Considering your proximity to a venomous animal, this is an incredible shot. Thanks for sharing.

Thank you!

Rattlesnakes aren't too hard to deal with. They are primarily defensive animals, so as long as you respect their space and stay out of their immediate striking distance, you're good. It helps that I've caught and handled them in the wild. I just worry that one day I will accidently step on one, and that could be bad news bears! Quite far from medical attention where I work.

Hey there lovely picture.
I was wondering if i could resize this pic and use it as my avatar on the various reptile/venomous forums i'm active on?

Hey there, sorry for the late reply. I'm out in the field most of the time so I don't get internet access too often.

Sure, that's fine. I'm glad you like the photo that much. :P

Nice one Thanks.
I take it you keep hots yourself in a private collection?

I've been keeping snakes for about 4-6 years (time flies and i don't keep track hehe) but i know what i want to do with my collection.
Hots, Burms, Retics, Afrocks, Crocs, Caimens and various varanids. I plan on breeding full time as an occupation you see and i have a thing for the more..."adventurous" reptiles

Hots? I'm not exactly sure what you are referring to.

If you are asking if this is my snake, it's not. I found this fellah in the wild. There are a bunch of them out where I work. Both prairie rattlers and massasaugas.

That's awesome though, I would really like to have some snakes as pets. Something I'll probably end up doing in the future. :P

Sorry man.
In herptoculture when we refer to animals as being hot we mean venomous.

Anyone keeping things like rattlers, cobras, taipans and such is known as a hot keeper.

Ah, interesting. Having a collection of venomous snakes would be pretty sweet. A bit dangerous, but sweet. :P

What sort of hots do you keep? Are they kept in a standard snake tank or do you require them to be in more of a "pit" so you can keep better distance?

Sorry i thought i said earlier. I don't kep hots myself yet. I will be keeping them soon however (before the end of the year hopefully)

I need a dangerous wild animal license for them anyway. To get that i have to have a massive set up and enclosure for them.
The law says theyre must be a double door entry sytem (you can avoid that if you jkeep all your enomous snakes in seperate locked vivs which are all contained in a much alrger viv which should put the fortifications of fort knox to shame) all windoes must have strong metal mesh to prevent escaped snakes getting out the windows, doors must be sealed at the bottom to prevent them getting ut under there and such. I'll be drilling planks fo wood along my floor to seal up gaps in the skirting board. Things like that.

I need £1million ($2.2million) public liability insurance. The license basicly is only granted if you can prove the only person with acces to the snake is you (or other people named on the license) and that the public cannot be harmed

The room must have clear warning with bright stickers stating venomous animals inside and must be locked at all times when no one is inside.

I also need to put a warning on the outside of my front door so people entering the house know about the animals.

That's just what i need to do to get the license. when i'm keeping them they will be in a double viv system like i said above and the vivs will just be normal everyday vivs i could use for anything. I'll have loads of snake hooks all arond the walls so i can just drop one and pick another instead of trying to manhandle a snake around the hooks.

No point in keeping antivenom in stock either it's about 2 grand a bottle usuallu 16 grand for a course of treatment and the damn stuff is out of date after 6 months. It's all about reading the snake knoing the species and it's telltale signs and when to handle it and when not to. Of couse sometimes the surprise you and then you get bit. Key lesson if you survive an incidentl like that is Do not get complacent with these animals

Interesting. I knew there would be all sorts of legalities involved but I never knew to that extent. Sounds like an expensive but worthwhile investment if that's what you wanna do.

Heh, we've got a bunch of snake hooks around the field house, handy things to have. I don't think there is even any anti-venom at the nearby hospital so they would probably have to fly some in if one of us got bit. A bit dangerous, but if you're careful where you step out in the field you can avoid rattlers pretty easy. Just can't let your guard down! We have snake guards to wear on our shins but nobody does it.

Good luck in getting your license and your set up all complete. Once you get some venomous snakes you'll have to take some pictures of your set up! That'd be pretty cool to see.

I will neglect everything to spend time taking pics of the set up. I've done it before lol.

I do plan on having rattlers but i'm getting cobras, vipers, taipans, mambas and such as well. I want to breed and help with conservation.

With me i have one dream in my life and that is to open and run a reptile and big cat sanctuary. I have friends who have owned, bred and worked with crocodiles, caimens, gators, cobras, vipers and all sorts of dangerous Reptiles.
A friend of mine has a collection of about 30 retics, burmese and afrocks. I'm going up to his next month to see his latest additions. 2 sub adult green anacondas.

I'm used to large snakes and aggressive snakes my only shortcoming is i have no experience with venomous snakes or lizards larger than egyptian monitors