Learning to handle hots.

A friend of mine has been working with hots for years and I've been wanting to learn for some time now. So next week I'll be starting to work them. I'll be working with EDB WDB canebrakes pygmy as far as rattle snakes go. And I'll also be working with cotton mouths and copperheads.

Sir, I wish you luck with your endevor, and will watch from a distance :gj:

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Originally Posted by Slim

Sir, I wish you luck with your endevor, and will watch from a distance :gj:

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Thank you, and I will take pics so that you can watch through the screen.

best advice in working with hots - dont become complacent. When you work with them on a daily, or even weekly, basis you have the tendancy to start thinking you know their normal routine, and so you begin to stop acting upon thought and start acting upon routine. Never fall into this act!! Many handling / husbandry bites have been the result of a complacent keeper. But, do enjoy the thrill! I love me some hots.

To help practice i would get a bull snake or amazon tree boa with an attitude and treat it like a hot. If you get tagged, you lose lol...
Although that could also backfire if you dont take it seriously bc then if you were to get tagged by an actual hot you would mega lose...

Lol, good luck to you, from way way waaaayyyyy over here = ).

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Originally Posted by Mike41793

To help practice i would get a bull snake or amazon tree boa with an attitude and treat it like a hot. If you get tagged, you lose lol...
Although that could also backfire if you dont take it seriously bc then if you were to get tagged by an actual hot you would mega lose...

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I want a bull snake, but not for this purpose. I feel that only hots should be treated as hots even for practice because I don't wan to become overly confident.

Good luck. Sounds thrilling.
Stay safe!!

the best way to learn how to handle hots is a mentor showing you what to do. its good you have someone to help you out. i just hope you are not starting out handling the eastern or western diamond backs, those are some nasty snakes and if you mess up with a large one of them you may not live through it or you may have less fingers from it. a friend of mine got hit by a 4 foot western diamond back after keeping hots for 28 years with no bites. he said he was in the hospital for 8 days and had a hospital bill over around $42,000. good luck and be safe.

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Originally Posted by jparker1167

the best way to learn how to handle hots is a mentor showing you what to do. its good you have someone to help you out. i just hope you are not starting out handling the eastern or western diamond backs, those are some nasty snakes and if you mess up with a large one of them you may not live through it or you may have less fingers from it. a friend of mine got hit by a 4 foot western diamond back after keeping hots for 28 years with no bites. he said he was in the hospital for 8 days and had a hospital bill over around $42,000. good luck and be safe.

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Oh no, the diamondbacks are the last of the hots on that list I'll be working with. Though it's the one I look most forward to. Mainly because the biggest EDB I'll be around is over 5 ft.
I'll mostly be learning with copperheads and the pygmies.