Kindergarten: This is your beginning in hot keeping - Day One of training for keeping of venomous reptiles when you get acquainted with the tools of the trade. The snake hooks come in all shapes and sizes from little collapsible that are no more than 6 inches to massive python hooks up to 8 feet long. Snake probes that look like your mothers knitting needless. Snake tubes, plastic tubes for placing snakes in for safe handling that look more suitable for holding paper towels or toilet paper then putting snakes in. Tongs for grabbing snakes that make you think you're picking up trash in a park rather then picking up snakes. If you thought on day one you would be handling the animals, think again. You have to be good at the tools of the trade and comfortable with them on nonvenomous snakes before getting close to the real animals.
First Grade: Your trainer says, "Are you ready for some fun today?" Your eyes are bright and bulging starring at the hot room, and dreams of working with venomous snakes are bouncing through your head. Your teacher tells you that the ball python cages are dirty and need cleaning as do all the other nonvenomous animals. Your heart sinks and your nose curls as you realize that this is not going to be a quick deal to work with venomous but a long slow process where you will be putting in your dues.
Your teacher walks out with you and says that every cage needs to be cleaned and every animal needs to be treated as though it were HOT. You must use the proper tools to safely remove them out of the cage and place them in a safety container. Then you must clean the cages and replace the animal using the same safety procedures. At this point you're thinking, "I am this guy's slave just for cleaning cages and am never going to get to handle the venomous I want to."
Second Grade: After several weeks of working under the supervision of your trainer cleaning ball python cages, you hear him / her say OK today we work with the hots. Your heart stops, your eyes bulge and you think, "Finally I get to work with them." He walks toward the hot room, you hot on his heels and he stops you at the door and says you stand here. He then walks in and opens a cobra's cage. You are thinking all right my turn's coming, and he says here go clean this cage and repaper it.
Back to cage cleaner you go. All day long you repeat this procedure watching him over and over again removing the animals himself you wish to work with and handing you the cage to clean. This goes on for several weeks with you watching him handling. You are thinking, "Why did I even want to learn from this guy," or "Why do I even want to be here if I can't handle the snakes myself. I am just a cage cleaner for this person but hey, at least I get to see the snakes."
Third Grade: Finally after several months of cage cleaning you walk in and he says, "Sit down, we need to talk." You are wondering what is going on what have I done wrong my teacher looks so serious and is wanting to have a sit down, there goes my training, I have pissed him off or something. He says, "OK Joe/Jane. What have you learned in the last few months?" You pause and think, You say well I have learned how to use tongs and hooks so many times cleaning cages that they are like an appendage of my own body. I have learned how to get the snakes out of their cages without getting bit. I can smell a dirty tank at 50 paces or a regurge at 100 yards.
Your trainer says, "OK have you been bit since you started using the tools here or at home?" You think No, I no longer just reach in to a cage without thinking.
Your trainer asks, "Are your own cages kept cleaner now?" You think yes they are I can now smell them when they are dirty and IM more alert to cleaning them on site also.
Your trainer asks, "Do you just open cages now without looking first?" You stop and think no, I now look for the animal in all cages before opening. Congratulations Mr. Cage Cleaner - without your knowledge your trainer broke the bad habits that could have gotten you killed. You now look before opening a cage. You now use the proper tools for handling. You now pay more attention to what you are about to do instead of just reaching in and grabbing the animal.
Your keeper says, "OK today we need to sex some animals. Today you get some hands on training." Your thinking to yourself hot dog I get to get some animals out and probe them and handle them. As you and your trainer walk towards the door he stops you again and says wait here. He walks in the room and opens up an Eastern diamondback's cage and hooks the animal out. You're thinking that it's very dangerous for two people to be in the room he is going to bring it out here for me to work with. As you watch in disbelief as he manipulates it in to a tube and then picks it up and says, "OK go ahead and probe it".
Fourth Grade: Well, now you are at least getting to touch the venomous reptiles even though you have probably probed many snakes of your own. You watch your trainer get out many snakes for probing. You see him carefully open the boxes/cages they are in, being sure to keep his body parts away from the strike range of the animals. You watch him take his time with the animals to manipulate them into the tubes. After doing this for some time he says to you OK come in the room. You are thinking, "OK now I'm going to what sweep the floor mop it maybe or get clean some of the empty cages. After all I am The Great Cage Cleaner." You're thinking, "Man, I have been doing this for 4 months now and the closest I get is to their poop or the poop shoot." When out of the blue your trainer says OK open that box up over there it's all yours.
Your eyes light up, your heart jumps a beat, you're thinking, "Finally I GET TO GET ONE OUT." You go over to the box and open it up as your trainer says how did the bite on your finger feel because you stuck your fingers under the lid when opening. You look at him and say "I did not get bit." He says look in the box and you see its empty except for a plastic snake and your thinking "What the hell." You look at your trainer and realize he fooled you! Or did he? He said how did the bite feel and you realize that you did put your fingers under the lid and had it been real you would have been bitten. You let your emotion and anxiousness get you in trouble. You realize that had it been real you would now be on your way to the hospital. You just received a very valuable lesson in never getting ahead of yourself because your so eager to see or work with an animal. The animal is not going anyplace so there is never a reason for you not to take things slow and meticulous with deliberate actions and purpose.
Fifth Grade: Your come in after that major eye opening experience and are wondering what is going to be next. I really blew it with that cage opening I could have been bit. I didn't look first to see where the animal was. I didn't use proper technique in opening the cage. I was too excited about getting to work with the animal and broke every rule I had learned. You trainer looks at you and says what are you thinking about as he sees your thinking hard. You tell him and he says, "You are now starting to show the maturity and thought needed to see your own mistakes so you do not make them again." He tells you not to dwell on your mistakes but to learn from them now when they don't kill you.
He says OK, lets go back in the room. He points to a box and says it needs to be cleaned. You go over and look inside and see what appears to be a live snake in it, but the box is too cloudy to tell which species so you place it on a counter and pop the lid so it's still on but never opened. You then reach for a small hook and open it. You had on your mind the disaster from before and do not want to risk it again especially knowing there is a live snake in this box! As you use the hook to open the box lid you see what appears to be Lataste's Viper "Vipera latastei". You are in heaven - finally I get to work with a hot even if it's just the repetition of taking the animal out and placing it in a safety holding container to clean the cage. You reach in with the hook carefully remove the viper and place it in the hold container. You go about cleaning the cage and changing the water. Then you replace the snake in the container and put the lid back on. As you do it you feel a sharp pain and realize you had your fingers under the lip of the lid and have been bit.
You turn in a state of shock and look at your trainer and tell him you just got bit. He looks at you in a funny glare and says, "You were so excited to have been working with the animal you forgot that placing a lid on is just as dangerous as taking one off. Fortunately what you thought to be the Lataste's Viper was just a very nice Solomon's Island Ground Boa, Candoia ssp. One though that looks very similar to the deadly Lataste's Viper Vipera latastei."
Another important lesson learned today in patience and attentiveness. One that caused some pain and blood this time but at least it wasn't fatal.
Sixth Grade: You have learned now how to clean cages. You have learned from your mistakes that not being patient and not thinking ahead can be painful if not downright deadly. You need to look back over these last six months or so and think to yourself, is it worth it to proceed? Do I really want to work with animals that can with one mistake take my life or disfigure me? At this point in your training you have learned much, you realize there is more to keeping venomous reptiles then just sticking them in a cage and throwing in food once in a while. After reflection of what you have seen and learned you still want to proceed with your training. You know there is no substitute for safety and awareness of your surroundings and that you must always maintain a calm and collected train of thought about what your doing, never letting emotions dictate how you handle or work with the animals. Just like in School you have to learn, sometimes learning is not fun and sometimes it is.
Looking back over your grade school introduction to venomous reptiles, you have learned the very basics of which you probably already had some knowledge. How to use a hook, how to use tongs, how to use tubes, how to clean cages. But now your trainer has forced you to use the tools more than you ever would have for your own collection of nonvenomous reptiles. He/She has taught you safety through repetition. Having a hook in your hand is now just an extension of your own hand. You are so comfortable with a hook or tong that is second nature. Your nose has developed into a sharply tuned crap smeller. Your eyes have become safety tools for noticing things out of place or out of the ordinary. Your brain now thinks about all places in a cage an animal can use to hide from sight before you open it. Safety is always on your mind. You have learned all these things but more importantly you have developed a more mature understanding of the animals and yourself. Congratulations - the elementary levels have been learned.
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