Quote Originally Posted by jason_ladouceur View Post
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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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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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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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:
Of course, rattlers on the whole make it clear where you stand.

But any venomous keeper, or prospective venomous keeper should not underestimate any snake whether or not they make their intentions clear or not.

I treat my Gaboons with exactly the same respect I would treat a Pygmy rattler or albolabris. Every time I have interaction with them I treat them as if they were going to explode and come at me. Every venomous keeper must have this mentality, beginner or experienced.

The weight granted can be an issue, but it is manageable with the hook I suggested.

I hooked an adult Bitis gabonica with this hook on the first day I started to handle venomous snakes, and it was a 'walk in the park'.

With regards to size, two of my friends have Bitis rhinoceros females that have maxed out at 3 ft and a guy in Europe has one that is maxed out at 2 foot.