Herping in local parks.

[mustang]

'Free handling' venomous snakes in the wild is crazy, dangerous, unnecessary and self-indulgent. An accident waiting to happen.

you know what they say
"only the good die young"-billy joel

[ssssnakeluvr]

well...in this case....only the dumb die young....the good know how to handle them and not get bitten....

[Didymus20X6]

Just watch out for stingrays. That's all I got to say.

[Millinex]

well...in this case....only the dumb die young....the good know how to handle them and not get bitten....

Most people who die from these snakes are not hobbyists like myself, but people who accidently step on them or whatnot. As long as you are smart with the snake and are good at reading the snakes behavior..

Just watch out for stingrays. That's all I got to say.

Watch for cameramen more...

[mustang]

well...in this case....only the dumb die young....the good know how to handle them and not get bitten....

the "good" are divided into to catagories
Group A) smart ,have there commen sense , and have all their marbles
Group B) smart, have their 2 sense, and lost a few marbles

[GradStudentLeper]

I would suggest one of those metal claw thingies that I sometimes see professional herpatologists use on TV, but those things cost a few pretty pennies.

However, I found a nifty little tool I have often used in my own snake capturing, and believe it or not, you can get it at your local mega-type department store for about $10. It's basically designed for lazy people who drop their TV remotes, but I have caught a few snakes with it. It's a bit flimsy, and the suction cups do tend to break off, but I fixed mine by filling the screw holes with crazy glue, and haven't had a problem since.

While I have a set of snake tongs, I tend not to use them, the chances of accidentally breaking ribs or damaging the spine is too high unless they are rubber coated. I just use a hook (I have several sizes) and if the snake is large enough, a hook and my hand (to restrain the tail).

Gorgeous snake BTW

[Didymus20X6]

The thing I use actually has two rubber suction cups on the end. And it doesn't exert much pressure: I've picked up nightcrawlers with them without hurting them. I'm confident enough now that I can pick up small snakes with a pair of gloves on, but when I first started catching them, I was extremely ophidiophobic.