# Fastest Striking Venomous Snake



## Najakeeper

I shot this video to show once again how fast Death Adders(Acanthophis) strike. They are the fastest striking snake (A death adder can go from a strike position, to strike and envenoming their prey, and back to strike position again, in less than 0.15 of a second) and the strike is very hard to catch even in 10x slow motion. Amazing creatures really, surely must stay out of the strike range with these puppies.

[YOUTUBE]9-z9fmOC37Q[/YOUTUBE]

( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9-z9fmOC37Q )

And here is a picture that I took before feeding, I think it turned out to be a nice one:


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## Aarantula

Awesome thread! And WILD snake!!!


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## The Snark

What is the speed of the Western Diamondback? I understand they are right up near the top, but I don't think they reload that quick.


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## Shrike

Najakeeper said:


> surely must stay out of the strike range with these puppies.


You've got that right!


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## Beardo

I thought that Puff Adders (Bitis) were the fastest strikers, but I'm sure thats all relative, lol.


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## Najakeeper

I shot a nice HD video today with two Death Adder species, _Acanthophis hawkei_ and _Acanthophis woolfi_. Slow motion can not catch these guys striking...

Enjoy:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J3ylHco1ySU


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## josh_r

Cool vids, but you're not showing the full potential of the strike. If you want to see some serious death adder strikes, look at viperkeepers YouTube video "the death adder show". 

Also, hoser is widely known as a joke here in Australia. Those names have no credibility. From what i understand, At a taxonomy level, most of the species he named do not exist. I will gather more information on this from Australian herpers and taxonomists.


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## Najakeeper

josh_r said:


> Cool vids, but you're not showing the full potential of the strike. If you want to see some serious death adder strikes, look at viperkeepers YouTube video "the death adder show".
> 
> Also, hoser is widely known as a joke here in Australia. Those names have no credibility. From what i understand, At a taxonomy level, most of the species he named do not exist. I will gather more information on this from Australian herpers and taxonomists.


Thanks for the comment, mate.

I watch Al's videos and I love them. But I feed my _Acanthophis_ out of their cage and unfortunately you don't get the "worm coming out of the substrate" effect this way.

As it comes to the Dajarra species of _Acanthophis_, Dr. Wolfgang Wuster thinks they are a form of _Acanthophis rugosus_ based on the mitochondrial DNA analysis that he has performed. As a geneticist myself, I disagree with him on this. I don't think taxonomy should be solely based on mitochondrial DNA evidence. This species is a desert specialist and putting them in the same bag with an Indonesian animal does not work for me. Now, I tend to agree that Raymond Hoser is a bit of a joke because of his demonstrations with "venomoid" snakes etc. But Hoser already has one _Acanthophis_ species that he has described in 1998, which everybody accepts (_A.wellsi_) and I think people will also accept the _A.woolfi_ in the end, maybe even _A.cummungi_, which are the other snakes that I have shown in this video, currently called _Acanthophis hawkei_ by Wolfgang Wuster, again based on mitochondrial DNA. Anyway, there is one certain thing to agree on, _Acanthophis_ taxonomy is still a giant mess.

Cheers...


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## thesnakehandler

*Adders*

Josh R, sorry to shatter your fantasy, but your claims against me (Hoser) are fantasy on your part.
A perusal of the most recent snake and other reptile books published here in Australia (e.g. Wilson or the book by Eipper) confirm the validity of my Death Adder taxonomy, including useage of the name Acanthophis woolfi Hoser, 1998 and likewise for species as diverse as Pseudechis (Pailsus) pailsei Hoser, 1998, P. rossignollii Hoser, 2000, etc.
Were it not for the deliberate misinformation by Wuster, his fake internet accounts and the rabble of his idiot friends, few people would be confused about Acanthophis taxonomy, as it is considerably simpler than that of other groups such as the Rattlesnakes, Asiatic Pitvipers, Kukri snakes, blind snakes, dwarf boas, etc and my paper of 1998 sorted them out in a very logical, obvious and overdue way, corroborated by several independent published studies since.
Notwithstanding the misinformation and lies by Wuster (see his own stupid entries on the Uetz reptile-database for the various Death Adder species), science does eventually get to the truth and in another few decades when Wuster has departed, people will see the obvious and use the appropriate names.
The same thing happened in terms of Charles Darwin and his evolution theory. It made sense from day one, but ratbags, masquerading as scientists used their influence to attack and discredit it for the duration of Darwin's lifetime and long after he died, delaying it's general adoption for decades after he first proposed it.
For anyone with a genuine interest in Death Adder taxonomy, I shall post a link to the paper below:
http://www.smuggled.com/addtax2.htm
All the best
Snake Man, Raymond Hoser


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## The Snark

*Hoser and Wuster*

I have reviewed Dr. Wolfgang Wuster and Raymond Hoser. There is obvious major disagreements between the two and ongoing disputes on various forums. I believe I can speak on behalf of the AB community in stating that AB does not need this to spill over into it's forums. 

For future reference which involve these two persons, I strongly suggest that citing either person be restricted to published scientific papers properly subjected to the appropriate peer reviews per established academic standards.


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## Munch

Oxyuranus is fast from what I hear they bit Australian kids 3-5 times before they knew they got bit. I guess it depends on the force of how hard they bite.


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## Najakeeper

Hoser vs. others debate will go on so no need to go into that here I guess. But it is good to see that you google your name mate .

Death adders are the fastest when one measures from ready to strike to strike to ready to strike. Other Aussie elapids are more active snakes and they may strike consecutively really fast but Acanthophis still have the fastest strike.

Reactions: Like 1


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## Najakeeper

"Someone"  here mentioned their "dogthing" moves faster my puppies and the adders got very jealous so I am posting a few pictures so you guys can adore them .

Joking aside, now I have pairs of three different mainland species of _Acanthophis_! Here are the pictures:

_Acanthophis hawkei/cummingi_(?) "Northern Flood Plains", large and ready to breed female:







_Acanthophis woolfi_(?) "Dajarra Desert", yearling male waiting for her girl:







_Acanthophis antarcticus_ "Sydney", will turn out to be large and deep red. Amazing, amazing, amazing...:

Male:







Female:






Now I need to find _A.pyrrhus_ and _A.wellsi_, and sell my car to get them if they become available ever in Europe...

Reactions: Like 1


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## The Snark

My puppy has a much cuter tail.
Actually this fastest, most foofy, most boinky is dripping with modern sensationalism and missing the real issue: evolution and environment. If it's developed a blinding speed strike it did it for a reason. Researching the origin dog, the dingo from which our dogthing is narrowly removed, their natural habitat obviously produced their incredible speed. Outback Australia. If the intermediate predator doesn't get a debilitating bite in almost instantly it's go hungry time. The environment is hostile, prey is few and very far between and the competition is fierce.

So you look at a death adder and the shape it has evolved. This thing isn't even a sprinter. It's a fixed sproink in the cafeteria of life. It's hunting range is most likely extremely small, probably commonly a few hundred meters for it's entire life span. So it developed along the line of the dingo but without the ranging ability. Thus it packs a very deadly venom with an incredibly fast delivery system. Incidentally, it's also an expert at energy conservation. Wham and sleep, repeat. As a comparison, take the other end of the snake spectrum with O. Hannah. In northern India they can range several kilometers a day. Prey is very abundant. It's a very robust animal that can feed repeatedly in a single day or it can go for weeks without eating. It's strike speed in the road rally of life is down there along the lines of a Toyota Corolla to the Death Adder being a Maserati. The king doesn't need speed. When it finds prey it grazes almost like a cow, putting away a large clutch of baby snakes in one sitting or a pond full of tadpoles. It's venom is comparatively weak but it's a huge animal so it delivers sauce by the cup full.
Different strokes thing. Evolution always turns me into a starry eyed child filled with wonder.

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## Najakeeper

The Snark said:


> My puppy has a much cuter tail.


We have to agree to disagree here, can yours has a tail that wiggles like a worm? 

Yeah, evolution of Aussie snakes is a great topic. Death Adders evolved into fixed weapons, they barely move but within their strike range, they are grease lightening as they can not afford to miss. Similar story with the "most venomous", Inland Taipans live in an arid environment with little amount of prey so each time they bite, they need to kill hence the crazy venom strength. Cool to make remarks about all these in hindsight .


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## The Snark

I could wax lyrical about the ecology and environment of the Aus outback. It's like a window in time. Pre homo erectus destruction the critters you see are pretty much what they were and doing what they were doing 50 million years ago. 
The lethal aspect of some of their venomous animals certainly speaks of severe hardship in capturing prey. 

I'm going to leave the intimate knowledge of the south end of north bound animals to others.


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## Najakeeper

Roooaaarrrrrr!







(_Acanthophis sp_. "Woolfi")

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## Najakeeper

Macro image of the tail of a Death Adder, one of mine actually.

Made fools out of billions of mice, birds, lizards, frogs and counting...

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## The Snark

A nice little paradox. An Elapid uses it's tail to entice prey while a Viper uses it to warn off enemies. Parallel opposite evolution.

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## Najakeeper

Acanthophis antarcticus 'Sydney Red' feeding on a pinky mouse:

[YOUTUBE]UvcAKZHSess[/YOUTUBE]

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## Najakeeper

Master of camouflage, the Acanthophis antarcticus from Sydney:


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## josh_r

The Snark said:


> A nice little paradox. An Elapid uses it's tail to entice prey while a Viper uses it to warn off enemies. Parallel opposite evolution.


there are many viperidae and crotalinae that use their tails as a caudal lure as well. They are not restricted to using the tail as a defense mechanism. Even the rattlesnakes... Crotalus lepidus klauberi, for example, utilize caudal luring while they are young with a yellow or orange tail to entice lizards. This behavior is known for many of the montane rattlesnake species. pseudocerastes urarachnoides has teh most oddly unique caudal lure... looks like a spider or something.

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## Najakeeper

josh_r said:


> there are many viperidae and crotalinae that use their tails as a caudal lure as well. They are not restricted to using the tail as a defense mechanism. Even the rattlesnakes... Crotalus lepidus klauberi, for example, utilize caudal luring while they are young with a yellow or orange tail to entice lizards. This behavior is known for many of the montane rattlesnake species. pseudocerastes urarachnoides has teh most oddly unique caudal lure... looks like a spider or something.


He was trying to point to the irony there as caudal luring is mostly done by vipers but here it is an elapid filing the viper niche.

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## The Snark

An odd bit of observation. On many occasions I have encountered rattlers by the noise they make. Sheesh. Maybe 50 or more times in the wild. But the oddity is the noise is most often omni directional. It's a space filling sound that is extremely hard to pin point the source. I've watched my horses, cattle and dogs cast about trying to locate where the snake is. The horse, I suppose by being the tallest, is best at locating the snake. Methinks nature overdid itself a little in creating this omnidirectional sonic warning system.


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## Najakeeper

Acanthophis hawkei female:







Acanthophis sp. "Dajarra Desert" male:


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## viper69

*Faster-- documented where?*

When someone tells me SOMETHING is the fastest X in the world....  Relatively speaking, on principle I cannot accept their word, no more than they should accept mine.

I watched the video, and that snake looks to my eye (not exactly a scientific measuring device hahah) no faster than my boa.

Seriously how do you know it's the fastest striking venomous snake? As opposed to a Gaboon Viper, or another pit viper?


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## Najakeeper

viper69 said:


> When someone tells me SOMETHING is the fastest X in the world....  Relatively speaking, on principle I cannot accept their word, no more than they should accept mine.
> 
> I watched the video, and that snake looks to my eye (not exactly a scientific measuring device hahah) no faster than my boa.
> 
> Seriously how do you know it's the fastest striking venomous snake? As opposed to a Gaboon Viper, or another pit viper?


To tell you the truth, I haven't read a scientific study on it and I agree there are a lot of vipers, which are very "fast" strikers. The deal with Acanthophis is they are strike ready within .13 to .15 seconds from the moment they start the initial strike. I think that is nothing shy of amazing.

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## The Snark

viper69 said:


> When someone tells me SOMETHING is the fastest X in the world....  Relatively speaking, on principle I cannot accept their word, no more than they should accept mine.
> 
> I watched the video, and that snake looks to my eye (not exactly a scientific measuring device hahah) no faster than my boa.
> 
> Seriously how do you know it's the fastest striking venomous snake? As opposed to a Gaboon Viper, or another pit viper?


Quite some time ago I read of a study using a modified radar gun used by traffic control to measure the speed of various rattlesnakes. I'm wondering if that is still being used in some form. It  was interesting that they were getting comprehensible readings of the actual motion, ~450 mph for the western diamondback as example.

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## viper69

The Snark said:


> Quite some time ago I read of a study using a modified radar gun used by traffic control to measure the speed of various rattlesnakes. I'm wondering if that is still being used in some form. It  was interesting that they were getting comprehensible readings of the actual motion, ~450 mph for the western diamondback as example.


It was rigged, just like all police radar guns are! J/K hehehehe


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## The Snark

viper69 said:


> It was rigged, just like all police radar guns are! J/K hehehehe


If the truth be told it had to have been. About 3 years later I worked with some techs trying to perfect a fast acquisition configuration. They were versed in RF and refined the source emission into bursts using a staged capacitive discharge along with limiting the emissions so they weren't in danger of cooking the subjects and controlling the emissive scatter sprayed all over the lab. I suggested a cascade jfet array that was far faster than the normal acquisition and extrapolation, and allowed a tightly controlled window. It appeared to me very workable but I have never heard of any follow up work done. Since then of course they have developed a much more accurate sensing system using the doppler effect but I haven't heard of it being used on snakes either.

PS No, radar guns are radar guns. Quite accurate, but their use must meet certain criteria as the gun held rigidly still and the target within a prescribed trajectory relative to the gun.


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## viper69

The Snark said:


> If the truth be told it had to have been. About 3 years later I worked with some techs trying to perfect a fast acquisition configuration. They were versed in RF and refined the source emission into bursts using a staged capacitive discharge along with limiting the emissions so they weren't in danger of cooking the subjects and controlling the emissive scatter sprayed all over the lab. I suggested a cascade jfet array that was far faster than the normal acquisition and extrapolation, and allowed a tightly controlled window. It appeared to me very workable but I have never heard of any follow up work done. Since then of course they have developed a much more accurate sensing system using the doppler effect but I haven't heard of it being used on snakes either.
> 
> PS No, radar guns are radar guns. Quite accurate, but their use must meet certain criteria as the gun held rigidly still and the target within a prescribed trajectory relative to the gun.



If only I could figure out why a Ryobi hand drill I have, which has been stored in a box since 2006 at room temperature is all of a sudden sticky to touch. What's more weird is that of all the plastic pieces on the drill, only the blue plastic is sticky, and only on the exterior, not on in the interior where the battery inserts into.  Piece of crap. I WAS going to test out a 2" hole saw bit.


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## jigalojey

Najakeeper said:


> I shot this video to show once again how fast Death Adders(Acanthophis) strike. They are the fastest striking snake (A death adder can go from a strike position, to strike and envenoming their prey, and back to strike position again, in less than 0.15 of a second) and the strike is very hard to catch even in 10x slow motion. Amazing creatures really, surely must stay out of the strike range with these puppies.
> 
> [YOUTUBE]9-z9fmOC37Q[/YOUTUBE]
> 
> ( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9-z9fmOC37Q )
> 
> And here is a picture that I took before feeding, I think it turned out to be a nice one:


 I want to know how the hell you got a Death Adder in Germany.


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## The Snark

viper69 said:


> If only I could figure out why a Ryobi hand drill I have, which has been stored in a box since 2006 at room temperature is all of a sudden sticky to touch. What's more weird is that of all the plastic pieces on the drill, only the blue plastic is sticky, and only on the exterior, not on in the interior where the battery inserts into.  Piece of crap. I WAS going to test out a 2" hole saw bit.


Few plastics are fully stable. When they become sticky they (commonly) have reacted with oxygen. I'll trade you for my other's Sony walkman/cellphone, the entire outside coating of which turned to goo. Every now and then, or in the case of cheap manufacturing which skips a process, acrylic sheets as used in terrariums suffer from this. You can actually push a knife or other sharp object slowly right through the sheet. In fact, all acrylics that aren't brittle will permit this, it taking a few weeks for the point to penetrate. But with the cheap or unstable stuff it only takes a couple of hours.


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## Najakeeper

jigalojey said:


> I want to know how the hell you got a Death Adder in Germany.


Several species were imported to Europe when Aussie export was open. Several zoos also keep them and have surplus stock to sell. But unfortunately for obvious reasons, gene pool is limited and most snakes are quite inbred.


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## jigalojey

Najakeeper said:


> Several species were imported to Europe when Aussie export was open. Several zoos also keep them and have surplus stock to sell. But unfortunately for obvious reasons, gene pool is limited and most snakes are quite inbred.


 Thank god that makes me feel alot better.


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## Najakeeper

jigalojey said:


> Thank god that makes me feel alot better.


Well, I am sure some people have smuggled Acanthophis, Pseudechis or Notechis in their underwear to Europe as well at some point. I think Australia's export laws are incredibly stupid. You can buy as much Kangaroo meat as you want but you cannot get a live Kangaroo? Controlled collection and captive breeding is very valuable for the future health of native wildlife. Now, to buy a baby pair of Australian Death Adders in Europe, you need to pay €2000, which in turn fuels more illegal collection and smuggling as it is worth to take the risk for the crooks.


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## viper69

The Snark said:


> Few plastics are fully stable. When they become sticky they (commonly) have reacted with oxygen. I'll trade you for my other's Sony walkman/cellphone, the entire outside coating of which turned to goo. Every now and then, or in the case of cheap manufacturing which skips a process, acrylic sheets as used in terrariums suffer from this. You can actually push a knife or other sharp object slowly right through the sheet. In fact, all acrylics that aren't brittle will permit this, it taking a few weeks for the point to penetrate. But with the cheap or unstable stuff it only takes a couple of hours.


I did a search for QUITE a while on the net, and I'm not the only one w/this brand to suffer the fate of bad manufacturing. Well I fixed it for now at least. I rubbed it with alcohol, the whole body, it's not sticky now. Unsure if this was a surface coating that was degrading or the entire blue plastic body. The inside of the battery housing is fine, so I'm thinking it's an exterior finish of sorts, IDK. Another guy used acetone and it didn't come back for him.

I'm waiting for metal to be popular again, I'll die first before that happens. God forbid a company should make something that lasts anymore


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## jigalojey

I have to respectfully disagree. If the laws allowed you guys to order what species you wish our native fauna would get hit dam hard from the sudden allowance of the world to choose what they like out of our diverse backyard. There is already many species over here struggling to survive and the last thing we need is greedy collectors plunging the wildlife stocks leaving behind nothing., we have had Tarantula species over here get wiped out and that's only from Aussie Tarantula keepers imagine what the world would do! Now sure people do attempt to smuggle but a huge percentage of them would be caught because Australia has exceptional customs that really don't miss much. I would rather a few clowns try and smuggle with a VERY small percentage getting through then tens of thousands of native Australian fauna getting smashed from money hungry collectors /end rant


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## Najakeeper

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.


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## jigalojey

I just cannot see it working, to much room for shenanigans and it screams loop holes.


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## viper69

Najakeeper said:


> 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?


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## 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 ----------




Najakeeper said:


> 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.


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## The Snark

Najakeeper said:


> 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)


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## Najakeeper

The Snark said:


> 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.


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## viper69

Najakeeper said:


> 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"


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## Najakeeper

viper69 said:


> 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.


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## 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.

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## The Snark

Najakeeper said:


> 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.'


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## Najakeeper

The Snark said:


> 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...

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## Najakeeper

Common Death Adder eating a fuzzy:

[YOUTUBE]9u44BmxRqz8[/YOUTUBE]

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## 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

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## The Snark

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


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## Najakeeper

The Snark said:


> 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?

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## The Snark

Najakeeper said:


> 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.

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## Najakeeper

The Snark said:


> 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.


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## 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.


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## Najakeeper

The Snark said:


> 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.


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## Najakeeper

Here are a couple interesting pictures:

Here is a desert snake enjoying some fish:







And here is the valley of Death:

Reactions: Like 2


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## 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.


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## Najakeeper

[YOUTUBE]ES6nfECCqYY[/YOUTUBE]

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

Reactions: Like 1


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## Najakeeper

The male Sydney _A.antarcticus_ is getting to be very beautiful and he can easily take hopper size mice. He is also a very "enthusiastic" feeder. Female is still being tease fed and has no interest in food until she is hit on the head with it for 5 minutes. I hope she will catch up soon.

Reactions: Like 1


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## Najakeeper

Here is my most probably pregnant girl:







And here is the male Sydney red feeding on a hopper:

[YOUTUBE]QjpovjtHiJM[/YOUTUBE]

Reactions: Like 1


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## Najakeeper

Here is my problem feeder Acanthophis antarcticus female on some solid food:







She still needs to be teased to eat unfortunately but getting to larger food items should help her to grow up fast so we can get over it.

Reactions: Like 1


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## Najakeeper

Here is another "Valley of the Death" photo picturing 3 Acanthophis species I keep:







Left to right: _Acanthophis_ sp. "Dajarra Desert" , _Acanthophis_ sp. "Northern Flood Plains", _Acanthophis antarcticus_

Reactions: Like 1


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## freedumbdclxvi

Every time you post makes me want my venomous license more and more.  That antarcticus is stunning.


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## The Snark

freedumbdclxvi said:


> Every time you post makes me want my venomous license more and more.  That antarcticus is stunning.


Every time I hear someone say that I think of what a huge pain in the arse it is keeping the bitey things compared to the squeezy ones. A 2 minute clean up job becomes 15, the vet charges by the millisecond apparently using the maintenance costs of an A380 in the calculations  etc.

Reactions: Like 1


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## freedumbdclxvi

The Snark said:


> Every time I hear someone say that I think of what a huge pain in the arse it is keeping the bitey things compared to the squeezy ones. A 2 minute clean up job becomes 15, the vet charges by the millisecond apparently using the maintenance costs of an A380 in the calculations  etc.


Which is why I stay with the squeezy ones.  I stare at his pics and think, why not?  Then I remember all that's involved and think, "I think a nice Sulawesi female would be much better...".


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## Najakeeper

The Snark said:


> Every time I hear someone say that I think of what a huge pain in the arse it is keeping the bitey things compared to the squeezy ones. A 2 minute clean up job becomes 15, the vet charges by the millisecond apparently using the maintenance costs of an A380 in the calculations  etc.


But all of that is fun!


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## The Snark

Najakeeper said:


> But all of that is fun!


But it takes a certain mentality that not everybody has. It's very similar to living in an environment with a lot of firearms. Everything is loaded and dangerous, always, and you have to maintain a constant level of vigilance. There simply is no sloppy or lazy or casual. No slack ever. Just like the several hundred gun owners who manage to shoot themselves with their own guns each year, trouble WILL happen and you are constantly trying to prevent or avoid it..


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## Najakeeper

The Snark said:


> But it takes a certain mentality that not everybody has. It's very similar to living in an environment with a lot of firearms. Everything is loaded and dangerous, always, and you have to maintain a constant level of vigilance. There simply is no sloppy or lazy or casual. No slack ever. Just like the several hundred gun owners who manage to shoot themselves with their own guns each year, trouble WILL happen and you are constantly trying to prevent or avoid it..


Absolutely. I was reflecting on this the other day. I never feel safe in my snake room, I am constantly checking to see if any of the cages are left open, if all of the snakes are in their respective places etc. This behavior can be learned to a degree but a person naturally doesn't give a damn, he/she shouldn't keep venomous snakes.


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## Najakeeper

Najakeeper said:


> Here is another "Valley of the Death" photo picturing 3 Acanthophis species I keep:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Left to right: _Acanthophis_ sp. "Dajarra Desert" , _Acanthophis_ sp. "Northern Flood Plains", _Acanthophis antarcticus_


All three in a single video:

[YOUTUBE]fUEXLYMwzc8[/YOUTUBE]

Reactions: Like 1


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## Najakeeper

Najakeeper said:


> Here is my most probably pregnant girl:


So after shedding today, my girl dropped a huge load and one unfertilized ova:







She is still plump and this is a single egg, so I am hoping she has some fertilized eggs inside her.


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## Najakeeper

I got a pair of PNG Acanthophis laevis. Here is the female:







These are a lot more "defensive" compared to their mainland cousins.

Reactions: Like 1


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## Najakeeper

Sad video this week... Unfortunately, my A.hawkei female gave birth to 15 additional unfertilized eggs plus a perfectly developed yet dead baby... Oh well...







Here is a video explaining the situation with an interesting ending:

[YOUTUBE]BrkYm8HntAc[/YOUTUBE]


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## Najakeeper

Here is a long feeding video of the hawkei female. She is taking down rats to get back to her previous weight:

[YOUTUBE]ZNqxQTORnlU[/YOUTUBE]

And here are a couple pictures of the Acanthophis laevis pair from Aseki, PNG:

Reactions: Like 1


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## Najakeeper

Here is the A.laevis pair. The male just shed and is in full breeding mode but the female needs to shed first.

Reactions: Like 2


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## Rowdy Hotel

I enjoy seeing other peoples' hots. Unfortunately, I think I've developed too many bad habits keeping harmless snakes. For the time being, at least, I think I'll keep a "pets can't kill me" policy


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## The Snark

Rowdy Hotel said:


> I enjoy seeing other peoples' hots. Unfortunately, I think I've developed too many bad habits keeping harmless snakes. For the time being, at least, I think I'll keep a "pets can't kill me" policy


Sensible. My sentiments exactly. Find yourself getting sloppy or developed bad habits it's time to leave the dicing with death stuff to others.


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## Najakeeper

The Snark said:


> Sensible. My sentiments exactly. Find yourself getting sloppy or developed bad habits it's time to leave the dicing with death stuff to others.


Very agreeable.


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## Najakeeper

Rowdy Hotel said:


> I enjoy seeing other peoples' hots. Unfortunately, I think I've developed too many bad habits keeping harmless snakes. For the time being, at least, I think I'll keep a "pets can't kill me" policy


Here is an example showing why we need to be careful...

[YOUTUBE]ybOAC8LhzDI[/YOUTUBE]

Reactions: Like 1


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## Najakeeper

I caught this guy in the act:

Reactions: Like 2


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## Najakeeper

Here is another breeding video, this time with Acanthophis laevis, the Papua New Guinea Smooth Scaled Death Adder from Aseki:

[YOUTUBE]kmlwtZ95nBs[/YOUTUBE]

Reactions: Like 1


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## Najakeeper

Sydney Red Acanthophis antarcticus:







[YOUTUBE]9ko6KAlznq8[/YOUTUBE]

Reactions: Like 1


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## Najakeeper

"I like (fish) Tacos"...


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## TheHonestPirate

Interesting videos! Beautiful snakes as well.


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## Najakeeper

Northern Floodplains Death Adders are put together again. After last year's failure, I hope it works better this time around:

[YOUTUBE]4byt3P-N75I[/YOUTUBE]


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## Najakeeper

This week's video was on my Sydney Common Death Adders, the Acanthophis antarcticus. 

Enjoy:
[YOUTUBE]Kbv1E4n-v8Y[/YOUTUBE]


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## Najakeeper

Same style with a different species:

[YOUTUBE]8An2J32uhiE[/YOUTUBE]


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## Najakeeper

Here is the third "On the Floor" video, Acanthophis laevis, the female is visibly gravid:

[YOUTUBE]pRzhacIkcd4[/YOUTUBE]


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## Najakeeper

Pregnant or just constipated? ...

Time will tell... She has been with the male but I have never noticed mating behavior...

Reactions: Like 2


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## Najakeeper

Here is my _A.hawkei_ gobbling down a rat:

[YOUTUBE]s9FXfmJRMjg[/YOUTUBE]


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## Najakeeper

Here are a bunch of strike shots including but not limited to Death Adders:

[YOUTUBE]9pdQetD-Ma8[/YOUTUBE]


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## dementedlullaby

Najakeeper said:


> Here is my _A.hawkei_ gobbling down a rat


Never seen a rat with feathers . Just kidding, I know in the video you even state chick.



I really love your hot snake videos. They are really educational and (imo) you have the most respect for these animals compared to other care takers I've seen on YT. Keep up the great work Naja.


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## Najakeeper

dementedlullaby said:


> Never seen a rat with feathers . Just kidding, I know in the video you even state chick.
> 
> 
> 
> I really love your hot snake videos. They are really educational and (imo) you have the most respect for these animals compared to other care takers I've seen on YT. Keep up the great work Naja.


It is a rat trapped in a chick's body. Don't be transspeciesphobic! ;p

Reactions: Like 2


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## Najakeeper

Some photos from today:

Dajarra desert male:






Sydney male eating a cooked chicken heart:






Right after:


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## Najakeeper

Somewhat of a sad video:

[YOUTUBE]Ng1Lsn5pYyU[/YOUTUBE]


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## Najakeeper

Here is a video is my Acanthophis antarcticus, the Sydney Red Common Death Adder, with some nice slo-mo strike shots:

[youtube]0I5-1EaPvtA[/youtube]


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