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Posted by MsTT on November 26, 2002 at 03:02:51:
In Reply to: Best beginner snake? posted by Amanda E on November 25, 2002 at 06:11:22:
I hear a lot of people saying that they consider elapids faster and more difficult to handle than viperids, but I'm not sure I can agree with that. I think it's largely a matter of what you started out handling - I know many Australians who are very comfortable with elapids but are floored by the lightning speed of rattlesnake strikes. I know some old-timey Florida handlers who are absolute masters of crotalid handling but feel nervous and unsure around elapids because the behavior is so different.
I don't consider cobras necessarily more difficult to handle than crotalids, and in some cases they are less difficult because their strike speed is actually slower. I would much rather be inside a cobra's strike range than a rattlesnake's strike range because I would stand a good chance of deflecting the cobra with a hook. That's not even close to possible with a rattlesnake. If you're inside their strike range and they decide to throw it at you, you will see nothing but a blur and there may be a nice pair of holes in you that you only realize are there when the snake is already back in a defensive coil.
You can follow a cobra strike with your naked eye pretty well; you can't see all the details of a rattlesnake strike unless you put it on slow-motion video. Personally I think less of hauling my big cobras around by the tail than I do of moving some of my nastier rattlers, and my big cobras are a real handful - in fact my 7' banded Egyptian was kicked out of a venom lab for being too crazy-aggressive to milk. Cobras are slower and there is just more room to maneuver around them even when they are enthusiastically striking open-mouthed at you.
I don't recommend that anybody get inside a venomous snake's strike range, or put their hands on one in any way unless it is for a necessary veterinary or scientific procedure. However if you keep these animals husbandry issues can come up, and you may well find yourself needing to restrain them for assist feeding, medication, eye spectacle removal, etc. So the best thing in the world is to buy or build good handling tools first and practice with nonvenomous species until your snake hook is a natural extension of your hand and you can catch a lively and snappish black racer's head in the tube every time.
There are pros and cons to every "beginner venomous". Coral snakes are quite lovely, very docile and can be handled with thick gloves with reasonable safety since their fangs are quite short. However they have major husbandry issues and you are fairly likely to end up having to assist feed a coral. That's a tricky business for both handler and snake, and best left to the experienced for both your safety. If you can find a well established feeding specimen and you have a good supply of whatever it is eating, I'd say a coral makes a fine choice. Don't forget to give it a "wet box" of damp sphagnum moss to hide in since they are very prone to moisture loss through the skin and may die of dehydration if the ambient humidity gets too low even if there is water in the cage.
Copperheads are beautiful, inexpensive and have a comparatively mild venom that is unlikely to kill you. Babies can be difficult to get started feeding but adults tend to do well and appropriate antiparasitical medications can be introduced in dead prey for wild caught animals. Unfortunately they are also snappish, squirmy on a hook and can act like greased spaghetti on crack. Cottonmouths are easier to handle though less colorful and their bites can be a bit more serious. Pygmy rattlers are similar to copperheads; snappish and squirmy with a bite that is not going to kill you.
Gaboon vipers are very easy to handle; most are docile to the point of being big fat slugs, but they are not necessarily a good beginner snake because their bite is extremely serious and they have the physical ability to perform some remarkable acrobatic feats that you will not believe until you've seen it at least once. So a beginning keeper may underestimate one of these animals with fatal consequences.
Aspidelaps are like yappy little chihuahuas, very slippery on a hook, quick little buggers and prone to biting, but their small size keeps them physically manageable with good safety tools. The bite can be quite serious and there is no antivenom.
Tree vipers are lovely creatures and easy to handle, but also easy to underestimate - the strike range of a tree viper is its entire body length minus a few inches of tail to hang on the branch. Some species have husbandry issues especially when they are younger, and they need regular misting. Some species have been implicated in some very serious bites including the odd human fatality, so these aren't snakes to take lightly.
I'm convinced that the best beginner venomous is a nonvenomous species that looks and acts like whatever venomous species you want to keep. After you've gotten confident handling those animals with safety tools, you'll be much more confident using those tools safely on venomous snakes. The handling tools and safety protocol seem much more important to me than the species of snake you're working with. A cobra locked in a trap box handles about the same as a copperhead locked in a trap box when you need to clean the cage.
Good luck,
TT
