im not bashing venomous snake owners but...

i fail to understand WHY people feel the need to own venomous snakes. is there a thrill factor to it? you know they can, at any moment of even the slightest carelessness, kill you & the snake wont even think twice about it!
ok this is coming out as a bash & i apologize. but im just having a hard time understanding this issue.
please feel free to correct me but first understand that im NOT AT ALL trying to bash anyone.
again im sorry if this post comes off as a bash. thats NOT what i intended.

I don't own any venomous snakes, but I can certainly see why people would want to own them. I'm sure some of them own them for the "fear factor", but the majority of them probably appreciate their beauty and the type of snake. There are some gorgeous hot snakes out there!

Just keep in mind...90% of people out there say the very same thing about all of us..."Why would anyone want a SNAKE as a pet"...venomous or not :) To each his own, I'm not into hots but I have saw very few snakes that are prettier than a gaboon viper!! :O

The patterns and colors on my rhino viper aren't seen on any non-venomous snake. Theres no thrill factor that I may get bit and die but I get a kick having this beautiful specimen.

I keep both hots and balls. I dont keep them at all for a thrill. The thrill I get is going out a 2am and crawling around in the mountains looking for rattlesnakes. Talk about excitment. But no, I keep the snakes I like venomous or not. I know a lot of people that have kept hot snakes for more then 40yrs and never been bit. Then you get people that are just asking for a bite. You mentioned that the snake could kill you at the first bit of carelessness, and you are right. That is why you follow the rules and dont get careless. If you are in a hurry and cant take the extra time it takes to handle hot carefully, then wait till you have time to it right. I hear all the time" I was in a hurry and the snake was on the other side of the cage, so I just tried to grab the water or poop and got bite." If you dont have the time leave it till tomorrow.

I love my eyelash vipers. They are amazing, so much different form ball pythons. If you have not experienced keeping hots you will never understand why people keep them. They are much more advanced then your nonvenomous snakes.

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Originally Posted by xdeus

I don't own any venomous snakes, but I can certainly see why people would want to own them. I'm sure some of them own them for the "fear factor", but the majority of them probably appreciate their beauty and the type of snake. There are some gorgeous hot snakes out there!

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Sooo true broski! 90% of my friends are like why do you have snakes?! To each his own is right. BUt some choices are clearly smarter. Buh what is a sexier than a monocled cobra?

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Originally Posted by jzoot3d

Buh what is a sexier than a monocled cobra?

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A spectacled cobra :P

These guys pretty much hit it on the head.

Herpetoculture is all about experiencing reptiles and amphibians. It's about caring for, raising, keeping, and propogating these creatures. Just because an animal is dangerous doesn't make it no longer worthy of experiencing, it just means those experiences must be much more controlled than draping your corn snake across your forearm.

There is no difference in the questions:
"why would you keep reptiles?"
"why would you keep snakes?"
"why would you keep venomous snakes?"
"why would you keep monitors?"
"why would you keep frogs?"
"why would you keep caimans?"
"why would you keep alligator snapping turtles?"

The answer is all the same, even if some pose various degrees of danger, or are less suitable for handling than other species.

Technically you could say the same thing about many animals that we keep as pets. Horses are a good one that comes to mind. More people are killed by horses than pet venomous snakes. Yet no one goes "You're CRAZY! Owning a horse! Those things could kick you in the head and you'd just DIE or be crippled!!"

People ride dirt bikes or motorcycles, jump out of perfectly good airplanes, keep venomous snakes, own horses, drive cars on the HIGHWAY!!!!

Many things we do, and many animals commonly kept are technically able to kill you. It's how you handle it, how careful you are and what you love. Keeping venomous snakes should be no more dangerous than keeping a horse, when you think about it. And TECHNICALLY you put yourself at far mroe risk walking around a horse than if you're properly handling a hot, with hooks/tongs etc. Yet people walk around horses all the time, because they are 'tame' and 'domesticated' and 'beautiful'. They still kill folks, sometimes just because something startled them.

It's all different strokes for different folks.

I am a fan of Venomous herps and one of my first forays into the snake world was a Bothriechis schlegelii or Eyelash Viper. I though it was just the bees knees and had her for almost 5 years before she went to live out her days at the Nashville Wildlife park at Grassmere. I find one of the most beautiful animals in the world to be the Bitis nasicornis (Rhinoceros Viper). I mean do a google search on the Rhino Viper and you will see all sorts of color. You do have to know that at any moment there can be a lack in judgement and you could be hurt or worse killed. Hence why the boss says we cant have any at all.

thanks you guys! all your responses were helpful. im grateful no one got defensive...yet. as i said before i'd been taught to believe that venomous snakes were somethinhg to be greatly feared & left alone but then i recently discovered via this forum that people actually own them! i was like "whoa! venomous snakes? really? why?"
i thought there was a thrill factor there...like people would be like in a coversation of, i own a dog...i own a horse...i own a ball python & then someone goes "yeah well i own a freakin' cobra!"
ya know what i mean? is it really like that?
or am i just spinning up weird concoctions in my head?