elapids?

[Pythonlovers]

hey everyone,
quite curious on how hard elapids are to keep?
are they hard? or is it the fact that there venomous make them seem hard to keep?
and what would be a good elapid to start with?
brown tree snake (night tiger), etc?
cheers.
jesse.

[Trimeresurus]

hey everyone,
quite curious on how hard elapids are to keep?
are they hard? or is it the fact that there venomous make them seem hard to keep?
and what would be a good elapid to start with?
brown tree snake (night tiger), etc?
cheers.
jesse.

No comment on what a good elapid to start with would be, but the brown tree snake is a colubrid.

[saximus]

They're no harder than pythons in most respects. Heat, food and water and they are content. Like you suggested, the difficulty comes with the handling because they are venomous. While a lot of people like to handle their pythons and make "pets" of them, most elapid keepers pretty much seem to only handle them for cleaning, health checks etc. It only takes one mistake with them.
Personally I'd suggest a RBB as a first one but everyone will have their own opinion and it depends which state you're in because you aren't supposed to get class 3 elapids without having some experience with lower class ones first

[snakerelocation]

2nd what saximus said + what ever elapid you decide to get make sure it is a few years old, red bellies are a great snake but can be a handfull under a coupple of years old and being so small makes them harder to handle, similar to trying to handle a whipsnake. and make sure you have a bandage next to the enclosure and know your first aid, also a good habit is to only handle them when someone else is around... You just never know.... I have a adult tiger snake that is dead quite and easily free handled, but once he smells food..... bam...

[Pythonlovers]

cheers, everyone!
and i know night tigers are colubrids but they still have a mild venom.

[JasonL]

Night tigers are totally different to an elapid though, cant compare the two in either keeping or handling.

[Jamesss]

being a colubrid they have fangs in the rear of their mouth, not the front, so they generally can't get them into you when they bite, so envenomation isn't really an issue with them.
------------------------------

Disregard above, read below. Looks like I dun goofed.

[eipper]

This topic has been discussed numerous times, do a search. Envenomation can certainly occur from Boiga bites. Keepers of this species should have a read of "venomous bites from non venomous snakes" by Weinstein et al, it might cause people to give them a little more respect. As for how hardto keep, it really depends on the species, some of which can be relatively difficult while others are fairly simple. Ease of handling involves a myriad of factors, too detailed to go into on a forum.

Cheers
scott

[Jamesss]

Hmm, thanks eipper, learn something new every day

[mrdose]

I'm also interested in getting into some vens. I've wanted death adders since I was a kid but like has been said before I need to keep snakes on the lower classes first.. Have to find some breeders in Sydney

[jairusthevirus21]

Elapids seem to make more of a 'mess' more often then pythons. Otherwise the husbandry is relatively similar to that of pythons. Ive found that because i keep a few elapids Im now treating all my pythons the same way... cautiously. There is no place for complacency when keeping vens.... regardless of how venomous they are. So why has got your interest in keeping elapids??

[Pythonlovers]

cheers for the feed back everyone.
cause they're amazing animals and so fascinating.
im not thinking of getting one soon, i just wanted to know for the near future is all.

[eipper]

Pythonlovers

there is a new book coming out on this subject in November

cheers
Scott

[creaturesofhabit]

Pythonlovers

there is a new book coming out on this subject in November

cheers
Scott

\
way to toot your own horn mate, i bet ty is happy that you have finished writing your books


really keen to get a copy of this elapid book, might see you at the ipswich festival
Andy

[Pythonlovers]

yeah, im hoping to get one of them too. would be a good read.