Quote Originally Posted by Bogertophis View Post
Yesssss, you BET they are! The person holding that one is "galactically stupid".

Short version, & you can google Grace Olive Wiley for more info & lots of pics, but many years ago (1883-1948) a woman herpetologist (G.O.W.) made a lifelong habit of free-handling venomous snakes, including king cobras. She mostly got away with it, until a young & newly acquired cobra (that she considered safe to handle*) was able to get just enough of a hold on her finger to envenomate her & shortly thereafter (she put the snake in it's cage & was taken to the hospital) she died. *Cobras are front-fanged snakes & need to get their mouth around something to envenomate; their fangs are not hinged as rattlesnake fangs are, nor are they as long, but we do know they're "long enough" to be a danger. Ms. Wiley had previously gotten away with holding her hands flat with the young cobras, so they'd strike but bounced off & were unable to get a hold...please don't tempt fate this way! It has been adequately been proven false.

Don't try this at home...or anywhere else!!!


I've never kept hots but I've read that younger snakes especially hatchlings don't do a very good job controlling how much venom they inject either, so if they tag you you're getting a big boy dose. Not sure how true it is, but it was enough to keep me from messing with baby rattlesnakes when I was young.