Awesome Find

[Bigboy]

This is true if you don't know what you're doing.

But for those of us who have been trained in milking and/or venterinary work, sometimes you have to actually grab and hold the snake with your bare hands- hence knowing the proper way becomes very important.

But I agree, the novice should never attempt this, or even use a snake stick for that matter.
The best thing for a noob to do is leave them alone.

Which when using all safety precautions involves immobilization via tubing and often in the case of veterinary procedures, anesthesia, prior to any handling. Are you actually trained to milk snakes? Where do you work and how did you get into it?

 

[loxoscelesfear]

that's exactly why i do not handle venomous in the field. love them. admire them. ... but GD, that looks painful. they say the bite may not kill you, but you'd wish you were dead. great thread cheers

 

[compnerd7]

against my better judgement I have posted a few pics of what can happen while being careless with sidewinders...all it takes is a split lapse of judgement. While it was pretty mild as far as bites go, I still ended up in the ICU for a couple days. Reeeeely put a damper on the rest of my herping season last summer. THAT'S why I shudder at the thought of getting bit by some of my other specimens...Curious about my story?..there is a full write up on VL under "bite reports" Although I got to keep my finger, it still has nerve damage and is permanently disfigured, a stark reminder of how amazing venom is and its effects can be

BAH! That makes me shudder... They are... amazingly fast there is no dodging a bite that's for sure. " split second " is defently the right term for that because it's a fraction of a second..

That really makes me shudder seeing your finger because just over a year ago had an incident where my arm went through a double glass pane window and it cut my entire wrist open including cutting the main alnur arterie and nerve in half. besides almost bleeding to death, I've lost all feeling and use in about 3/4 of that hand and there is no muscle left. That pic of ur finger reminds me of mine and I just shudder.. Glad you still have it!!!

 

[z32upgrader]

I was lucky enough to do some herping last night and ran across 4 nice snakes. Atrox, mohave, and a beautiful female black-tail. Attached are some of the best pix I took and all of them can be seen at the link below:
https://www.dropbox.com/sh/2zs9c1ngrqwxe6o/m02uhNgk2V
View attachment 120660 View attachment 120661 View attachment 120662 View attachment 120663

 

[The Snark]

darrelldlc, nice finger. I took one fang half way up my shin from a western and my foot did that explode thing. Too bad people don't realize it feels worse than it looks.

How to hand handle a snake? (That be a Kaouthai, BTW)

 

[lancej]

Beautiful snakes in this thread!

 

[Greenjewls]

Me displaying how not to hold a rattlesnake:



and my sidewinder is prettier than yours!

 

[Najakeeper]

If free handling was just risking people's own lives, I would respect it fully and keep my trap shut but every snake bite is a blow to our hobby. And not just venomous snake keeping hobby but keeping reptiles in general as lawmakers do not care.

Therefore, in my humble opinion, venomous snakes should only be touched for a necessary medical procedure, period.

Still, amazing pictures, thanks for sharing everyone.