Fastest Striking Venomous Snake

[viper69]

All Gila Monsters that are being sold are captive bred animals. Open legal export for captive bred animals and you can both solve the smuggling problem and reduce the pressure on local wildlife.

Just curious...how does someone prove the animal isn't from the wild? The law steps in, says "prove those aren't from the wild".....Short of showing an animal being born into the world, how does one prove?

 

[Najakeeper]

There are several ways of doing it. People create studbooks and pedigrees like dogs. Every animal is registered and local governments keep track of them. The animals can be micro-chipped at birth and if there is suspicion of any kind of foul play, genetic testing can be done easily and quite inexpensively these days.

---------- Post added 12-09-2013 at 10:12 AM ----------

You know, there is a very fine middle point to that. There are a lot of Australian reptile breeders with legal collecting licences. They sell almost all species in Australia without damaging the native population numbers. Give them controlled exporting licences for CAPTIVE BRED animals. Gila Monsters are being exported all around the world even though they are tightly regulated under CITES. All Gila Monsters that are being sold are captive bred animals. Open legal export for captive bred animals and you can both solve the smuggling problem and reduce the pressure on local wildlife.

Again, Heloderma is a clear example of people doing it in a sustainable fashion and it is working fine. Even in Germany, you need to get your animals registered by the local authorities and prove that they are captive bred. It is non-sense for something being available in the local market but not international, this just needs to more smuggling.

 

[The Snark]

Again, Heloderma is a clear example of people doing it in a sustainable fashion and it is working fine. Even in Germany, you need to get your animals registered by the local authorities and prove that they are captive bred. It is non-sense for something being available in the local market but not international, this just needs to more smuggling.

Yuck. Hats off to something like the German government overseeing but, just peruse the AB threads for several long LONG chapters of griping about governments intervening in the unlimited access to every conceivable animal. Americans especially will go militant if anything even remotely jeopardizes their access to their toys. (As in their guns, or pets et al)

 

[Najakeeper]

Yuck. Hats off to something like the German government overseeing but, just peruse the AB threads for several long LONG chapters of griping about governments intervening in the unlimited access to every conceivable animal. Americans especially will go militant if anything even remotely jeopardizes their access to their toys. (As in their guns, or pets et al)

Yeah, but they are fine regulating, who can use a morning after pill or not? Don't get me started.

Anyway, when the regulation makes sense, herp community usually accepts it. Heloderma is a clear example. No one will touch a wild caught animal in US.

 

[viper69]

There are several ways of doing it. People create studbooks and pedigrees like dogs. Every animal is registered and local governments keep track of them. The animals can be micro-chipped at birth and if there is suspicion of any kind of foul play, genetic testing can be done easily and quite inexpensively these days.

Microchipping only good if mandatory.

Genetic testing is only good if you have relatives to compare with. Sometimes you don't.

scenario>

Gov't " this animal bred by you?"
Breeder "Yes"
Gov't "well prove it"
Breeder "well I can't, the parents and all relatives are gone"
Gov't "well off to prison you go"

 

[Najakeeper]

Microchipping only good if mandatory.

Genetic testing is only good if you have relatives to compare with. Sometimes you don't.

scenario>

Gov't " this animal bred by you?"
Breeder "Yes"
Gov't "well prove it"
Breeder "well I can't, the parents and all relatives are gone"
Gov't "well off to prison you go"

Yeah, well the animal is registered in stock books where it was bred and where it was purchased when it was a hatchling. Also, loosing every single relative of one Gila is a bit suspicious to me anyway.

 

[Najakeeper]

The Sydney Red Common Death Adders are doing amazing.

Here is the male feeding on a frozen/thawed pink:

It is a bit weird that this guy strikes at anything that gets into his airspace right away but the female needs persuasion. It is normally the other way around with most snakes.

 

[The Snark]

The Sydney Red Common Death Adders are doing amazing.

It is a bit weird that this guy strikes at anything that gets into his airspace right away but the female needs persuasion. It is normally the other way around with most snakes.

Why is that? I'm asking because I've seen rattlers do the same thing. It is like each one has a 'strike at' criteria, but each, while following the same general guidelines, can be arbitrary and even capricious. (When the lights are off and nobody is watching, usually around 03:45, they compare notes:
'Well, I strike if I smell aniseed or mustard.. or hamburgers of course.'
'That's weird. I strike if it has kept it's hands in it's pockets, or it's after the full moon.'

 

[Najakeeper]

Why is that? I'm asking because I've seen rattlers do the same thing. It is like each one has a 'strike at' criteria, but each, while following the same general guidelines, can be arbitrary and even capricious. (When the lights are off and nobody is watching, usually around 03:45, they compare notes:
'Well, I strike if I smell aniseed or mustard.. or hamburgers of course.'
'That's weird. I strike if it has kept it's hands in it's pockets, or it's after the full moon.'

I don't know why exactly but I think this hints toward individual personalities of snakes, even within the same species.

Here is the devil ready to jump...

 

[Najakeeper]

Common Death Adder eating a fuzzy:

[YOUTUBE]9u44BmxRqz8[/YOUTUBE]

 

[Najakeeper]

Acanthophis antarcticus (Common Death Adder) from Sydney:

Acanthophis hawkei happy Death Adder dance:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HN6sl7vbK6c

Acanthophis sp. Dajarra slowmo strike:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DN7Ll9gJ6uc

 

[The Snark]

Okay. You've beaten this horse to death. Now can we have the worlds slowest striking venomous snake?

 

[Najakeeper]

Okay. You've beaten this horse to death. Now can we have the worlds slowest striking venomous snake?

That's a though one...Chris Christie?

 

[The Snark]

That's a though one...Chris Christie?

SNERK!:worship::clap::}

Actually I think I saw the slowest venomous snake strike. The old old Kaouthai mommy. Some small rats are dumped into the cage with her and a couple of her friends. The friends already have theirs glomped as the matron slowly uncoils, yawns, uncoils some more, opens her mouth wider, starts slithering half way across the enclosure, mouth now wide open, fangs ready, she pulls up to a rat, raises up, expands her hood, then ever so slowly leans down, adjusts the angle, nose nearly touching the rat, extends a little, then slowly closes her mouth on it. The entire attack probably took a minute and a half. Talk about a laconic feeding frenzy.
Then almost next enclosure over 4 massive toads are huddled at one side of an 8 foot across enclosure with mom and dad Hannahs over on the other side in their hole. Dad comes out, coils, and strikes three quarters of the way across the enclosure. Zap and bullseye 5 foot+ strike reach. Pretty impressive for a king only 10 feet long. The axiom among the snake handlers there was well displayed: There is no safe place when dealing with Hannah. Either on the hook or stay the H out of their enclosure.

 

[Najakeeper]

SNERK!:worship::clap::}

Actually I think I saw the slowest venomous snake strike. The old old Kaouthai mommy. Some small rats are dumped into the cage with her and a couple of her friends. The friends already have theirs glomped as the matron slowly uncoils, yawns, uncoils some more, opens her mouth wider, starts slithering half way across the enclosure, mouth now wide open, fangs ready, she pulls up to a rat, raises up, expands her hood, then ever so slowly leans down, adjusts the angle, nose nearly touching the rat, extends a little, then slowly closes her mouth on it. The entire attack probably took a minute and a half. Talk about a laconic feeding frenzy.
Then almost next enclosure over 4 massive toads are huddled at one side of an 8 foot across enclosure with mom and dad Hannahs over on the other side in their hole. Dad comes out, coils, and strikes three quarters of the way across the enclosure. Zap and bullseye 5 foot+ strike reach. Pretty impressive for a king only 10 feet long. The axiom among the snake handlers there was well displayed: There is no safe place when dealing with Hannah. Either on the hook or stay the H out of their enclosure.

Cool stories mate.

True cobras that are smaller than 6-7 feet are quite easy to deal with if you know what you are doing. They are really not that fast and it is mostly huff and puff. Human reflexes are good enough to parry their strikes, which are mostly close mouthed bluff strikes anyway.

Some spitters like Samar Cobras, who act like they are on meth, are exceptions to the above statement.

 

[The Snark]

I wouldn't dice with some of the Siamensis around here. Warmed up they can get to moving. Like the one I got a picture of that crossed about a 75 foot across river in 3 to 4 seconds. But they do telegraph the strike or spit pretty obviously. But the real high speed stuff is down to the vipers and adders. Where the strike is just a blur and mostly you just see the reload.

 

[Najakeeper]

I wouldn't dice with some of the Siamensis around here. Warmed up they can get to moving. Like the one I got a picture of that crossed about a 75 foot across river in 3 to 4 seconds. But they do telegraph the strike or spit pretty obviously. But the real high speed stuff is down to the vipers and adders. Where the strike is just a blur and mostly you just see the reload.

The only snake that tagged me was an Ottoman Viper, Montivipera xanthina. I just saw two pinpricks oozing blood on my thumb, that's all.

 

[Najakeeper]

Here are a couple interesting pictures:

Here is a desert snake enjoying some fish:

And here is the valley of Death:

 

[freedumbdclxvi]

I always love seeing the new pics and vids. These are the venomous snakes I want to someday own after completing training. They are just so beautiful.

 

[Najakeeper]

[YOUTUBE]ES6nfECCqYY[/YOUTUBE]

More Death Adder action with a tiny bit more...