Gorgeous Death Adders! Urururururur!

[lutzd]

VERY nice, Sdaji. .. and I love the photography! Don't put yourself down! Were you holding the camera that close to them or did you crop one taken from further away! Doubt if I'd be game to get that close! ...and when you say you drove home with them in your lap, I'm assuming they were in a bag????? I'd hate to have to put a constrictive bandage on THAT particular area of your anatomy! Nah, I think I'd just let you go! :-) ;-) "Sad, but waddyagonnado?"

[Sdaji]

Thanks Lutzy

I'm glad you like the pictures, but they're nothing special at all, they only have appeal because the subjects are nice. The camera was probably about 10cm from the snake for the head shots, very roughly, these Djarras are so placid and if they're in the right position you can safely get pretty well as close as you like, as long as you come in from the front (you could get away with just about anything with snakes this docile, but these days I try to keep on the side of caution). Posting the full sized versions would get me into trouble again! (I've finally broken due to the pressure and will generally post only itsy bitsy pictures for the forseeable future). Yes, they were bagged seperately. I had them in my lap because the passenger seat was in the sun and I didn't want them overheating, it was a fairly hot day yesterday. Yeah, bandaging that up might be troublesome, perhaps that's what the free spirited runner was trying to remind me of

herpnadel: I can put you on the list if you like, but I don't expect to be trying for babies for a while, possibly early '08, so don't hold your breath Perhaps I'll have some Barklies a little bit sooner, fingers crossed

It's a great shame that being venomous puts a lot of people off keeping adders, they really are so beautiful and interesting, very low maintenance and just look at those lures It's exciting to have some white lured adders and the Djarras seem to have impressive spines. If adders were non venomous I wouldn't be surprised if they were the most popular pet snakes in Australia. Unfortunately most people don't get/take the chance to appreciate them.

[SLACkra]

. If adders were non venomous I wouldn't be surprised if they were the most popular pet snakes in Australia.

agreed.

what is the affect of their venom on your average sized human?

andrew

[lutzd]

I wouldn't worry about the itsy bitsy pics - you've only used 2.4MB of your quota so go for your life! Especially with pics like those. ;-)

[olivehydra]

I cant remember, my Greek is poor and noone else has asked so I will...... does acantho mean spur or thorn in greek?? Is that what you mean by their lure being the reason for their generic name?
Perhaps Zoe might know?

[solitarydiver]

Just Like asking a woman how old she is....You Don't ask...I DO ..... But I have To HOW MUCH?????

[Sdaji]

Originally Posted by SLACkra

agreed.

what is the affect of their venom on your average sized human?

andrew

I think the size and type of the adder is generally more important than the size of the human Apparently venom toxicity and yield (and perhaps composition too) cary dramatically between the different races. Death adders are in their own venom 'family', the venom is mainly neurotoxic and gives you a bunch of nasty symptoms which can include localised pain, nausea, paralysis and death. I've heard that Barklies have the strongest venom and/or highest yield and I certainly would never want to take a dose of venom from one. My female Barkly I imagine would be a particularly bad one to get bitten by, she is as large as any adder I've ever seen (around 3', I've heard many stories of much larger adders and don't doubt such animals exist, but I'm yet to see one) and when she feeds you can see her pumping in the venom very enthusiastically! I've never fed her live food but my guess is that it wouldn't be live for long at all. Having said that, I'd rather take a bite from a death adder than from several others including brown snakes and mulga snakes. As long as you're careful and not stupid, you can avoid being bitten, most of the time you'll be okay even if you are stupid and careless. Death adders are particularly easy snakes to work with safely as long as you're careful, the only real danger is that they are often so easy going and friendly that you can become complacent.

[Sdaji]

Lutzy: that's because I use my own hosting for pictures

Olive: Acanthopis means 'spine snake' and refers to their terminal spines. Not all scientific names are Greek by the way, most(?) are Latin, the original ones were and really, all should be.

[olivehydra]

[quote="Sdaji
Death adders are in their own venom 'family', the venom is mainly neurotoxic and gives you a bunch of nasty symptoms which can include localised pain, nausea, paralysis and death. .[/quote]

That last symptom is particularily nasty
They are very lovely but not for someone as clumsy as me. Keep the pics coming so as I can dream. May I ask what sort of camera you use?

[Rennie]

I saw one once the owner claimed was 4 foot but I wasn't going to measure it, the only one i saw up close was one of his hatchy's with a full belly. Everyone I've spoken to who keeps them say that they're very docile and easy to look after but I'd very quickly find myself single and homeless if I got one (its sad I know, but I STILL live with my parents at 23)

[olivehydra]

Originally Posted by Sdaji

Lutzy: that's because I use my own hosting for pictures

Olive: Acanthopis means 'spine snake' and refers to their terminal spines. Not all scientific names are Greek by the way, most(?) are Latin, the original ones were and really, all should be.

Whats wrong with Greek? :wink: Probably most scientific names are latin as you said but acanthophis sounds Greek to me? I shall investigate :idea:

[herpnadel]

yeah def put me down for some ill wait for good animals like that have you been bitten by any of your vens?

[Sdaji]

Olive: yeah, that's how they got the first part of their common name (next you'll be asking how they got their specific name )

What pictures would you like to see? I've done the full bodies and closeups, any requests? The Djarra pictures were taken with a Nikon 4600, the Barkly pictures with my old Nikon, which was from the same range of Nikons and had an identical lens.

Rennie: I've seen a few which had owners claiming they were 1m, 4' etc etc too I've also seen carpets with owners claiming they are 13-15' Funnily enough, I find that once snakes get to a genuinely large size (9-10' carpet, 80-90 adder etc) the owners are slightly more genuine about their sizes. The monsters generally turn out to be large but not at all unusual in length. I think there are some genuine 120-130cm adders out there, perhaps one day my female Barkly will get there. Apparently her grandmother was just over 4' (measured after she died, the body is still in a freezer).

Sounds like you'll have some adders in the not too distant future

[Sdaji]

Originally Posted by olivehydra

Whats wrong with Greek? :wink: Probably most scientific names are latin as you said but acanthophis sounds Greek to me? I shall investigate :idea:

The original scientific name (actually, the entire description of the species) was done in Latin, as it was the language of the scientific community at the time. The scientists all spoke different languages, so the whole lot was done in Latin, so that it would be common ground for all. Being a dead language, Latin was fair for all. Using Greek (or anything else) is a break with this tradition and causes inconsistency. Unfortunately, many people do now use non Latin names, there are many (I think the Japanese may be particularly lazy in this way, simply giving things Japanese names). I don't know of any English words being used in Scientific names, but if it was so, it would be unfair for anyone else and very confusing. If it is all Latin, it not only keeps with tradition, but if someone is unaware of the meaning of the name, and they don't happen to be fluent in every language ever created, they can simply grab a Latin to their language dictionary and find the answer. If they are in all languages and you're curious about the meaning, well, tough luck, there's not much you can do. Some nations are particularly arrogant and selfish in their use of language, which generally reflects the attitude of the people (I'd refrain from using France as an example, but clearly they want to be singled out as arrogant, otherwise they wouldn't behave the way they do!). Some other people have simply not bothered with any sort of system and used names such as Liasis (which means nothing) or Morelia (which I think is a town in Mexico, with no apparent connection to snakes).

[Sdaji]

Herpnadel: back in the 90's as a stupid teenager I recieved a couple of dry bites from captive tigersnakes, once while hand feeding thawed mice and once during horribly careless maintenance. I've been envenomated once, by a large tiger snake, after freehandling it for about fifteen minutes. I can't claim any sort of dignified excuse, I can't even say it was due to lack of skill as by the time of my first bite I was quite a capable handler, when I wanted to be sensible. As a young and impressionable teenager I saw the 'big' snake guys freehandling and had discussions with them about their envenomations and their attitude that it was just a normal part of being a snakey. I watched snake shows and was the kid who would wait until it was over so I could talk to the showman, sometimes I'd even talk them into letting me jump into the display after the crowd had gone and I'd freehandle the deadly snakes. If I'd been surrounded by knowledgable and skilled reptile people I respected, who thought of being bitten as something which showed a horrible lack of skill or judgement, I'd have been inspired never to take risks and I'm sure would not have been bitten. Apart from the result of stupid behaviour, I've never had a close call and with any luck at all I'll never take another bite from a highly venomous snake.