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.

good luck 2 u! although i think 1 day, if i can handle a hot or even touch 1, it would be awesome!

good luck! i've been looking for someone to learn from for years!!! I'm very jealous! :D

Good luck!

I read this and saw these pictures today and it pretty much confirmed I'll never touch a hot lol. Cudos to you though, I have respect for people who have the nerve and responsibility to work with them responsibly.

Warning Extremely graphic and disgusting pictures.
http://www.rattlesnakebite.org/picsconfirm.htm

Just one question,, why are you working with them? HONESTLY.... this is a serious question. Is it for the good of man kind, or do you just wanna mess with danger?
spooky

Throwing "Mangrove Cat Snake" out there as a perfect candidate for 'practice'. We have a 6 foot foster mangrove at home (dumped at our local vet for an abscess the owner couldn't treat properly), and he is the most unpredictable intimidating snake we've ever had.

He acts dead/lethargic 95% of the time.. but that other 5% is striking a distance of several feet, a HUGE gaping mouth (they may be rear fanged, but I've seen this guy bash his face against a rat pup and I've seen the damage a quick strike did- I don't want that sort of laceration across my hand or arms!), and a quadruple S standing a foot and a half into the air. He is inactive just enough time to try and convince you that he can be trusted, that he's "tamed down", but if you look close, his eyes are twitching at your every move.

He has all the fire you would expect from some of difficult hots... without risk of death, but packs enough of a punch in his venom to ruin your day (or the next few days) and command your respect in a way much different from a mean, non-venomous snake.

I have worked with a few cranky colubrids and angry GTPs and ETBs.. while I don't want to get bit, there is still an entirely different feeling when working with a mildly venomous snake, like the Mangrove.

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Originally Posted by mr.spooky

Just one question,, why are you working with them? HONESTLY.... this is a serious question. Is it for the good of man kind, or do you just wanna mess with danger?
spooky

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The main reason I want to learn to work wit hots is because I want to be able to safely rehome them when found in unwanted areas. Secondly I would love to work showing reptiles to schools libraries and anywhere else allowed. So while I would never take a hot out at a place like this it would make a wonderful display animal. And also teach people what to really look for not just assume every snake is venomous and kill it.

x2 to what Leah posted^

My only experience with a Hot was removing a baby, im pretty sure it was a copperhead, from my grandparents barn in NC. I carefully scooped it up with a LONG pitchfork and dropped it into a bucket then closed the lid and transported him out to the woods on the edge of their property. I only did it bc it was a very small baby and my chances of getting bit were pretty minimal after i accessed the situation.

You will NEVER catch me playing with hots for fun lol. The only reason i would ever do it is to save a snake by removing it, like i did with the baby copperhead. Otherwise i stay far away lol.