Hello from Alabama, USA

My name is Graham Alexander and I am from the United States.
I am 1 year into snake keeping but have already learned an abundance about the hobby and hope to one day keep venomous snakes.
I currently only own a ball python but treat it as a venomous snake and don't handle it, use precautions as it "could envenomate me" etc. I am also fascinated with Heloderma. My Favorite venomous snake genera are Naja, Crotalus, Dendroaspis and Trimeresurus. I was wondering if there are any readings or videos i can look at in order to get a headstart on venomous snake keeping. Au revoir!

Hello Graham,

welcome here on the forum. One year of snake keeping is not realy a lot, but we all have started and regular with non-venomous snakes too. To treat a ,,ball-phyton´´ as a venomous snake, I think it can never be the same. Take care! A ball phyton is what´s about there behaviour a compl. other group than every hot! Specialy the elapids! For me its like traet my ,,hamster´´ like an pitbull....

Mabye you have experienced hot keepers in or around your place/city where you living!? Go to visit them, look and learn. Aske a lot and start not to early.

But to be here and read some of the hundreds treats will be a good base of information for the first.

have fun and participate here.

Welcome Graham!

If you swith directly from a ball python to venomous snakes, especially some elapids, and you think you´ll be safe just because you deal with the python like it were venomous, you´re far away from acting safely.
Peter is right to compare it to shifting from a hamster to a pitbull, but I would even say you have a childrens´toy and want to handle a landmine. For getting experience it would be better keeping a fast snake (some racers for example) that responds with defensive behavior to any disturbance than a snake that usually hardly can be provoked to anything more than hiding its head,...
A snake that hardly ever bites will not teach you what a venomous snake may do whether in a defensive strike or as a feeding response, mistaking your hand as prey which happens more often than defensive bites.

Anyway you´re on a good way in a good place, like Peter wrote, this forum is a good place for getting information and answers to questions on this subject.

Stay safe,
Rainer

Rainer Fesser wrote:: Welcome Graham!

If you swith directly from a ball python to venomous snakes, especially some elapids, and you think you´ll be safe just because you deal with the python like it were venomous, you´re far away from acting safely.
Peter is right to compare it to shifting from a hamster to a pitbull, but I would even say you have a childrens´toy and want to handle a landmine. For getting experience it would be better keeping a fast snake (some racers for example) that responds with defensive behavior to any disturbance than a snake that usually hardly can be provoked to anything more than hiding its head,...
A snake that hardly ever bites will not teach you what a venomous snake may do whether in a defensive strike or as a feeding response, mistaking your hand as prey which happens more often than defensive bites.

Anyway you´re on a good way in a good place, like Peter wrote, this forum is a good place for getting information and answers to questions on this subject.

Stay safe,
Rainer

Thanks for the tips, I'm not planning on switching from ball pythons to venomous snakes but thanks for your concern, i'm merely here to learn and prepare for the years to come! I have no intention of getting any venomous snake within the next 5 years Smile

! But its never too early to start learning cheers

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