Venomous Handling

Just curious how many others have attempted direct handling of wild venomous? I haven't had too many opportunities as of lately to stay in practice, but It's something I use to be quite passionate about. Albiet fairly stupid if practiced without reason, but when used as a powerful statement in a snake conservation lecture it can have dramatic results. Who knows how many snakes have been spared thanks to some of the displays I've done in the past.

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Western Diamondback Rattlesnake - Education display in Dallas Texas

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Western Cottonmouth - Relocation efforts for local birding sanctuaries big crowds watching and learning to respect, this guy was kept on hook as were the other 20-30 removed over the course of 2 weeks.

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Happy after relocation :-)

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Western Diamondback - Just a reminder that no matter what level of confidence a handler / educator / or keeper has, always give venomous space and respect. (Photograph is copyrighted to myself)

Cheers

Nice pics. Good job on what your doing. Keep up the good work.

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Originally Posted by reptileexperts

Just curious how many others have attempted direct handling of wild venomous?

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Not me. Don't have a death wish.

I did when I was like 15. Now, at twice that age with a wife and daughter, no way in hell would I attempt it anymore. :colbert:

It's not something I've ever made a practice of, but I've moved a couple copperheads from one side of my property to the other.

I've been practiced in it since I was about 15 as well. A decade later nothings changed accept for putting it to purpose. It's not something I do or attempt on a daily or even weekly basis. Last year I was able to do a venomous circuit traveling around the state with a small batch of venomous, but because those shows were often very much focused on learning how to identify our states venomous to avoid senseless killings, they were never taken out of the locked display boxes. I will say though, given the practice of free handling, you can generally tell the responce of the snake extremely accurately and know when a shift in their attitude occurs.

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These guys were a big part of my education series. Though I didn't attempt to keep a coral snake thanks to their reluctancy to eat in captivity, the milk snake offered good lessons and handling for all ages, highly reccommend anyone in the education field to use milk snakes in a class setting, it will always be something that grabs people attention for a number of reasons.

I mess with them from time to time. Didnt start doing it till i was 19. Really i dont see a difference in handling a non venomous and a venomous. Once youve handled them for a long time you get a strong sense of how there going to react. But then again every snake is different.

Anymore all i do is move them off roads or when i see them around the house i relocate them. Just came across another coral snake last week. Little bugger went right over my bare feet. Scary thing is thats the second time ive had that happen in the past year. lol

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Originally Posted by DakotaB

Really i dont see a difference in handling a non venomous and a venomous.

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i had to read this at least 3 times to make sure i was reading it correctly...
Youre entitled to your own opinion; however, i must say i strongly disagree with you on this one lol.

EDIT: also id like to add i only have ever messed with one hot. My grandparents live in NC and i was visiting them in the summer. My grandfather found a copper head in the barn and was gunna kill it. I used a pitchfork and scooped up and dropped the snake into a 5 gallon bucket and covered it quickly lol! I walked about 1/4 mile down the road and let it go in a corn field. Figured thered be plenty of mice in there for him to eat haha!

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Originally Posted by DakotaB

Really i dont see a difference in handling a non venomous and a venomous.

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:ohmygod: