hot keepers in ireland

Hudsy, dude, hots?! Do you really want to see natural selection in action? LOL

Seriously though, I've been keeping snakes of all kinds for 10 years and have gave hots some serious consideration many times over the years....but each time I wake up to the reality of the situation.....

one tired visit to the snake room could be my last.....

there are other peeps in the house here, and if the snake somehow got out and tagged one of them, it would be my fault if they lost a bodypart or died.....

you have to convince a well respected snake keeper and a vet that you have the knowledge, experience under your belt, maturity, money and facilities to care for it.....

oh and should it become ill, even something as simple as a resp infection becomes a real pain to treat because you have big hollow teeth and venom to worry about.....

Sure, keeping hots is for some people and given the right set of circumstances they do great with them....but for 99% of snake keepers they are simply a no-go area. Personally I couldn't be annoyed with the hassle of keeping a hot, as beautiful as many of them are. I'm happy to get a big poster of a yellow-phase Eyelash viper in my snake room....I can poke it all day long and its never narky, heck I don't even need to feed, water or clean it out :)

Buy books on venomous snakes, research them and their venoms, google snake bites and see what a bite from a venomous snake can really do, and how it could basically change your whole life if something goes wrong. Get a bad bite to the arm or leg? Ooops, I'm missing a limb and now I can't drive, walk, play with my kids or do my job.....

Buy a fast, agile, narky snake that approximates the type of hot you want to keep and see how you get on with that......a racer or an Amazon Tree boa for example.....if you can keep these alive and work with them for a prolonged period without getting tagged or coming darn close to it (and remember, no gloves allowed) then maybe hots are for you. These are by and large cranky snakes which require careful handling and if you get bit by one of them then hots are a definite no-go area. My prediction is that after a few weeks you'll get fed up and change your mind.

Your 14 dude....at that age us guys feel like we are invincible and we just can't realise how fragile we really are. When you get older you realise that things you did when you were younger come back to haunt you, and your not so invincible anymore.....trust me, I've been there and have the aches and pains to prove it. I'm glad I never got into hots because I might not be as intact as I currently am :) Now where did I put my phone.....

i just think it would be a great collection peice

Green Tree pythons, Amazon Tree boas, Jungle carpet pythons, Emerald Tree boas......now they're collection pieces! Oh and none of them will kill you, just maybe give you a darn nasty bite.

i dont like them, just boas and burms or a retic
i like big snakes,

If its ton-weight eye-candy your after then Burms and Retics make great display snakes, as do boas such as true Redtails BCIs, if you keep them in big vivs and set them up with a good vertical and horizontal heat gradient.....they'll always be up in the branches basking. Imagine a 9ft albino BCI or a 15ft Super Tiger Retic draped over the branches.....but try putting them around your neck during handling and I reckon I'd hear the snap from over here.

If you like big snakes then you'd be looking at a very small range of hots that are also eye candy......this is when I realise that the best things come in small packages.....show me a big, venomous snake that rivals the beauty, colours and showmanship of a nice GTP or Amazon and I'll eat my shorts :)

ok heres a few
albino rattler/diamond backs
albino cobra
puff adders
gaboon vipers

na na na you want true ete candy in a hot and you want a canebrake lol
seen one a while ago up close and personal and OMG its so beautiful

oh and not to forget a rhino viper, if i was gong for hots that would be my choice, we been playing with the idea but with the possibility of kids its a no go area.

theres 2 more to the list

Hudsy, all the info you need at your age is in the posts above.....at least if you suddenly disappear from the forum we'll know why.

Listening to and heeding the advice of others is a sign of maturity and responsibility, both important factors in keeping any animal as that animal will be relying on your for its care, and the people you live with for your knowledge to keep them safe from potential harm. Ignore the advice and you become a great contender for part of the process of 'survival of the fittest'.....

ive had a large collection of hots over the years and worked with them with no problems untill a year ago i was feeding a large albino western diamondback with my 2.5' tongs as i always did but this time the snake decided to come at me, rattlers are usually quite predictable and i only had the viv door open a wee crack but the snake went mad and managed to get out at me this did scared me as id had him about a year at this stage and i thought i knew him. i have a daughter and family to worry about so i moved all my snakes on mostly for free. iwas young and a bit more stupid than i am now when i started keeping. nobody on here or anywhere can make up your mind for you just think long and hard before buying a hot