Starter hot

Some of the Boigas I have kept was very snappy, although they were juveniles. Very fast striking!
Most times you see , if they are ready to strike.

I have one semi-adult Telescopus which is much faster, than any Boiga I have seen. This one strikes out of any position! Crazy guy..

edit: My B. tanahjampeana was calm, never made an attempt to strike. But it was an unsual species, much more ground living, atypical for Boigas

Here in South Africa many of us grew up on farms etc and there were always snakes around that we caught, Hemachatus (Rinkhals) to name one was very common, so in a way I suppose we were privileged to start on hots. That said I still have a motto that I live by and that is, treat every snake as a hot. I had a few Rat snakes and a Black Mexican King snake that were absolute Satan`s, and I used to handle them with a hook. In my humble opinion, try and get a nasty fast non venomous and once you get to know how to handle it then think about a hot. You don`t have to neck the snake, just learn to work safely with a hook or tongs and use a shift box if you can to do the cleaning chores etc., it makes things a lot less complicated and 100 times safer. Even when I change water bowls I still just hook my gabby gently so she cannot strike unexpectedly.

Interesting discussions...
Except for the already mentioned venomous colubrids (e.g. Boiga sp.), my opinion is that the best starter hot for someone living in Bulgaria would be a (preferably CB) juvenile Vipera ammodytes: it is fairly small and fairly cheap to buy; most of them can be handled easily with a hook; they eat quite well; don't require conditions which are difficult to give; antivenom should be widely available in Bulgaria.

Temperament, of course, varies a lot from individual to individual and, from my experience, most specimens will not forgive a stupid mistake made by the handler... The venom is quite potent and I know two people who almost died from bites from this species in Romania... But this can and does happen with most vipers.

If possible, I would always recommend to a person interested in keeping venomous snakes to find somebody who is already keeping them or who is working with them on the field and try to gain some experience by assisting them.

Another great genus is Pitouphis their attitudes and brute strengt make them nasty when their in that mood and my friends Pituophis Melanoleucus Lodingi is one of the few snakes thet really scare me. Mostly because of thei lethal rear end that they will trash about and use to smear the room with the smell of shit and secretions Very Happy

Try a H Gigas (false water cobra). I learnt all my handling skills with a 6 foot monster specimen. Thse are a fiesty strong creature and a great learning snake. Great snake to keep too.

I have worked with Boiga dendrophilia and can say they can go from incredibly relaxed to insanely aggressive in an instant. They are an awesome snake and I would say a great snake to start with if you wanted to gain experience on how to avoid getting bit by an aggressive venomous snake that you know is coming for you. However, I think if you were looking get experience with venomous snakes that are ambush predators (Bitis) would require a different starter snake. I have never personally worked with any species like that. Does anyone with experience have any suggestions? I was thinking maybe Atropoides would be a good starter with similar behavior. Opinions?