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Posted by Rob Carmichael on April 25, 2003 at 06:59:53:
In Reply to: Owning Venomous posted by meretseger on April 25, 2003 at 02:43:14:
While I agree that this species if fascinating (and I keep one at our wildlife center), they are definitely not a snake to get as your first venomous; there are many other better choices (and if I had to recommend one, I would go with a southern copperhead). But, and here's my big "but", I also feel that it is the responsibility of every private venomous keeper to keep their own supply of antivenin if they choose to keep venomous snakes....I just feel that is one of the sacrifices you need to make in order to be a responsible owner (under most circumstances...there are always exceptions). To keep the minimum recommended amount of an exotic venomous snake antivenin will cost you thousands. Are you willing to pay that much $$$ to keep one venomous snake (same goes for keeping a copperhead). Should it be the hospital's responsibility to keep this antivenin on hand? In areas where we find venomous species, I would certainly think so but if you live in an area that doesn't host venomous snakes, you will be hard pressed to find many hospitals who can justify spending 1000's of dollars to keep an antivenin that has a shelf life of a few years (at the most). Just something to consider.
:I've been thinking about Gabbys too, but from my viewpoint they have the downsides of being very very venomous, getting quite large for a hot, and also they, from what I hear, have stringent husbandry requirements. They're so COOL though. But if you could be satisfied with something smaller and easier (like a rattler or a copperhead), that might be less of a headache.
