Some Like It Hot!!!!

Just took a few pics of my rattler
http://img161.imageshack.us/img161/5048/mvc031s7cf.jpg
http://img161.imageshack.us/img161/8435/mvc032s6at.jpg
http://img161.imageshack.us/img161/3/mvc033s1hr.jpg
http://img161.imageshack.us/img161/3046/mvc034s6uv.jpg

ha....I think that is the first time I have ever seen someone post in the venomous section.

Nice looking rattler. What species?..... How long have you kept hots?....ha ha :D...what else do you have?

I have had this snake since last October but I have had hots before. I also have a few Colubrids but I am mostly into scorpions and tarantulas.
I plan to have several more hots in the future when I get a bigger house to live in.

Oh that is Crotalus atrox (Western Diamondback ;) )

WC, CH, or CBB? I used to know a guy that kept hots....a few rattlers....an a few other local hots.

It is a CB animal. Female born last August ;)

Beautiful! I would like to get a Rattler or a Copperhead myself...but my mom is totally freaked out by that, so I have to wait until I moved out. I was lucky to talk her into 3 snakes.

Nice rattler. :)
As long as they're in escape proof cages, I have no issue with people keeping them (really, that's how i feel about all snakes.) (:

Check out my new addition!!!!
http://img301.imageshack.us/img301/395/mvc012s9oo.jpg
http://img301.imageshack.us/img301/3828/mvc011s1vh.jpg

nice baby copperhead....don't you wish that cool green tail would stay around forever :) Those are one of the most beautiful snakes, but I sure hate seeing them when I am in the woods....it seems like I am always right on top of them when I see them :D

Yeah no doubt and they always will just freeze so they are easy to step on. This one was in my yard!!!! :O

It seems like at this time of year the little ones are everywhere. I have not been out in the woods yet this summer....but a new pair of snake boots are definately going to be an investment before I go. When I lived in South Louisiana....all I ever saw were cottonmouths.....but in north louisiana....all I see is copperheads, the occasional rattlesnake, and the north louisiana cottonmouths( ha...i would think they are dwarfs...so tiny compared to the ones I have seen in south la)...

Quote:

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Originally Posted by daniel1983

Those are one of the most beautiful snakes, but I sure hate seeing them when I am in the woods....it seems like I am always right on top of them when I see them :D

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It is a little unnerving to have a highly venomous creature just a couple of feet from you! I used to work at the National Aquarium in Baltimore in their rainforest (small mammals and aviculturist) but we worked side by side with the herp ppl and botonists. Several years back we created our "Venom" exhibit showing the difference between venomous and poisonous animals. Well, we were packing everybody up (they loan the animals and exhibit to other institutions) and I decided to watch them move the gaboon vipers, eyelash vipers, and my favorite the black mamba. Gorgeous animals all of them! I was standing off to the side by 15 feet (not much when the mamba was easily 9) and nonchalantly leaning on a raised podium.... ;)

Long story short, they experienced herp guys momentarily lost the tail end of the mamba amidst various hooks and she dropped 5 feet from me. My heart dropped to my stomach, but they quickly got her into her burlap home. I later realized they didn't drop her so much as let go to get a better position as no one freaked out, but that was more than enough excitment for me and I happily went up to feed my 2 toed sloths and various parrots!

Not two weeks later a Baltimore Zoo herpatologist died of a fatal bite from handling a gaboon viper in her private collection alone! You'd have thought she would have known the risks and precautions. My little moment of fear was nothing compared to this and made me realize the real responsibility of handling/owning one of those guys and the consequences of becoming complacent or overconfident.

Good luck to you guys and be safe!! :)

That is sad about that herpatologist....I would hate to meet the extreamly large fangs of a gaboon. I definately don't have the confidence in my snake handling ability to keep hots (and my fiance would definately not go for it). Anyone that keeps or handles hots should always be prepared to deal with a bite from the animals that they keep. When I see hots in the wild, I generally watch but monitor my distance at all times....I have actually been debating getting a nice camera to snap some good pics of them when I see them. Because it seems that some of the most beautiful snakes in the world are hot :)

Yeah it is risky keeping hots but I only have 2 now and it is probably all I will ever have. I'm more into inverts anyway ;)

Been awhile since I've been here LOL

Here is my Puff Adder
http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y58...l/0771dfcc.jpg
http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y58...l/97cba2ff.jpg

Copperhead
http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y58...l/84cfcb89.jpg
http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y58...l/57e9b66a.jpg

Here are a few more I just dug up

http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y58...l/a052f806.jpg
http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y58...l/df8fb86e.jpg
http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y58...l/42751c92.jpg
http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y58...l/3ecb8dde.jpg

wow that Copperhead is cool, if it bite you what is the chance you will die, and what you deed to have to have one?

do you have to have some kind of permit to keep hots, or is that just in certain states?

That copperhead is amazing...sooo scary, but beautiful...

Quote:

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Originally Posted by basuca

wow that Copperhead is cool, if it bite you what is the chance you will die, and what you deed to have to have one?

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Very very slim. They arent that toxic. In saying that I'm sure a bite will make someone very very sick lol

Man... They even look evil. I mean pythons to me always look kinda innocent and cunning, all hots ive ever seen have that slant to their eye that gives them a synister evil look. Mean buggers lol.
:O you let those things out of their tank? lol i guess your trained so its cool but still you have got some balls...accually you dont, you only have hots and inverts right lol. just a little ball python humor for yah. Anyhow keep the pics coming, I love the invert collections ive seen so far.

I also keep a few colubrids but no I dont have any Balls LMAO

Nice pics :)

Good lookin' rattler. I lived in the Phoenix area for 18 years and I've had many run-ins with those snakes. What do you feed him and how do you do it?

mm, i love those copperheads. are they very aggressive? for some reason i'm thinking they're related to cotton mouths... i've had some bad experiences with them in the woods of virginia.

New pics of the Rattler. I had to clean her cage out the other day so I took her outside and snapped new pics ;)
http://i5.tinypic.com/14uymhy.jpg
http://i6.tinypic.com/14uyqdt.jpg
http://i5.tinypic.com/14uys74.jpg
http://i5.tinypic.com/14uysth.jpg

Ahhhhhhhhh, the memories!!! Growing up in E. Oregon I learned early on about the rattle. When I was 6 we were out rockhounding w/my mom & grandmother for petrified rock and got the chance to be a little tooooo up close and personal w/a diamondback. Luckily he was more scared than we were and slithered off after the initial rattling.


That copperhead is just beautiful!!! But that's one thing I DON'T miss from caring for the prof's snakes in college. Watering, cleaning the hots' cages, and removing the pinkies when the sidewinder decided he didn't want to eat that day. They're beautiful snakes, but for safety reasons, I won't rescue or own a hot.

Thanks for sharing the pics on such pretty animals!


RuLyn

Thanks,
As you know Hots arent for everyone but I am fascinated with them for some reason LOL

BrianS,


that's cool! Even hots in captivity need homes. The scary part are the ppl who don't have a clue and get a hot (sort of like the noob who buys a cute baby burm! ) but it was brought even closer to home when my prof (who owned the snakes) got bit, and the concern until he determined it was a dry bite. The scariest part????? Even tho we were in the biology dept and he had 4 hots in the room, he didn't have any antivenon in the immed. area.

Ignorance ISN'T bliss, but being a trainee, I didn't have any innate fear of them. My very first (accidentally washed) skins was from an 8 rattle diamondback that my uncle found out on the farm in the brush.

I don't claim to have a lot of experience w/hots, and they're beautiful snakes, and even tho I'm worth more to my kid (as an insurance premium ;) ) dead than alive, I won't keep 'em.

Glad some else will............JUST BE DILIGENT AND VERRRRRRRY CAREFUL!

R.