Gaboon vipers

[jason_ladouceur]

I agree with everything you've said, but I don't agree with them not being good for a first time hot keeper.

Many people keep atrox as a first hot, and although they aren't built as heavily, they generally are far more nutty and tricker to hook.

What makes a gaboon bad for a first hot? If you cannot bring yourself to not underestimate these snakes, do you deserve to keep any hots at all? You should always over estimate regardless of whether the snake shows defensive signals or not.

My two gabs were my first snakes, forget about venomous snakes. I didn't keep non venomous at all. But I had experience dealing with large gabs, puff adders etc.

A friend of mine has the perfect hook for large Bitis. It is almost shovel like, the hook is about 7 inches wide, and is perfect to take big Gaboons out on and they sit perfectly on it.

Many people do tail Gaboons, however I'm with you. I personally would not do it at all, they are far too 'athletic' when it comes to striking.

I will try to get a picture of the hook my friend has, it's really useful.

Have you come across any of the 'dwarf' gabs? A few of my friends have adult Gaboons that are 6-7 years old and are only 3 foot.

First up I assume that you are talking about crotalus atorx because I certainly hope that novice keepers are not trying to tackle bothrops as a first hot. And although I would agree that as a whole crotalus do not sit well on hooks, although I do currently have some vegrandis that sit very well. :cens0r:A mistake resulting in a bite from a C. Atorx would most likely be far less devestating than from a B. GABONICA or B. rhinoceros in addition most crotalus and certainly atrox make there intentions very well known to any one and are very easy IMO to read even for the most green of keepers so they are far less likely to take you by surprise. :cens0r: The hook you describe does sound like it would be at the very least much easier on the animal but my major problem with hooking large Bitis is just the shear weight of the animal. 30lbs at the end of a 4' hook is a lot of weight even if they are behaving them selves. As far as "dwarf" gabs go. B. GABONICA is by far the smaller of the 2 species and males may very well never exceed 3'. But I did have one female grow to just over 4' even though she was always feed on a very light diet. Once mature she was only feed very small rabbits every 3 or 4 months.:cens0r:

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I agree with everything you've said, but I don't agree with them not being good for a first time hot keeper.

Many people keep atrox as a first hot, and although they aren't built as heavily, they generally are far more nutty and tricker to hook.

What makes a gaboon bad for a first hot? If you cannot bring yourself to not underestimate these snakes, do you deserve to keep any hots at all? You should always over estimate regardless of whether the snake shows defensive signals or not.

My two gabs were my first snakes, forget about venomous snakes. I didn't keep non venomous at all. But I had experience dealing with large gabs, puff adders etc.

A friend of mine has the perfect hook for large Bitis. It is almost shovel like, the hook is about 7 inches wide, and is perfect to take big Gaboons out on and they sit perfectly on it.

Many people do tail Gaboons, however I'm with you. I personally would not do it at all, they are far too 'athletic' when it comes to striking.

I will try to get a picture of the hook my friend has, it's really useful.

Have you come across any of the 'dwarf' gabs? A few of my friends have adult Gaboons that are 6-7 years old and are only 3 foot.

First up I assume that you are talking about crotalus atorx because I certainly hope that novice keepers are not trying to tackle bothrops as a first hot. And although I would agree that as a whole crotalus do not sit well on hooks, although I do currently have some vegrandis that sit very well. :cens0r:A mistake resulting in a bite from a C. Atorx would most likely be far less devestating than from a B. GABONICA or B. rhinoceros in addition most crotalus and certainly atrox make there intentions very well known to any one and are very easy IMO to read even for the most green of keepers so they are far less likely to take you by surprise. :cens0r: The hook you describe does sound like it would be at the very least much easier on the animal but my major problem with hooking large Bitis is just the shear weight of the animal. 30lbs at the end of a 4' hook is a lot of weight even if they are behaving them selves. As far as "dwarf" gabs go. B. GABONICA is by far the smaller of the 2 species and males may very well never exceed 3'. But I did have one female grow to just over 4' even though she was always feed on a very light diet. Once mature she was only feed very small rabbits every 3 or 4 months.:cens0r:

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I agree with everything you've said, but I don't agree with them not being good for a first time hot keeper.

Many people keep atrox as a first hot, and although they aren't built as heavily, they generally are far more nutty and tricker to hook.

What makes a gaboon bad for a first hot? If you cannot bring yourself to not underestimate these snakes, do you deserve to keep any hots at all? You should always over estimate regardless of whether the snake shows defensive signals or not.

My two gabs were my first snakes, forget about venomous snakes. I didn't keep non venomous at all. But I had experience dealing with large gabs, puff adders etc.

A friend of mine has the perfect hook for large Bitis. It is almost shovel like, the hook is about 7 inches wide, and is perfect to take big Gaboons out on and they sit perfectly on it.

Many people do tail Gaboons, however I'm with you. I personally would not do it at all, they are far too 'athletic' when it comes to striking.

I will try to get a picture of the hook my friend has, it's really useful.

Have you come across any of the 'dwarf' gabs? A few of my friends have adult Gaboons that are 6-7 years old and are only 3 foot.

First up I assume that you are talking about crotalus atorx because I certainly hope that novice keepers are not trying to tackle bothrops as a first hot. And although I would agree that as a whole crotalus do not sit well on hooks, although I do currently have some vegrandis that sit very well. :cens0r:A mistake resulting in a bite from a C. Atorx would most likely be far less devestating than from a B. GABONICA or B. rhinoceros in addition most crotalus and certainly atrox make there intentions very well known to any one and are very easy IMO to read even for the most green of keepers so they are far less likely to take you by surprise. :cens0r: The hook you describe does sound like it would be at the very least much easier on the animal but my major problem with hooking large Bitis is just the shear weight of the animal. 30lbs at the end of a 4' hook is a lot of weight even if they are behaving them selves. As far as "dwarf" gabs go. B. GABONICA is by far the smaller of the 2 species and males may very well never exceed 3'. But I did have one female grow to just over 4' even though she was always feed on a very light diet. Once mature she was only feed very small rabbits every 3 or 4 months.:cens0r:

- - - Updated - - -

I agree with everything you've said, but I don't agree with them not being good for a first time hot keeper.

Many people keep atrox as a first hot, and although they aren't built as heavily, they generally are far more nutty and tricker to hook.

What makes a gaboon bad for a first hot? If you cannot bring yourself to not underestimate these snakes, do you deserve to keep any hots at all? You should always over estimate regardless of whether the snake shows defensive signals or not.

My two gabs were my first snakes, forget about venomous snakes. I didn't keep non venomous at all. But I had experience dealing with large gabs, puff adders etc.

A friend of mine has the perfect hook for large Bitis. It is almost shovel like, the hook is about 7 inches wide, and is perfect to take big Gaboons out on and they sit perfectly on it.

Many people do tail Gaboons, however I'm with you. I personally would not do it at all, they are far too 'athletic' when it comes to striking.

I will try to get a picture of the hook my friend has, it's really useful.

Have you come across any of the 'dwarf' gabs? A few of my friends have adult Gaboons that are 6-7 years old and are only 3 foot.

First up I assume that you are talking about crotalus atorx because I certainly hope that novice keepers are not trying to tackle bothrops as a first hot. And although I would agree that as a whole crotalus do not sit well on hooks, although I do currently have some vegrandis that sit very well. :cens0r:A mistake resulting in a bite from a C. Atorx would most likely be far less devestating than from a B. GABONICA or B. rhinoceros in addition most crotalus and certainly atrox make there intentions very well known to any one and are very easy IMO to read even for the most green of keepers so they are far less likely to take you by surprise. :cens0r: The hook you describe does sound like it would be at the very least much easier on the animal but my major problem with hooking large Bitis is just the shear weight of the animal. 30lbs at the end of a 4' hook is a lot of weight even if they are behaving them selves. As far as "dwarf" gabs go. B. GABONICA is by far the smaller of the 2 species and males may very well never exceed 3'. But I did have one female grow to just over 4' even though she was always feed on a very light diet. Once mature she was only feed very small rabbits every 3 or 4 months.:cens0r: