I'll get around to them tomorrow I'm just lounging right now do not feel like uploading ect. Thanks for the kind words!

I understand the responses and the way people feel about free handling but if they look around far to many people are doing it even Celebs so the best hope we have is to educate new comers and people thinking of free handling. Ignoring the issue and flaming will not solve anything. This little post may not solve anything either but I'm trying rather than sitting around complaining about the issues. Maybe I'm going about it the wrong way or maybe not but the fact remains people free handle and younger people are very easily influenced so some good info may not be such a bad idea.

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1.1 Red Eyed Leucistic Monocled Cobras
1.1 Blue Eyed Leucistic Monocled Cobras
2.3 White Lipped Vipers
1.1 Black Pakistan Cobras
1.1 Black and white Spitting Cobras
0.1 Puff Adder
1.1 gaboon Vipers
1.0 Mangrove snake
0.1 Formosa Cobra
1.1 osage copperhead
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Like you say.... Ray Hunter Free Handled... and recieved no bites from Free Handling..

David Weathers does it, and noone moans at him...

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I would be curious to know how many free handling videos are on U Tube right now.

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1.1 Red Eyed Leucistic Monocled Cobras
1.1 Blue Eyed Leucistic Monocled Cobras
2.3 White Lipped Vipers
1.1 Black Pakistan Cobras
1.1 Black and white Spitting Cobras
0.1 Puff Adder
1.1 gaboon Vipers
1.0 Mangrove snake
0.1 Formosa Cobra
1.1 osage copperhead
www.exoticanimalforums.com
www.myspace.com/eparr_1
www.eaternPareptilerescue.org

I seriously hope that by this comment your not implying that the practive of freehandling venomous snakes is an ok thing to do. If you are, then for the sake of all DWA keepers in the UK lets hope you dont get your DWA anytime soon.

I just dont understand why anyone would choose to handle a venemous snake - bit like russian roulette with an unreliable gun. Anybody that keeps snakes knows they cannot be 100% predictable and anyone with enough experience to have a DWA should know better than most - I am glad the DWA exists - it may not be perfect but at least it stops a free for all.

I dont understad what the research has proved, I dont understand why it was done, I am just glad that in the end common sense prevailed and it stopped.

Ive just done some research and my findings are that if you free handle venemous snakes, you increase your risk of being bitten and envenomated. From that 15 second research I have come to the conclusion that free handling venemous is not a good idea.

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Sharpstrain




Just because you say something, it doesn't make it true. Just because you can do something, it doesn't mean you should.

I dont come into this section much but had to read this thread after reading the title.

Its an awkward one, i can see where you are coming from in wanting to prove Cobras cannot be calmed even with frequent handling...but i have to agree with others that it seems a VERY risky experiment to undertake to basically show what most people should already realise - at least the people who own such animals.

I find it difficult to grasp exactly what you were trying to achieve with this...if you wanted to show they cannot be calmed then it seems very silly indeed. If i doubted the strength of a parachute i certainly wouldnt use it to jump from a plane to prove it one way or another!! Anyway, if this is the case then i suppose in a way you have been successful, but thats not very much to prove given the risks you took. Maybe this could become slightly more credible with a well written report (as mentioned earlier) instead of a poorly written thread on a website forum? However, even then i dont feel it would have much worth.

Also, even if they had clamed down (which you wouldnt really want to advertise), snakes, i feel, are still unpredictable and all you need is to handle a calm/tame DWA snake thats having an 'off day' and you are in some pretty deep !! With your average (non-DWA) snake you can more or less get away with it...ive been bitten a couple of times and the worst out of the two only drew blood.

I feel you have kind of ended up in the middle mind, you have shown that a Cobra cannot be calmed but at the same time you have shown they can be successfully free handled...i think the side of the experiment which 'newbies' would pay more attention to is the bit about successfully free handling them - and thats not good!!!

Sorry if this is not the kind of responce you wanted, although i do appreciate you have put a lot on the line for this.

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Must say that I do not agree with this 'research' at all, but the findings and conclusions interest me. When you say 'free handling' what do you mean? People have different definitions. I'm assuming you mean a hook was not used, just bare hands.
How do you define 'tame' or 'calm'? As you say they did not tame down at all, but I'm assuming that you did not recieve any bites during this 'experiment'. Was this simply down to your ability to avoid bites or were they not actively trying to bite? Were you free handling in the style of some television snake handlers i.e. essentially tailing the snake and throwing it away when it attempted to bite, or were you handling like a non venomous, allowing it to move freely between your hands?

This can hardly be described as science, and I'm not too sure I understand the reasoning behind it. I'm just glad no humans or snakes were hurt.

David.

the thing about Ray and David weathers is they have both been bitten Ray about 70 times if my memory serves me correctly, although not while free handling he admited on that radio show that he considers himself and bad keeper, and he also said that although hes freinds with David, he does worry about his handling practices when he sees him.

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either way! personally i think is stupid! and thats it! but at the end of the day it could have its up sides also! maybe people who think they have "big balls" will read this! (if they can read) and think twice! as im sure if they can read something that has been tested and proved wrong then maybe there "balls" wont be as big as they though they were!

anyway i would love to see some pictures of your snakes as i love cobras and you have a lovely sellection

At a risk of being shunned (lol), I don't think there are many handlers that are 'good' enough to be free handling venomous, there have been so many bites in the UK over the past 2 years, and these weren't through 'playing'. I think the process of gaining a license in the UK just isn't strict enough, we have people that obtained a license after 6 months of keeping snakes! We have 17 year olds preparing their venomous room ready to go for their license as soom as they are 18! I don't want anyone to take offence to those comments, but keeping venomous snakes should be something that is worked up to over MANY years of handling snakes in general, and after much training.

I personally think DEFRA should have a list of DEFRA registered mentors that have many years of experience and are willing to share their trade which is not something that would be easy to instigate.

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