Reptile Forum, Reptile Classifieds - CaptiveBred

[James]

some nice photos looks like you had some good finds.

[jamie_s]

nice pics mate looks like you had a fun day out
_________________
www.jamieswordsreptiles.com

[stuartdouglas]

[Drymarchon32]

Indeed posting this picture is a bit silly, it does encourage the wrong behaviour, you must realise this or else you wouldn't have put the disclaimer in about getting shouted at, which makes me wonder about your motivation for posting the picture. No good can come of it other than to show that some venomous snakes are sometimes not trying to bite you, all the time. I don't think the picture should be deleted from the post, I think its a bit embarrassing.
Having said this, I do think there is a greater chance of being bitten by necking adders, and also damaging the snake. IMHO (and I too have been catching adders for over 20 years) an adder never needs to be necked, quite simple. If you are moving the animal at all, simply tailing it or better still using a hook is far better than getting the pointy bits near the soft fleshy bits. Can anyone give me a good reason for necking an adder in the wild?
That single fang is a beauty at getting its target, uncanny even. Please don't neck adders, they don't deserve it. Any bite or sting from a venomous animal can be serious, and yes some snakes are freehandled at the risk of the handler.
(WARNING A BIT GRUESOME!)
http://www.cobraman.net/6955.html
Do make sure you scroll all the way to the bottom.

Al
_________________
Complacency killed the keeper

[stuartdouglas]

Slightly off topic, but it really does crack me up, guys like Ray Hunter and Steve Irwin are revered almost for their freehandling of hots in circumstances which are beyond any form of acceptable risk. Yet, because I'm not a tireless self-promoter, and don't appear on Worldwide TV, even though I have over 30 years of experience with herps of varying degrees of "biteyness" and venom, I'm slated for posting one picture of me holding what was an extremely docile specimen of a snake that is highly unlikely to kill me if it were to bite me.............If emptyheads choose to copy that...................well, they're probably already doing it anyway.
People post pictures of retic' bites etc and they display their scars to everyones amusement and admiration. It's those types of pictures that give herps a bad press, the papers would love printing articles about "pet" snakes that gave their owner bites that needed stitches. I would agree that if I posted pics of me holding a captive cobra or suchlike, then that would give the antis something to get their knickers in a twist about, however................
btw, any adders that I've caught to photograph are normally hooked and tailed, except for the one time I didn't have a hook and had to pin it with a stick. That was the one that tried to give me the single fang treatment
But hey, I love a healthy debate.

[slippery42]

Stuart I dont know you and am not about to be drawn into a protracted argument about the free handling of any venomous reptile.

I stick by my view that it is poor practice and does no good for you and little good for the hobby and is not good for the well being of my favorite species.

You could do worse than listen to "Al" who I have had the pleasure of working with on a professional level.
_________________
Live for today as your dead for a long long time

Using Nikon D300's and pro lenses