Some of my snakes

Here are some pics of my snakes.

Trimeresurus trigonocephalus




Albino Naja kaouthia


Crotalus cerastes



Vipera ammodytes


I'll post more later.

The first one looks pretty cool, haven't seen one before. Thanks for sharing.

Very nice.

Gorgeous! I love the cobra!

Larry, have you ever been bit by a venomous snake?

Love the cobra picture too!!!

Don wrote:

Larry, have you ever been bit by a venomous snake?

No I have not, knock on wood. Although you really cannot be complacent when dealing with these guys, they can be unpredictable. Yesterday for example I was feeding my Urocoan rattlersnake and I usually open the front panel (the acrylic door swings downwards) and as soon as I cracked it open he comes flying at the cracked opening and was able to get his head out and ALMOST got my finger, until I had to squeeze his neck a bit with the door and he retracted back in his cage. He's never done that before. So yeah...when working with these guys, it's really calculated risk, but the risk is always there.

smd58 wrote:

The first one looks pretty cool, haven't seen one before. Thanks for sharing.

Yeah they are cool tree vipers from Sri Lanka, this guy is a male, the females are much larger (they are sexually dimorphic).

leftoflarry wrote:

as soon as I cracked it open he comes flying at the cracked opening and was able to get his head out and ALMOST got my finger, until I had to squeeze his neck a bit with the door and he retracted back in his cage.

I may have had to excuse myself to change after that one... very intense just thinking about it.

smb2585 wrote:

leftoflarry wrote:

as soon as I cracked it open he comes flying at the cracked opening and was able to get his head out and ALMOST got my finger, until I had to squeeze his neck a bit with the door and he retracted back in his cage.

I may have had to excuse myself to change after that one... very intense just thinking about it.

The feeding response in these guys can be very strong and I don't feed my snakes weekly. So by the time they eat, they are pretty hungry. He was just over excited to eat that's all. But yeah... never ever assume that these snakes won't bit you because they will....

Those are beautiful animals Larry. I have always been tempted to try eyelash vipers or pygmy rattlers but I have a 3 year old now so I will not risk it. I could see how it would be easy to become too comfortable with feeding routines and so forth and then have an accident happen. I have been keeping salamanders for ten years now and have always been meticulous about hand washing after servicing each enclosure. The other night it was late and I was tired but I wanted to get everything done. After cleaning out the Laotriton laoensis enclosure I forgot to wash my hands. A few minutes later my left eye had an itch so I of course scratched it. The burning was intense and only subsided after 10 minutes of eyewashing. Even though this was nothing compared to an envenomation I could not help but think how easily this situation under similar circumstances could occur with hot snakes. Anyway, I did not mean to distract from your thread. Again nice snakes!
Chip

Foster Reves wrote:

Those are beautiful animals Larry. I have always been tempted to try eyelash vipers or pygmy rattlers but I have a 3 year old now so I will not risk it. I could see how it would be easy to become too comfortable with feeding routines and so forth and then have an accident happen. I have been keeping salamanders for ten years now and have always been meticulous about hand washing after servicing each enclosure. The other night it was late and I was tired but I wanted to get everything done. After cleaning out the Laotriton laoensis enclosure I forgot to wash my hands. A few minutes later my left eye had an itch so I of course scratched it. The burning was intense and only subsided after 10 minutes of eyewashing. Even though this was nothing compared to an envenomation I could not help but think how easily this situation under similar circumstances could occur with hot snakes. Anyway, I did not mean to distract from your thread. Again nice snakes!
Chip

You are absolutely correct Chip. Complacency is what leads to mistakes. Routine...tiredness....or in some cases, plain stupidity, kind of like when you get too comfortable on a motorcycle. I manage the Biological Safety and Laser Safety programs at the Howard Hughes Medical Institute's Janelia Farm Research Campus, and during my trainings, I keep telling researchers that you can't get too comfortable with working with certain viruses. I stress that working late and working tired can lead to some mistakes that can lead to a potential exposure. I tend to be wary of this when I handle my snakes, and as you should also when you handle your salamanders. By the way, certain species of salamanders carry a very potent toxin. Tetrodotoxin, it is considered to be a potential bioterror weapon because of the acute toxicity of this stuff. LD50 is in the nanograms. very very nasty.... so I would definitely wash my hands after handling salamanders, never mind the salmonella, I'd worry about the toxins. At least the burning of the eyes is a reminder... one that tends to stick with ya.

This is the little bugger that almost got me last night.

Crotalus durissus vergandis

Beautiful snakes!! I would def love to own some venomous snakes but I KNOW I'd get bit..... I get lax with my BPs and I get bit more than I'd like.

ezekiel21 wrote:

Beautiful snakes!! I would def love to own some venomous snakes but I KNOW I'd get bit..... I get lax with my BPs and I get bit more than I'd like.

ANd it's good that you recognize that you shouldn't own any venomous animal. THe problem is that you get people who think they can handle these animals and have no experience or training, and then they end up getting bit. There are ground rules that you HAVE to follow EACH and EVERY time you open these cages. NO EXCEPTIONS.

Here is another gorgeous tree viper of mine.

Trimeresurus puniceus

<<>>

Several of the Tylototriton species that I keep are known for their skin toxins. I keep the vast majority of them in planted tanks and rarely ever even have to touch them, which is good because I am a firm believer that no herp actually enjoys being handled, some just tolerate it more than others. When I do have to move one around I (usually!) wash my hands. The Laotriton are kept on damp paper towels at this point however so once a week I change everything out.
Chip

I forgot to ask how troublesome is it servicing the plants in those enclosures? Do you attempt to prune dead leaves, overgrowth, etc or do you just change them out every so often?

leftoflarry wrote:

ezekiel21 wrote:

Beautiful snakes!! I would def love to own some venomous snakes but I KNOW I'd get bit..... I get lax with my BPs and I get bit more than I'd like.

ANd it's good that you recognize that you shouldn't own any venomous animal. THe problem is that you get people who think they can handle these animals and have no experience or training, and then they end up getting bit. There are ground rules that you HAVE to follow EACH and EVERY time you open these cages. NO EXCEPTIONS.

I'm clumsy but not ignorant to the fact that I'm clumsy. I have free medical but I doubt the military would pay for it if I was playing with venomous snakes.

Foster Reves wrote:

I forgot to ask how troublesome is it servicing the plants in those enclosures? Do you attempt to prune dead leaves, overgrowth, etc or do you just change them out every so often?

The plant I'm using now is a Pothos grow very well and don't require lots of care. I do have to prune overgrowth yes. What I do is cut off shoots and then plant them in other terrariums. They are great plants that keep humidity up if your snake requires it. I use mine mostly for my smaller tree vipers that require high humidity so they can use them as covers and perches. But yes...they do require pruning and removal of dead leaves etc. I plant them usually in deli cups with water. That's also the beauty of pothos, all they really need is water, very few nutrients. They make great additions to terrariums. Just make sure you don't put them in with any animal that may try to eat the plants.

Very sweet snakes!

Quote :

I'm clumsy but not ignorant to the fact that I'm clumsy. I have free medical but I doubt the military would pay for it if I was playing with venomous snakes.

yeah, I'm a bit less careful with my non venomous snakes and have been nipped by my rat snake and also by my tree boa. However, I will pride myself that I rarely get bit by field herps, even water snakes and black racers, known to be very nasty animals.

Here is my Death Adder
What I really love about these guys is the viperidae appearance even though they are elapids. This is a prime example of convergent evolution. Gorgeous ambush predators. Thing about these guys, they are VERY fast even though they don't appear to be. Their strike is extremely potent, they strike fast, hard and in almost 180 degrees. there is no sneaking up on these guys from behind. They can strike straight backwards. However they do have a short strike range, so if you know that and stay clear, you're good.

Acanthophis laevis

Larry, I must say again you have some very b-e-a-utiful and very cool snakes!

Lokielani wrote:

Larry, I must say again you have some very b-e-a-utiful and very cool snakes!

Thank you. I have a passion for exotics. and....of course our beautiful native species as well.

Love the Vipera ammodytes. Don't see them around too often.

b_rickard wrote:

Love the Vipera ammodytes. Don't see them around too often.

Oh yeah don't see them that often anymore. I bought mine at Hamburg from Glades Herp Farm. But I haven't seen them in a while. The T. trigonocephalus is also scarce. I've been trying to find a female for mine for a while now. If you hear anyone selling...let me know.