Beginning Hots

[juddb]

When i was a kid a copperhead slid under the front door one night while we were watching steve urkel, my mom freaked out and i caught it with a shoe box and put it in an aquarium i had extra. Long story short i let it go in a creek close to the house... Thats my HOT story......

[jjspirko]

Jack, you got that right. I snagged this little beauty out of my goldfish pond last year. He was only about 10 inches, but probably the meanest snake I have ever put my hands on.

That brings up another interesting point! I would rather deal with a 5 foot rattler then a 12 inch one. Little vipers can just be mental and fricken fast as lightning!

Give me a big heavy bodied snake and I can use his own weight to control him to a large degree. Now a 9 inch copperhead or 12 inch cottonmouth is really hard to deal with. I use clamps for them, a hook is almost useless for those guys. Hook a big fat rattler they just sort of hang there. A tiny one flips out!

On those diamond back water snakes the reason I think they make good training for large bodied vipers are a few.

One like you learned they are fricken mean as all hell!

Two they act a lot like a viper in attitude well like a mean one anyway.

Three they handle much the same as a viper, the body is similar in girth and the speed they have is about the same.

Four they do inspire fear in you. You think that little guy was tough, try a 4-5 foot diamond back water snake, mean and nasty teeth. Unlike the ratsnakes etc where if you get bit you don't really care if a DBWS bites you you WILL CARE.

It hurts like a well I can't use the words here! Their teeth are huge for a snake and they don't bite once they bite over and over actually tearing you a bit when they do. In essense you DON'T want to get bit, you do get your heart rate up and over all they preform a lot like a ticked ratter or copperhead in speed, striking style and movement.

Still not a true substitute for the orginal but the best thing I can think of to put real fear in you while dealing with a snake that can't kill you.

Like I said black racers are a lot in movement like cobras and mambas but they don't really hurt you, a water snake might make you head to the ER for stitches,

[muddoc]

Excellent points Jack. I have failed both times when I have caught them, to get some pics of the yellow bellied water snakes that love to live in my pond. They like to flatten their head like a hog, and almost appear to be a cottonmouth at quick glance. At least the two I caught were 4.5 feet plus, and were easier to handle because of their weight, like you mention. However, they have some teeth that you wouldn't want to brush bare handed.

[jjspirko]

Tim I would love to see some shots of those yellow belly snakes if you get another chance. I really like water snakes, they are cool in their own way.

I have found most of them to be on the mean side. The banded water snakes I caught as a kid in flordia were generly not too bad if you got them young. The northern bandeds up in PA were about the same.

For everything else I have personaly dealt with I have found if it swims it bites!

I figure it is a lot like why if a tree boa bites you it sucks. They have long teeth to get through feathers so they can eat birds. Water snakes eat, frogs, fish, tadpoles, salamenders, etc. All are squirmy, slimy and slippery and since they have no fangs or venom I guess they need those fricken nasty chompers to hold on.

I also agree that this has been an awesome thred, I have learned a lot both in new facts and just in how others think,

[djansen]

I live in Washington state and I am going to look for rattlesnakes this summer in the mountains. i have looked before but it seems like if you are looking for them they are hard to find and the people that dont want to see them always see them. i have found alot of bull snakes though, and those things are mean! i practice with my hook on them, i hope that rattlers are not as mean as those things. another thing that i hear all the time is that people find rattlers on there property and just kill them on the spot! I was thinking about putting my cell number on a public board and they can call me to come get the rattler. they are dissapearing around here and that is pretty sad.

[PJ FF]

PLEASE find a local hot keeper to learn from. Know the laws (not saying you dont.) Just know what your doing befor working with them by yourself.

[djansen]

PLEASE find a local hot keeper to learn from. Know the laws (not saying you dont.) Just know what your doing befor working with them by yourself.

I know the state laws and i have the number of a herpatologist in my area and i will call him shortly. thanks though.

[PJ FF]

Okay, thats the way to go. Get some experience befor going and doing removals.