 Recent Herp Discussion | | | | | | | | Online Users: 127 | | 66 members and 61 guests | | $N@K3$, 4sons, amazonian, azza74, beeman, Big_Mac, bredli, brendan_86, Bugsy, calvin, centralian11, Charlie, Chris89, collins94, Crazy_Snake08, dozzie93, elapid@, FNQ_Snake, gar1, Greebo, imalizard, Jaydens-Pythons, Jen, jimbo, Joy from S & T, juliedamian, Jungle_Freak, j_bizzle, Katherine, Kurto, Kyro, lilmonkeyboy, Logan & Allana, LullabyLizard, m.punja, meecrob, method, Mr feegle, mrboajangles, MzSel, nightowl, nigmax, Nikki_Elmo, pratty, rash, Ricko, rodney, Shrek, snakes01, snakesrule, Stewydead, SyKeD, The Devil, Tristis, trouser_snake6, twk182, wardy, willia6, WingsOfGold, zen, _Jas_ | |  | | 
10-Feb-08, 10:34 PM
| | Regular Member | Join Date: Dec-06 Location: Syd | | | | jesus christ, do what you want, who cares, go ask your mum if its ok first though. |
10-Feb-08, 10:56 PM
|  | Regular Member | Join Date: Dec-07 Location: New York Gender:  | | | | Many of the older snake handlers only know one way to handle them – I believe it is what you call free handling. I have watched them bend down and pick up Tigers, Browns and many other types.
Red Bellied Backs are one of the more placid snakes. I have seen one guy who while driving somewhere with his girlfriend (Who is terrified of snakes) spotted a red bellied back on the side of the road. He stopped picked it up and placed it on the floor (Between girlfriend’s feet – she left him soon after) and drove home with it. He released it in his shed to reduce the mice population or something.
What I am trying to say is you really have to aggravate a red bellied back if you want to get bitten.
Copper head is a little more likely to bite. I have heard of one guy showing the snake for a documentary and it bit him on the thumb nail (Venom flowed down both sides of his thumb).
Eastern Brown shake can be a little more excitable – I have seen them striking at me when I was well over 20 meters from him. That was a nasty snake – but easy to catch and was released about 100 meters – relocated from the back door.
If you know what you are looking for – it is easy to free handle nearly all the Aussie snakes. If you lift an Eastern Brown, Tiger or Red Bellied Back off the ground from around the tail – it will not be able to strike at you. If you do the same with a python – you will get bitten. That is why they say it is easier to get bitten by a python. |
10-Feb-08, 11:09 PM
|  | Regular Member | | | | | Free handling is referring to people handling elapids as you would a python. I think you are referring to what we would call 'tailing' which most people who have, or handle elapids do. |
10-Feb-08, 11:22 PM
|  | Regular Member | Join Date: Mar-06 Location: Central QLD | | | Quote:
Originally Posted by Miss_Croft  If you know what you are looking for – it is easy to free handle nearly all the Aussie snakes. If you lift an Eastern Brown, Tiger or Red Bellied Back off the ground from around the tail – it will not be able to strike at you. | Don't try this at home kids.
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10-Feb-08, 11:23 PM
|  | Regular Member | Join Date: Oct-07 Location: sydney Gender:  | | | | has anyone heard of "the bear man" he apparantly had a special connection with the bears...
has anyone heard the audio of him getting mauled to death by a bear..... |
10-Feb-08, 11:28 PM
| | Regular Member | | | | | I did see that arbok. Doesn't matter how strongly you feel you have a connection with an animal, at the end of the day ALL animals are unpredictable. |
10-Feb-08, 11:35 PM
| | Regular Member | Join Date: Oct-07 Location: sydney Gender: | | | | exactly jozz, and it may be that some are calm etc but the reality of it is we dont have a way to communicate with them so they cant say hey mate dont do that.... instead they just give u a little nip.... but with a ven that can obviously be fatal,
btw a question for thoughs elapid keepers, in order to keep something like a rbbs, would u need to have 2 years experience with a midly venomous snake? |
10-Feb-08, 11:37 PM
| | Regular Member | | | | | Do you mean to get the license, or just for the experience? |
10-Feb-08, 11:38 PM
| | Regular Member | Join Date: Oct-07 Location: sydney Gender: | | | | to get the licences, but in saying that i reckon it would be an idea to get experience with a midly venomous |
10-Feb-08, 11:42 PM
|  | Josh! Regular Member | Join Date: Mar-07 Location: Bulli, N.S.W Age/Gender: 23 | | | Quote:
Originally Posted by Miss_Croft If you know what you are looking for – it is easy to free handle nearly all the Aussie snakes. If you lift an Eastern Brown, Tiger or Red Bellied Back off the ground from around the tail – it will not be able to strike at you. If you do the same with a python – you will get bitten. That is why they say it is easier to get bitten by a python. | Guess you've never seen an eastern brown wind back up it's own body towards your hand then!!! I think you would be surprised how fast they can come up their own body if your not careful.
Also not all pythons can easily come up their own body and tag you if you have them by the tail. Woma's for instance don't have prehensile tails and tailing one, you will notice they have great difficult doing much more then bunching up a little. BHP's are the same to an extent. Childreni, stimsoni and maculosa to a lesser extent. Most of the Morelia Genus, however, can very easily come up their own body with only a few inches of tail in contact.
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10-Feb-08, 11:44 PM
| | Regular Member | | | | | I don't know about NSW, but in SA, you have to have done a course in Ven handling, have a senior first aid certificate that included snake bite treatment, have signatures from two referees who have a ven license, and experience in keeping pythons, and then you can get a RBB. You have to have a RBB for 12 months before you can keep tigers or browns, and have to have kept one of them for 12 months before you can keep taipans. |
10-Feb-08, 11:46 PM
| | Regular Member | Join Date: Oct-07 Location: sydney Gender: | | | ah i see thanks for the info jozz  |
11-Feb-08, 12:32 AM
|  | Regular Member | Join Date: Mar-06 Location: Brisbane Age/Gender: 23 | | | | |
11-Feb-08, 12:35 AM
| | Regular Member | Join Date: Mar-06 Location: Brisbane Age/Gender: 23 | | | The other thing to remember is that you need to be a really tough man with decades of knowledge, a deep personal connection with the snake and of course big balls, freehandling elapids is not something a little girl can do  http://http://www.smuggled.com/Fetus2s.jpg |
11-Feb-08, 01:26 AM
| | Regular Member | Join Date: Jan-08 Location: Southern Highlands, NSW Gender: | | | | It matters not how much experience you have with vens sooner or later a bite will occur. Ive found newer keepers to be generally safer than older ones. They tend to be more cautious and more alert and then as they get experienced they become more relaxed and drop their guard. I see free handling as the final stage of dropping of their guard. As everyone said keeping vens is very risky and those that take that risk take their families with them. In the end know the risk and be prepared to live with it. | | |
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