Gabby Viper

[Neal]

Anyways, I was hanging with a friend today(well yesterday) who has 2 cottonmouths & a Gaboon Viper. I got to mess around with the Gaboon Viper. I don't really have any experience in anything venomous, or any kind of hooking experience but I watched him do it once or twice. Anyways I will post the pictures off my phone later today so you can check them out. Beautiful snake, so when I get my permit, i'm thinking about either a Gaboon Viper, or maybe a Rhino Viper, but my other options are either a Saw-Scale Viper or a Desert Horned Viper. Then once I get some time with those then i'm going to step up to a Cobra. He's gonna let me work with them for a few weeks, then i'm going to apply for my permit. I've dealt with cottonmouths before but that was moreless relocating them, never had to deal with any venomous in a confined space, but all in all it was a fun day.

[Neal]

Crap, wouldn't let me edit.

To add that, he's either going to be purchasing a Fur-De-Lance or a Boomslang, which i'm not too familiar with the Fur-De-Lance but I know people that breed Booms. I wish I knew him when he had his cobras, because that would of been awesome to learn with.

[Bitis_Gabonica]

Crap, wouldn't let me edit.

To add that, he's either going to be purchasing a Fur-De-Lance or a Boomslang, which i'm not too familiar with the Fur-De-Lance but I know people that breed Booms. I wish I knew him when he had his cobras, because that would of been awesome to learn with.

If you don't have hardly experience with any venomous then I suggest staying away from most of the species you mentioned except for the Cottonmouth. From what I have learned in the past 3 months of working with Ga. native venomous (everything except the Eastern Diamondback and Coral). What I think you should do if you already have Cottonmouth experience, get yourself a Timber/Canebrake rattler and after a year of that then you should be ready for all of the species you mentioned except for the Boom and Fer-de-lance (or any other South/Central American or Asain Lancehead) as they are DANGEROUS AND MEAN!!! Hope this helps.

[Neal]

If you don't have hardly experience with any venomous then I suggest staying away from most of the species you mentioned except for the Cottonmouth. From what I have learned in the past 3 months of working with Ga. native venomous (everything except the Eastern Diamondback and Coral). What I think you should do if you already have Cottonmouth experience, get yourself a Timber/Canebrake rattler and after a year of that then you should be ready for all of the species you mentioned except for the Boom and Fer-de-lance (or any other South/Central American or Asain Lancehead) as they are DANGEROUS AND MEAN!!! Hope this helps.

I'm going to be working with either the Fer-de-lance or Boomslang before I get the species I want. I'll be working with the Gaboon more also. Then once I feel comfortable with hooking things and learning the ins and outs with it then I want to get the species I want. Thing about getting the native or like a rattle snake, is I really don't like the species, so I honestly wouldn't want to waste the money, then have to find somewhere to ship them to when they get older and such. When i'm ready though my first will be either the Saw Scaled or Desert Horned. Then down the line, months after that will be a Cobra, because I know how sneaky the Cobras can be. Out of the 3, Desert Horned isn't as mean, and it's the least potent.

[Skiploder]

I'm going to be working with either the Fer-de-lance or Boomslang before I get the species I want. I'll be working with the Gaboon more also. Then once I feel comfortable with hooking things and learning the ins and outs with it then I want to get the species I want. Thing about getting the native or like a rattle snake, is I really don't like the species, so I honestly wouldn't want to waste the money, then have to find somewhere to ship them to when they get older and such. When i'm ready though my first will be either the Saw Scaled or Desert Horned. Then down the line, months after that will be a Cobra, because I know how sneaky the Cobras can be. Out of the 3, Desert Horned isn't as mean, and it's the least potent.

Neal:

Boomers can be real tough to handle. They are fast and can ride a hook up onto your arm before you can fart in protest.

What locale of dispholidus do your friends breed? There is a noticeable variability in the locales - including venom potency.

[Derrick13]

Well thats pretty awsome that you want to get into the hot side of life, and it sounds as if you have had some experince with hots, right on. I have and most likely will never own a hot and I have no experince with working with them, but I do have some knowledge on afew types in general and I would like to warn you about booms, there like nascars's with fangs and a temper like a F5 tornado. However, if you must work with them I would suggest finding out if your local hospital carrys the anti-venom for booms, and if not , then you should look into which is the closest hospital that carrys. Just to be on the safe side.

[Neal]

Neal:

Boomers can be real tough to handle. They are fast and can ride a hook up onto your arm before you can fart in protest.

What locale of dispholidus do your friends breed? There is a noticeable variability in the locales - including venom potency.

I'm not sure. I haven't spoken with the guy in quite some time. I know he useto free handle his though. I would never even attempt that. I'm not interested in getting a Boom, I just will be working with one under his supervision since he wants to get one. I'm going to make sure I get all the necessary tricks and the sort, and a good bit of experience before I jump into hots. Plus the ones i'm interested in aren't even available right now. It will be another 5-6 months before I get my first hot, I figure by then with working with his Gabby & weither or not he gets a Boom or a Fer-De-Lance, both are bad though because of hemo.

[Skiploder]

I'm not sure. I haven't spoken with the guy in quite some time. I know he useto free handle his though. I would never even attempt that. I'm not interested in getting a Boom, I just will be working with one under his supervision since he wants to get one. I'm going to make sure I get all the necessary tricks and the sort, and a good bit of experience before I jump into hots. Plus the ones i'm interested in aren't even available right now. It will be another 5-6 months before I get my first hot, I figure by then with working with his Gabby & weither or not he gets a Boom or a Fer-De-Lance, both are bad though because of hemo.

I'm going to try to word this very carefully because I don't want anyone to get the wrong impression.

I know several people who free handle boomers - mainly because they are a fairly intelligent animal that comes to recognize it's keeper fairly quickly.

While they practice this, they ALWAYS remove the animal from it's enclosure with a hook. Boomers condition to feed very rapidly and will quickly associate the opening of the cage with food. They often shoot out of their cages like arrows and/or hit anything entering them.

I own thrasops which are in the same family as dispholidus (and as juveniles are almost identical) and posses pretty much the same venom. The difference being that boomslangs have bigger/more flexible rear fangs and open their mouths about 180 degrees.

I would be a liar if I told you I didn't free handle my thrasops. I would also be a liar if I told you I had never been bitten. The difference being that because of their smaller/less effective dentition the chance of an envenomation is greatly reduced.

The point being that after keeping an almost identical species, I would never free handle a boomer. A good bite from them is a trip to the emergency room instead of some neosporin, a bandage and aspirin.

The trick with some of the dispholidines (notably dispholidus and thrasops) is to remember that at their core they are nervous and fast animals. They move in erratic and unpredictable ways when agitated and will strike repeatedly. They can be incredibly accurate too.

Whatever you decide, be careful.

[Neal]

OH, my friend doesnt free handle anything, but he is getting a boomslang and he has experience with all that stuff. I think I didn't make it clear the person that I know that handles his booms is not the same person that is going to be teaching me. I would never free handle anything venomous, well not like that. My rufous I free handle, but I mean anything that can be life threatening venomous. I'm only really looking to get the 3 species I stated above. Cobra being way last, because of the quickness & sneakiness. I can do the Gabby, but they're pretty easy to ride, and they don't move a lot, so it wasn't a big deal, the cottonmouths are a bit more touchy, but aren't too bad either. I figure when I get really good with the hook and I can successfully work the Boom on the hook then I should be able to deal with a Cobra, but again the Cobra is way down the line. My first venomous I will purchase in a few months will be either the Desert Horned Viper or the Saw-Scaled Viper, I would look for something else, but i'm really picky about what I own, and not many hots actually catch my attention enough to want to purchase one. They have a few others that I think are eye catching like the Copperhead, the Gaboon itself isn't bad either. Here are the pictures though:

[singingtothewheat]

Gaboons are beautiful. If I were ever to get into hots, which is not likely I'd love a Gaboon.