Question for SNAKE experts - I have a new Pit Viper; please Help!

[arachnofab]

A friend was deployed - gave this guy with no real info on him to another friend. They weren't comfortable so I took it on. Its super adorable little 6" baby pit viper. . . looks a lot like Trimeresurus malabaricus but not positive. . . please help!

 

[Damzlfly]

Know where it's face is at all times, and invest in a snake hook. I would look up Tom Crutchfield and seek his advice. Hots are not for the novice at all. A lot can potentially go wrong, be very very careful when you are doing any tank maintenance.

 

[bchbum11]

Beautiful little snake. Look up Cryptelytrops venustus, looks like a splitting image of the little guy. Hots aren't my thing, and wouldn't be even if they were legal to keep where I live. Too much risk involved for my tastes, and just from keeping several species of non-venomous snakes I know that even if you're practicing what you think are perfect procedures mistakes can happen. With several years experience and learning from past mistakes, I think I probably could keep one safely, but I also think that the same thrill that some people get from knowing they have to practice absolutely perfect procedure at all times would probably take away from the experience rather than adding to it for me.

If you do decide to keep it, Damzlfly had the best suggestion that I think can be made. Find a hot expert near you that is willing to help out and get some advice on proper feeding, cleaning and caging teqniques, and just as importantly a definite ID on the snake. It may even be better if you can form a close enough relationship with someone experienced to where you feel comfortable letting them sit the snake for your friend until he gets back. Not trying to add another downer reply to the boards, but adding a hot snake to your house is a big commitment with huge potential risks to not only you but everyone living with or visiting you. Good luck if you do decide to move forward!

 

[Najakeeper]

To me it looks like Trimeresurus kanburiensis (venustus).

Give it to someone, who has venomous experience. An arboreal pit viper is not the snake to start with.

If you end up keeping her, give her a humid arboreal set up with tropical tempratures. Do not forget to add live or artificial green plants. Get two snake hooks for moving it and long tweezers for feeding.

 

[arachnofab]

Cryptelytrops venustus is the current name " Beautiful pit viper " where as Trimeresurus venustus was previously what it was known as - "Malabar rock pit viper"

So far this is all I can find - im getting mixed reviews as to venom potency from mild to extreme and i def. do not plan on handling this little guy. I would love to keep him but I hear my state regulations may be against it. Can't find any real info on that either some how. Really frustrating. If anyone knows more and would rather have a private convo - i would be more than glad to have you PM me. Thanks so far, everyone!

 

[Entomancer]

Wow.

Interesting predicament.

This happens to be my favorite species of pit viper, and I've had snakes for a long time, but I don't know if I would be comfortable being thrust into keeping dangerous snakes like that.

If you keep it, maybe you could find someone in your area to kind of "train" you as you go along? It's probably not nearly as adequate as becoming accustomed to them more slowly, but it would be better than nothing.

Above all, I hope that the snake ends up finding a home, yours or otherwise.

 

[The Snark]

This may be of no help at all. Where to begin.
A friend I haven't spoken to in ages was trained by my cousin who is an expert herpitologist and kept many hots over the years. My friend was extremely meticulous. He was willing to spend his entire weekends trimming a couple of small plants for a terrarium. Similar to a bonsai plant fanatic. My cousin deemed him cautious enough to try keeping hots.

Preparation to an extreme degree was the key to the entire effort. First and foremost, just establishing an environment and maintaining it. Then getting used to maintaining it using remote poles and implements. As in spending several weeks creating and maintaining that presents an environment compatible to the hot and himself, aesthetically appealing and escape proof prior to introducing the hot.

Okay. The terrariums my cousin used he built himself. They were octagonal affairs, cylindrical from 18 inches across to the big mamba enclosure that was about 4 feet across and over 8 feet tall in memory serves. He usually had 5 walls of heavy plate glass and the back 3 of impermeable substance, usually waterproofed painted marine plywood. The floor would be anything from fake sand appearance concrete to active biological rainforest in miniature. Plants, synthetic or natural were very carefully installed and arranged and rearranged for ease of maintenance and animal compatibility. All access to these terrariums was done from above and they always had a safety zone above the display area. The lighting was indirect vertical fluorescent tubes shaded so they weren't offensive to the human or reptiles eyes. The safety zone, an open space, was typically large enough where climbing inmates could be easily controlled with hooks or custom made implements.

All told, it was pretty normal for my cousin to spend anywhere from $500 to several thousand, and often several weeks arranging and rearranging things, including animal comfort and compatibility before the animal was ever introduced. The entire idea being once the animal was placed in the enclosures it would be there for life with the intent of never being handled. On the rare occasions when a snake had to be removed as in taken to a vet, released or whatever my cousin nearly always had a second and sometimes third expert handler come over to assist and back him up.

Essentially, he built permanent comfortable homes that were tried and tested where the hot and the human never crossed paths except in the null zone above the display proper area down below. Custom implements were made and tested for any and all maintenance remotely and the environments were established to be as close to self sufficient as possible. Hours and hours of carefully thought out preparation and analysis of the hot to be kept before the animal was introduced. It was this eye to the smallest detail that got my cuz his job at San Diego zoo for several years.

My friend engaged in doing this and lived a hot-centric life for about a year before choosing to move away from hots. He ended up breeding chameleons primarily, giving up the hots entirely.

So the whole thing is, from my perspective, if you just grab a terrarium, plop in a hot, and then try to figure out how to maintain the enclosure and assure animal comfort, don't go there. Hots are a full time 24/7 and the amount of time spent in preparation to minimize contact between you and the animal is the only safe and sane way to go.

 

[arachnofab]

Thank you - that should be the only way of going about that and i wish i had that luxury but being that it was given to me in a tiny little exo-terra terrarium im not sure as how to go about moving it into a larger habitat to begin with. I've been doing a lot of research since I got a hold of this little guy yesterday and I'm not moving the little guy until I find a good way of going about that and have a better place for him set up to begin with. Thank you for your input and thanks for not bashing me as I've gotten a lot of that in other places. I thought I was helping someone out - I know I'm into something unfamiliar but I'd rather work understanding and improving rather than giving up and getting rid of. Thanks again.

---------- Post added 03-15-2013 at 12:07 AM ----------

Thanks for all your help guys - I found an experienced keeper to take him on. As much as I'd love to keep him I don't think I have the funds to make sure he has the proper care along with the rest of my babies (the dragon and T's). The new guy said he'd give me updates which is really sweet of him so I look forward to hearing from him in the future. Thanks again for all your help!

 

[Najakeeper]

I applaud you for your selfless decision. You did the right thing.

 

[The Snark]

One other tidbit comes to mind. When working with the hots at the zoo they have a safe room. A buffer room between the public areas and the hot enclosures. The door to the buffer room is always closed before the snakes are accessed. My cousin wore heavy leather pants like fishing waders and engineer boots when working in that room. His logic was that if a snake got out of it's enclosure there was no need to frantically evade it or make sudden grabs. Slow and methodical was his axiom.

 

[Ashphetamine]

Cryptelytrops venustus is the current name " Beautiful pit viper " where as Trimeresurus venustus was previously what it was known as - "Malabar rock pit viper"

So far this is all I can find - im getting mixed reviews as to venom potency from mild to extreme and i def. do not plan on handling this little guy. I would love to keep him but I hear my state regulations may be against it. Can't find any real info on that either some how. Really frustrating. If anyone knows more and would rather have a private convo - i would be more than glad to have you PM me. Thanks so far, everyone!

I'm local to you, and I have some sad/bad news for you on state regulations....

Wisco requires permits for any captive animal with any prominent venom; our DNR has a really crappy attitude when it comes to exotics and they really bring down the hammer on people who don't follow their rules. They tried to pin me with a $15,000+ fine for keeping three black widow and several brown recluse spiders I found on my own property. Please be sure to check into the permits if you want to keep this little honey-- but word of advice from a fellow passionist: leave him/her in the tank and get a lid with a lock. Preferably a trap door to drop feeders into without risking escape. I have no sound advice for cleaning the tank safely..... which leads me to say that sadly but honestly, it might be best to relocate this cutie to a more experienced/equipped home.