, all alone. Alone on a wide, wide sea.
-Rime of the ancient Mariner

Bites from other types of reptiles are not the same a punctures from a venomoid..... Like I said, I advise you not to get into voids.... Its a bad thing waiting to happen.... I have also never heard of someone studying to be a reptile vet having to milk venom..... There are plenty of very nice non-venomous snakes..... Buy one of those..... Stay away from the hots altogether.... Any venomous snake is not for you at this point..... If you want something to play with go out and buy a king snake....

This statement was made by you;

" What you wrote back makes me think that mabye it isn't the right snake for me, because I deffinately would try to handle it and tame it down as much as possible."

It scares me, that had it not been for Greg's response you would have bought one of these and tried to tame it. I'm not going to bash you, but I would seriously recommend not trying to TAME anything that is, or WAS venomous. Use the proper precautions, and always respect the animal. These are not ball pythons, you WILL get hurt.

I would just like to make the point that their is no such thing as a tame reptile. A tamed down reptile, you can handle, but you ALWAYS have to watch it's body language because they could always strike. Ten years ago, people were terrified of large boas, thinking that they were mean ferocious creatures that could never be handled. I have read on several sites that people have tamed down king cobras (KING COBRAS!!) enough were they can pick them up without getting bitten. Am I saying it is wise to handle a hot snake? Of course not, but that is why I was asking questions about venomoids. Yes they extremely dangerous animals, and yes they are still potentially dangerous when they are de-vemonized. But almost all reptiles are dangerous; moniters, burmese pythons, anacondas, and tegus (I could go on forever) but people have these creatures as pets and are perfectly happy handling them. You could get bitten by a rotty or pit bull way WAY worse then getting bitten by any non venomous or venomoid reptile. I don't believe in personally owning an animal that is condemmed to one space for it's whole life, so that is why I won't own an animal that I can't hold, or something that I couldn't tame down enough to hold. I was asking to get info from people with hands on knoledge of these animals so I could make an educated decision, not for people to jump down my throat about it. I got one responce that was informative at all. Oh, and by the way...Yes, go ask someone who lost a leg if it still hurts...most of them will say yes.
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Alone, alone, all, all alone. Alone on a wide, wide sea.
-Rime of the ancient Mariner

prove to me. Nor am I certain of WHY you are trying to prove them. I am aware of all of the potentially dangerous things there are in this world, but I thank you for refreshing my memory. I still do not reccommend attempting to "TAME" (which IS the word you used) venomous or venomoid reptiles. I do not understand why such a risk is attractive or warranted, other than trying to make oneself seem "manly". I firmly believe that using proper techniques, tools, and husbandry is the only way to help lower the risk of injury. To completely disreguard any ONE of these greatly increases the risk of injury. To disreguard ALL of them is foolish at best.

p.s. Your comment on the amputated leg......Where did that come from? What does that have to do with ANYTHING?

a person trying to prove they are aware of the dangers in keeping snakes. What I also see is a person who is completely ignorant to the fact that free handling any venomous or venomoid reptile is completely irresponsible. I see someone who is obviously not prepared for this angle of herp keeping. If you want to use the word "tame" I will not be so stereotypical and jump all over it but I will say there are more idiots keeping large constrictors they feel are tame as well. These people who are fine handling them without help are idiots as well so you should not be using them in your argument (assuming there is one). Both large snakes and venomous require special housing, tools, back up, and protocals (oh ya..and experience). With venomous you use more tools than back up and with large constrictors you use more back up hands than tools...but that doesnt matter and I am getting off topic. I do not get into the venomoid debates because I dont feel I have time for the many of them. But I will say it is very very rare I find a person who can find a way to support venomoid snakes in a responsible and eduacted mannor. I have talked to people who would own a venomoid snake and are completely responsible and understand what they are doing. They also would never buy a venomoid to support the rediculous market and have a vet who would perform the procedure. Either way, they would still never handle any different than if they were hot. Anyway, this is going nowhere and its sad to see so many people willing to risk the nature of the hobby and possibly have more laws passed due to their irresponsible behavior and wanting to handle what they believe to be venomoid snakes. By the way, my father lost a leg and he said it isnt hurting.

BECAUSE THEY ARE GOOD FOR PEOPLE THAT ARE MULTI HANDICAP!!! AND HAVE SEIZURES AND AUTISM LIKE ME I HAVE BOTH AND AM SMARTER THEN MOST PET STORE OWNERS SOME OF WITCH HAVE NOT EVEN HERD OF A DWARF ANACONDA OR A DWARF AFRICAN ROCK PYTHON I AM ALSO A REPTILE ENTHUSIAST AND AM WANTING TO START A BUSINESS THAT WILL HAVE VENOMOIDS ON DISPLAY IN ZOO QUALITY CAGING ALSO I FIND THAT OFFENSIVE THAT PEOPLE LIKE YOU THAT THINK THEES SNAKES NOTHING BECAUSE THEY ARE NO LONGER VENOMOUS!!!!

It aint snakes but your fact on cat declaws is wrong. They heal fine and arn't in any pain afterwards. Just ask someone with a long gone missing finger if it still hurts.

I'd thought I"d bring this up to remind everyone to check there facts before taking them to heart. You just might end up with a gaboon hanging of your arm

It is an incorrect statement regarding how Gaboon vipers need their venom in order to break down their food intake.

As far as getting a venomid gaboon viper, you definetly need to speak with the person selling the snake and find out who their Herp Vet is that's is doing their surgeries.

In most cases you will find venomoid gabbies w/ full gland and ducts removal which has been a standard in the venomoid market. However, a surgery done correctly to remove only the ducts is sufficient enough for a venomoid.

In the following picture, you will see me holding a baby gaboon viper (venomoid). Although it is possible that the snake could bite me and even give me an infection, I've taken the risk to hold the animal. You won't see me holding my 5' male venomoid gaboon viper at all. An adult gaboon viper's fangs are extremely long and in many cases the risk of infection is high not to mention the damange the bite alone could do.

Suggestion: Research, research, and research. Treat your venomoids like HOTS

That sounds like the midwest tongs t-shirt eh? Haha.
(wow, this place is (gulp) dead)