have anyone of you poison snakes?

[Markus18]

my lively poisonous is a copperhead (agkistrodon contortrix)!
maybe in a few years when i have more experience with snakes i buy a couple of those nice snakes!
whats with you guys?have anyone of you a poison snake?
markus

[Snaky]

At the moment it's to much of a hassle in Belgium. You need a permit to hold them and it's rather a challenge in the city where I live. And they are thinking to update the law, to make it even more difficult... So I don't think I'll ever have them.

I must admit, most of the time I'm not that interested in poisonous snakes, there are plenty of other one's

[Stefan-A]

As far as I can tell, there no hassle here in Finland. There are a lot of really beautiful venomous snakes, especially vipers, but I can't really say I'd want one. But I'm not opposed to people owning them either.

Is this the wrong place to bring up the issue of garter snakes' alleged venomousness?

[abcat1993]

I think we already talked about that. If not then I saw it on kingsnake.com (before I joined this site of course)

[Elliot]

That would be kind of a neat discussion, when my ribbon bites it does get itchy and red, and he can almost draw blood lol

[abcat1993]

I almost wish my snake would bite; it'd be more interesting than it constantly running away and musking the crap out of me.

[Stefan-A]

I almost wish my snake would bite; it'd be more interesting than it constantly running away and musking the crap out of me.

You're lucky, my male doesn't even do that and my female just runs away. No musking and no biting. Damn these cb's.

[Cazador]

I once owned a copperhead for about 30 minutes. I grew up in Missouri where they are fairly common. When I was about six or seven years old, I caught one and put it in a bucket. When I showed it to my mom and dad, my mom stripped me naked, right in front of my dad's friends (who I thought were really cool) in order to check me for snake bites. Since I always caught snakes by pinning their heads to the ground and holding them right behind the head, I hadn't been bitten, but my mom ended up cutting it to pieces anyway.

If you're considering getting a venomous snake, be sure to call the hospital first and see if they have copperhead antivenom in stock. I imagine that it's pretty rare in Germany. Cheers,
Rick

[ssssnakeluvr]

I have owned a number of rattlesnakes over the years, until I moved to Utah...very strict here!!!!

[Cazador]

What are your thoughts, Don (and others with experience keeping venomous snakes), about managing the risks of an accidental bite to yourself, your friends, or children vs. the rewards of owning one? Are they more exciting to watch?