Quote Originally Posted by zach_24_90 View Post
Keeping hots is. It for beginners or anything like that. I myself have a few. I choose to keep Bitis because they arent super spastic. They are pretty lazy like fat little pigs and they ride a hook or two very nice. I know that if one gets dropped it's not going to be on the other side of the room in 2 seconds like a cobra or something like that. And your probably saying to yourself yeah but they have the fastest strike in the world and thats why the only thing i ever put in their steike radius is a hook. That being said I am by no means complacent nor do I get into that comfort zone that you can have with normal snakes. I don't free handle and I'm not much for pinning hots and grabbing them by the head either. Just unneeded risk in my situation because I don't need to milk them or anything like that. Keeping hots is something that has to be thought through and you should never just go to a show and buy a hot.
If you don't think that Bitis are capable of being super spastic then you haven't spent enough time around Bitis. They are ALL capable of mind bending feats of athletic behavior. I have seen many large "fat"' gabbons, puff's, rhinos do things you would never believe them capable of. If you don't believe me I've got a young male puff adder right now that would be happy to show you exactly what these animals are capable of. Don't underestimate these guys. Trust me you will regret it.