Starting to keep hots again!

Well. After a few years of no longer working with venomous reptiles in home my wife has opened her heart to these magnificent animals and we have started our venomous journey together. At the moment we only have one little stinker but it is one of my favorite local hots - a Southern Copperhead! The next addition will be a Reticulated Gila monster at the end of this year. Here's a small snippet of our boy.

http://images.tapatalk-cdn.com/15/11...a1fdf021a0.jpg

http://images.tapatalk-cdn.com/15/11...6f7527ff5a.jpg

http://images.tapatalk-cdn.com/15/11...ba1ddd48b3.jpg

Cheers!


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Beautiful choice. :gj:

Thanks John, I've kept coppers in the past and always enjoy them. Venom is typically mild, risk is lower, their are less likely to strike than some species, and their colors are simply gorgeous. Will do some real photos once this guy drops his skin.

Never kept these little buggers. Not very interested in North American hots but I would love to keep a leucistic Cottonmouth.

You can never go wrong with a Gila monster. Get a baby and train him. They are very smart and can get quite tame.

We are getting an adult male that my friend raised from a hatchling as far as the Gila goes :)

Kept cottonmouths and while I agree those Lucy are incredible, the species itself doesn't excite me as much. Cottonmouths almost always are on defense even when raised from captive born young. And their musking is constant. This guy tends to tail shake and gape when I first approach him but the musking has stopped relatively quick thankfully!


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I love the colors and patterns of the Copperhead. Great pick.

No kidding about the musk.

I used to live on a private lake that was next to a frog farm only separated by the dam. Needless to say there were a ton of Cottonmouths there for the free food. Every time I walked down that dam the air was thick with musk. I would see 8-12 Cottonmouths every time. Plus I would see about a dozen water snakes.

Worst decision ever was moving a giant cotton off the road with my tongs when we were out in our Lexus... Tongs were sprayed so bad the entire suv smelled for days.


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I'm both jealous and not jealous (because I would never own hots, but also part of me would like to some day). What a pretty face. :oops:

Nice. I have always loved their color.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by reptileexperts

Worst decision ever was moving a giant cotton off the road with my tongs when we were out in our Lexus... Tongs were sprayed so bad the entire suv smelled for days.


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Yuck!

I sure would hate to have that skunky smell in my car. :P