Bites???????????????

[salebrosus]

My father and i were discussing what snakes were the most placid blah blah blah and dad reckoned Diamonds were placid and he's never ever seen an aggressive one. Can anyone dispute this? What snakes whether they're venomous or not would you say is the most aggressive. Dad said the most aggressive he ever had was a Stephens Banded when he was a kid.
Simone

[instar]

Taronga had an incredibly agro cobra behind the scenes, kept stiking the glass of its enclosure. worst ive seen, scarey stuff.

reckoned Diamonds were placid and he's never ever seen an aggressive one

I would have to agree with your dad.

[salebrosus]

Ha ha ha. Dad reckoned Eric Worrell had a pair of monster King Cobra's years back when the Reptile Park was at the old site. He remembers them being about 18 feet. Dad read they were feeding them on pythons at the time because they were strictly snake eaters. But we are talking late 60's here.
Freaky.
Simone

[Mr.K]

There are definately aggressive diamonds, there are a few people on this site that will vouch for that!! I believe that allround though they are the most placid python i have come across. The males don't even fight!!
I saw mr Crikey bail up a cobra in a tree ages ago and that was by far the angriest snake ive ever seen.

[boa]

I reckon from experience the worst species is between the Retic and the Asian ratsnakes. Some Retics can be silly tame but the Asian ratsnakes are plain evil.

[Hix]

I've seen Diamonds with a non-placid temperament. Not agro, just the same temperament you would expect from any snake you catch.

My vote for most agro species would have to go to the Eastern Brown.



Hix

[bigguy]

Simone, With regards to Diamonds being all placid, not so. I have bitten hundreds of times by this species. Some can be quite very aggresive.

I find captive bred Bredls are the quietist species that I have worked with and have never seen an aggresive one yet. W/C Bredls on the other hand will bite. C/B Olives come in a close second, however I have seen a few in other collections that have bitten. Wether this was due to aggression or food responces is debatable. Olives love food and some may bite thinking your food even when handling.

As for most aggresive, Stephens are up there , but not quite at the top of my table. Broadheads, Rough scale snakes are just as bad, if not a little worse. But its hard to go past a big Eastern Brown as being one of the most naturally aggressive snakes in Australia.

The story your father told you re the King Cobras was nearly true. They were not 18 ft long, more like 14 feet and on many an occasion I witnessed Diamond Pythons placed in their enclosure for food. Doesn't happen anymore. The new ARP feed theirs rats.

[salebrosus]

Thanks heaps for the info Bob,
Dad was a kid when he saw thse snakes so plus the exaggeration i'm not surprised they were 14ft. What happened to them in the end?
My Cape York female who is the most placid animal actually nailed me twice within 4 days....... It didn't occur to this blonde that by throwing in a rat with her a few times that she has come to think my hand in the cage means rat. She's only 6ft and the second bite hurt alot. I'd hate to think the bite of my 12ft Coastal would do. I never realised that about Olives though.
Thanks Again Bob.
Simone.
P.s. I did the WIRES snake handling course 4 years ago. After a few meetings with John Cann he begged me not to handle Eastern Browns. He said that what you need to know in handling Browns doesn't come from a weekend course but something you learn through experience. I followed that advice. I had a call out for a black snake at a Nunnery and upon arrival the Sister told me she threw a bible at the snake's head and she was positive it was a Brown Snake as she had experience with them before. I was out of there.