New to the HOTS forum !!!!!!!!!

[EyeLashViper]

Howdy all....
Well, it is little ol' me, the EyeLashViper - my new hobby is learning and observing HOT snakes...I have been into snakes now for about 5 years but it is not until just recently that I have really gotten fascinated with HOT snakes - I was recently bitten good by my adult Western Hognose and ended up in the hospital for five days and my arm bandaged from wrist to elbow !!! ( read my post in general herps )

While I was in the hospital I got to first hand observe what a venomous bite can do - granted I was not dying or something like what a black mamba bite could do but still it was darn interesting to watch the weird changes in my hand and arm - somewhat frightening and painful as well. I admit that I am now way to chicken to keep any HOTS as I don't like hospitals and it really sucks to be laying around all day with an IV in your arm watching Animal Planet on TV and wanting to go home...ha ha

But I now have this fascination with HOT snakes so I decided that I am going to study them exclusively and I am planning trips to the Los Angeles and San Diego Zoo so I can see in person what some of these animals really look like...I am particularly interested in the King Cobra.......

Right now I am reading a book about the Taipan...this is one of the deadliest snakes in the world - mean and aggressive as heck and possessing a horribly deadly venom....this snake is a bad mamma-jamma !!!!!!!!! Australia it seems is infested with all manner of HOT snakes - crazy......

Well, I will be posting on this forum in the future with my questions, insights and general commentary about HOTS ....like I said, I am not actually intending to keep any HOTS but I sure like to talk about them...my favorite HOT is the Eyelash viper so that explains my handle....talk to all of you later....!!!!!!!!!!

The EyeLashViper

[Shelby]

They are facinating animals. If you want to check out a few that I found particularly interesting, here's my list of favorites. There's some real beauties.

death adder (acanthophis sp.)
cantil (agkistrodon bilineatus)
usambara bush viper (atheris ceratophora)
hairy bush viper (atheris hispidus)
fea's viper (azemiops feae)
puff adder (bitis arietans)
many horned adder (bitis cornuta)
gaboon viper (bitis gabonica)
rhinoceros viper (bitis nasicornis)
ethiopian mountain adder (bitis parviocula)
side-winding/dwarf puff adder (bitis peringueyi)
kenyan horned viper (bitis worthingtoni)
desert mountain adder (bitis xeropaga)
mangrove snake (boiga dendrophila)
urutu (bothrops alternatus)
fer-de-lance (bothrops asper/atrox)
common krait (bungarus caeruleus)
horned viper (cerastes cerastes)
sidewinder (crotalus cerastes)
canebrake/timber rattlesnake (crotalus horridus atricaudatus)
banded rock rattlesnake (crotalus lepidus klauberi)
mexican lance-headed rattlesnake (crotalus polystictus)
west african green mamba (dendroaspis viridis)
boomslang (dispholidus typus)
saw-scaled viper (echis carinatus)
bushmaster (lachesis muta)
blue coral (maticora bivirgata)
spectacled cobra (naja naja)
monocle cobra (naja naja kaouthia)
red spitting cobra (naja pallida)
yellow belly/pelagic sea snake (pelamis platurus)
carolina pigmy rattlesnake (sistrurus miliarius miliarius)
pope's tree viper (trimeresurus popeiorum)
beautiful pit viper (trimeresurus venustus)
temple viper (tropidolaemus wagleri)
european adder (vipera berus)
russell's viper (vipera russelli)
mangshan viper (zhaoermia mangshanensis/ermia mangshanensis)

I had read that the taipan was not particularly aggressive - hence the low number of fatalities it causes. Either way, interesting animal. The saw-scaled viper causes the most fatalities every year.

[MedusasOwl]

I'm still swooning over the urutu myself That pattern and contrast... whew! Love king cobras too, hots are very impressive animals! All of which I'm happy to admire from afar, lol.

Glad to hear your hand is doing better, Eyelash!

[muddoc]

I like the Saw scaled vipers too. I spent alot of time in Afghanistan trying to catch one, but never saw one. The guys on the littlte FOB that I was at killed about five of them, but my friend and I never got to see one. I did see a Pakistani Cobra, briefly, before it shot in into it's burrow.