Eclipse is growing fast

[redstormlax12]

Wow...always thought cobras were awesome looking snakes, but too scared to ever get one...Can't you (technically) get a posionous snake de-venomized? That way if she ever did bite you it'd just hurt like hell instead of possibly killing you???

Yes. There is a procedure that can be done which removes the venom glands from the snake. That being said it is considered to be animal cruelty to almost every herper. I would never have a hot's venom glands removed. If you can't handle having a hot then dont get one.

Vials of anti-venin can be in thousands of dollars a vial and many times more than one vial is used to treat a patient.

[Denial]

it would actually probably end up being more expensive for me to take a hit from our local hots field herping then it would be if I took a hit from her. I would never keep anit venin on hand. It has a shelf live and I would rather save my money for other things. When you keep these animals you just have to stay ahead and respect the animal. Stay out of its strike range so bites dont happen. Cobras give you lots of fair warning before they ever actually take a strike at you. She lets me know well ahead of time when I have gone to far or shes not in the mood. I dont milk her because it would be a waste for me. Alot of people think theres a lot of money in milking snakes and the fact is there isnt. Theres not a huge supply for snake venom. And the people that want it are buying it from milking labs not from private keepers. Yes they can have there venom glands removed so if you get bitten it would just hurt like hell instead of killing you but its not something I agree with. I also dont agree with declawing cats or debarking dogs. They were born with what they have for a reason and they should be left with it. If they didnt need it they simply wouldnt have it. The easiest way to go about it is to simply not get tagged. That way you dont die and it doesent hurt. Respect the animal. When you gain knowledge from an animal you lose your fear and you gain respect for it. I know my limits with her. I know how close i can get to her without pushing her buttons. I always use two hooks or at elast have another hook in grabbing range incase she starts to climb. There really not as dangerous to keep as people make out as long as you are careful. Venomoids give people the wrong impression of these animals. You see people free handling them and taking pics and then that makes everyone want a pet cobra cause you can handle them. And thats an accident waiting to happen. If I do ever get bitten then its my bad. I made the mistake. The snake was just doing what it was intended to do. I would never take my animals venom from them. They were born with for a reason and im not one to take that away from them. Its like cutting your hands off. I mean sure you could survive without them but woulldnt it suck????

[tiny_tiger60978]

Ah...I see what yall mean. Don't know much about poisionous snakes but then again that's prob why I don't have one and you do right? They are beautiful animals and I'm glad yall know so much about them (like the warning signs and how to handle them etc). I see your point on the anti venin...i might save my money too esp if it goes bad, as well as your point about de-handing a person...Never thought of it like that until now, but then again, now I know and agree with yall. ( I had just heard about the "procedure" on like Discovery with an episode on 'snake-charmers' )

Again, just want to say : BEAUTIFUL SNAKE!!!

[Jadonh]

I agree with all that was said about de-venomizing an debarking and de-clawing cats, but what I don't agree with is the milking, or what was said about it not paying alot, I have to differ with that, that is how I got my start with snakes, back when I was a wee-lad, my brother and I used to do a lot of fishing, and my dad would say go out and catch some worms, so we would go out and lift up rocks and such, and would pull out whatever was under there we never looked, just threw it all in a bucket ( Thank god we never got bit), but we learned early on that large mouth bas loved rattlesnake, ( I grew up in Oklahoma), any ways it got to a point that I hated using them for fishing and would catch them as pets and keep through out the summer and would release them early fall, then my brother found out about Oklahoma university paid roughly about $500 per vial, so we would catch them hold a pets and milk them all summer, every year up until I left for the Army, Now my brother does this a few times a year he catches them in early spring when they are still hibernating then milks them all summer and releases them back in the wild in early fall, works great for him because he works 4 months total out of the year and vacations the rest of the year. He now sells world wide is not a lab just oes it out of his garage and has always made enough to take care of him and his family.

[Denial]

Thats great that your brother makes money doing something he enjoys but not everyone has a university around interested in buying venom for 500 dollars a vial. Alot of people are under the assumption that they can make a ton of money and when they get there snakes they are dissapointed. Its kind of the same as alot of people that get into snakes because they think they can get rich quick by breeding morphs.