Getting Gabby

[Will0W783]

My cousin has been keeping hots for about 6 years now. He's had a Gaboon viper for 4 or so of those. His 2-year-old son figured out how to get into the room and was banging on the screen lid of the Gaboon cage, so my cousin felt it was safer if Gabby found a new home. I have a few open cages sp I picked her up on Wednesday.
She's HUGE... and absolutely gorgeous. She seems to have a pretty good temperament so far. I'm thrilled to have another Gaboon in my collection and I'm looking forward to breeding once little Darth Vader reaches maturity.

(Soda can for size reference)

Gabby's new home is a Vision 532 (4.5 x 3 x 1.5 feet)... she seems a lot happier than she was in the 40-gallon tank she had at her old home. ;)

[Will0W783]

Pictures didn't load from my phone. Let's try again !

[Minkness]

Love those broken stripes! Congrats on a new Gaboon. I didn't realize they were so thick bodied o.o

[Jim Smith]

What a simply gorgeous snake!!! I almost wish that they weren't venomous so I would feel comfortable keeping one. Good luck in your breeding program and please keep us posted on any new ones you get.

[CrotalusR#1]

Very cool! Gaboons are one of my all time favorite venomous snakes.

Is Darth Vader an east or west African? I have not seen pictures of him before.

[Minkness]

There are so many venoms I wish weren't lol

[EL Ziggy]

Gorgeous critter you have there Willow.

[dave himself]

She is beautiful

[SSSSnakes]

That is a beautiful snake. Glad she is with you, she has a good home.

[SSSSnakes]

My cousin has been keeping hots for about 6 years now. He's had a Gaboon viper for 4 or so of those. His 2-year-old son figured out how to get into the room and was banging on the screen lid of the Gaboon cage, so my cousin felt it was safer if Gabby found a new home.

You may suggest to your cousin to add a key style lock to the door where the snakes are kept. The DEC makes me have a key style locked door to the snake room and the enclosure also have to be keyed locked.

[sharthun]

Beautiful girl!!!

[Will0W783]

I've asked my cousin numerous times to increase his security and improve his husbandry. His king cobra is severely dehydrated as are all the ball pythons. Gabby seems ok but she did take a nice long drink for me.
Sadly, he doesn't listen or take advice. The best thing is for him to decide to sell/rehome snakes. That's part of why I jumped on this girl. She was in a 40-gallon Critter Keeper tank with no hides, no cover and a tiny water dish.

I'm still amazed by her size- I've seen big Gaboons but I've not really ever been up close with one. Watching her crawl about and explore her path to her new home was just so neat. She's so huge and intimidating but also curious. I've found with pretty much all the hots that if I move slowly and gently, that they are much calmer and better behaved. Most of my rattlers will go by themselves with just a bit of head guidance into holding containers while I clean their cages, and Gaboons can be put on the floor and guided into bins. They are too delicate to lift if it can be avoided, and they generally are cooperative if I'm calm.
Of course I've got heavy knee -high boots and gloves and hooks, but I let them have a chance to behave before I restrain.

[Will0W783]

CrotalusR#1,

All of my Gaboons are West African.
Darth Vader is my yearling male and Queen Amidala is a 3-year-oldfemale.

[MDT]

Man, that is a chunk of a snake! Very nice indeed :)

[Brylee1233]

Very impressed!! They are really cool lookin' snakes ;)

[marvelfreak]

Damn she as fat as my biggest blood. Maybe even a bit bigger. She is a beauty.

[millertime89]

Gorgeous! Easily one of my favorite hots. It's amazing to know that something that deadly can be so calm as well.

[Will0W783]

Gaboons are quite deceptive. Unless you know a fair amount about the biology and evolution of the species, it's easy to assume they are fat, lazy, slow sausages. In fact, if you keep them well and handle them properly, this might be all you'll ever see.

But they are just bundles of potential energy- all muscle and power. They can fold themselves up in amazing ways to strike, and their strike is lightning fast. I've never seen mine have a go at me, but their feeding response is sobering. They go from inert in the back of the cage to holding up the rat before your eyes even register the strike!

[millertime89]

But they are just bundles of potential energy- all muscle and power. They can fold themselves up in amazing ways to strike, and their strike is lightning fast. I've never seen mine have a go at me, but their feeding response is sobering. They go from inert in the back of the cage to holding up the rat before your eyes even register the strike!

Video please!

[shaunyboy]

she's a beautiful big chunky lady Kimberly

i'm glad your cousins child is ok,i'm not having a go pal..

but imo a hot room should be locked and the key well out of reach of everyone but the keeper


cheers shaun

[kwhitlock]

Video please!

I agree with Kyle!

[Will0W783]

Originally posted by Shaunyboy: she's a beautiful big chunky lady Kimberly

i'm glad your cousins child is ok,i'm not having a go pal..

but imo a hot room should be locked and the key well out of reach of everyone but the keeper


Believe me, I agree. I have a lot of issues with the way that my cousin keeps his animals. I've tried to offer advice, I've pointed him in the right direction for research and materials, but he doesn't change anything. This Gaboon had scale rot a year ago..it looks to be all healed now, but it shouldn't have happened in the first place. His king cobra is severely dehydrated to the point where she has three stuck eye caps on her left side and her scales look like raisins....he keeps them all in tanks or homemade plywood enclosures...

It's not safe, nor is it healthy for the snakes. I hate going over there, but I am glad that I was able to take this girl and give her a better home. My rooms both have keyed locks on the doors. I don't always lock them because it's just me and my fiance in the house, but I can lock them if I need to.

Originally posted by millertime: Video please!

Videos and pictures are uploading to my Photobucket- I'll post them as soon as I can.

[Minkness]

Jeez....that sounds like animal neglect/cruelty....

At least you saved one x.x

[Will0W783]

Gabby happily chowed down on two jumbo rats for me last night. I'm going to have to get larger prey items for her it seems, as two rats didn't even leave a slight bulge. I know she was eating rabbits, but I'd need to find rather small rabbits, as the only ones I've seen near me are too large for her.
http://i254.photobucket.com/albums/hh115/Will0W783/Mobile%20Uploads/2015-01/20150104_195510_zpslzny3gir.jpg (http://s254.photobucket.com/user/Will0W783/media/Mobile%20Uploads/2015-01/20150104_195510_zpslzny3gir.jpg.html)

http://i254.photobucket.com/albums/hh115/Will0W783/Mobile%20Uploads/2015-01/20150104_195700_zps2vywtwil.jpg (http://s254.photobucket.com/user/Will0W783/media/Mobile%20Uploads/2015-01/20150104_195700_zps2vywtwil.jpg.html)

http://i254.photobucket.com/albums/hh115/Will0W783/Mobile%20Uploads/2015-01/20150104_202834_zpsf52lyga4.jpg (http://s254.photobucket.com/user/Will0W783/media/Mobile%20Uploads/2015-01/20150104_202834_zpsf52lyga4.jpg.html)

[Minkness]

Omnomnom!

Lookin' good!

[CrotalusFan]

Great looking Gabby!! Glad you were able to give her a good home. Definitely one of my favorites.

[Jrich]

Terrifying but beautiful.

[Will0W783]

I took a few videos and uploaded them to Photobucket. Can I post videos from there? I'd rather not try to upload them to YouTube- it's too much of a hassle and I don't want to deal with idiots commenting, lol.

[Will0W783]

Here are the links to Gabby videos on my Photobucket:

http://vid254.photobucket.com/albums/hh115/Will0W783/Mobile%20Uploads/2015-01/20141231_144216_001_zpsuzoa7zuk.mp4

http://vid254.photobucket.com/albums/hh115/Will0W783/Mobile%20Uploads/2015-01/20141231_143943_zpsgb1fxdkl.mp4

http://vid254.photobucket.com/albums/hh115/Will0W783/Mobile%20Uploads/2015-01/20150104_200152_zpsld2txzm8.mp4

[millertime89]

That's awesome. Thank you for sharing Kim. Seems like a very calm animal.

[Will0W783]

Kyle, she is quite calm. I'm glad, because she is massive and powerful.

One of the nicer things about Gaboons is that, in spite of their size and venom, they tend to be fairly laid-back animals. They are naturally ambush hunters, and they do not have many natural predators, so they aren't afraid of a lot. A captive-bred Gaboon that is used to humans is unlikely to feel the need to be defensive unless it's provoked. It can take a fair amount to provoke one too- hurting it, making it feel cornered or vulnerable, or moving quickly and looming over it will set it off to some degree.

I find that moving slowly, giving the snake as much freedom as possible, and trying to squat down keeps them feeling at ease. I tend to move slowly and let my snakes have some freedom in general- when I need to clean, I will open a cage, step back and let the snake have a look around before introducing the hook slowly. It just seems to keep the snake more comfortable, which in turn keeps me more comfortable!

I have a few animals that there is just no reasoning with, and I have to go in prepared for battle, but we all have those.... ;-)

[millertime89]

Oh too true... haha.

[Scar]

Pictures didn't load from my phone. Let's try again !

My God, she's so beautiful. Congratulations!

[Will0W783]

Thank you! She's really awesome to deal with. I'm learning that she's a pretty curious Gaboon. Her cage is the bottom one in the stack, and if I sit in front of her cage, she will come to the front and bob her head at me and just watch me. It looks like she's listening to me. I know she isn't- I do my best not to anthropomorphize my snakes, but it is a very interesting behavior.

[Scar]

Thank you! She's really awesome to deal with. I'm learning that she's a pretty curious Gaboon. Her cage is the bottom one in the stack, and if I sit in front of her cage, she will come to the front and bob her head at me and just watch me. It looks like she's listening to me. I know she isn't- I do my best not to anthropomorphize my snakes, but it is a very interesting behavior.

That's amazing!, you should make a video of it, will definitely be worth the watch.

[fishingfool]

Thumbs way up that new gaboon is about as thick as my arm lol

[Will0W783]

I would like to make a video of it; it's just hard to predict when she will be in a "talkative" mood. She is not like that every night, although she always acknowledges me with at least a small "nod."

I am firmly convinced that more goes on in the heads of these animals than the general populace, and even many keepers, give them credit for. Throughout my years of working with many different species of snakes, I have determined that the vipers and elapids are more intelligent than pythons and boas. They are more active, more curious, and more careful. What I mean by this is that most of my pythons and boas never moved when I came into a room; my vipers will always look at me, and many come to the fronts of their cages to watch me and pace around. It's not defensiveness or aggression-they are not in a thread posture, or rattling or hissing; they simply seem stimulated by my presence in some way. Also, with regards to feeding, there is a certain level of trust that the snake has before they will accept food from you. My pythons, boas, colubrids, etc never cared who fed them. If I had a friend over I could have them help with feeding. The majority of my vipers will NOT accept food from anyone other than me. I had a friend who also works with hots (albeit a more recent addition to the hobby) over to visit and watch me feed some of the larger species. He only keeps small arboreals like eyelash, squams, purple mangroves, etc. and he was really interested in feeding the rattlesnakes and Bitis. My rattlesnakes immediately went into coiled tense postures and rattled their tails off at him. My Gaboons refused to accept food off the tongs when he was holding them. They just rolled their eyes around and stared. When I took the tongs, they immediately ate. When I first started at my mentor's facility, none of his snakes would take food from me. It took about three visits before they stopped hissing and refusing food from me.
So at the very least they recognize a stranger, and they do not trust that stranger enough to take food from them. There is some establishment of acceptance/trust/whatever you want to call it that makes them feel safe enough to accept food from me.

[SSSSnakes]

I would like to make a video of it; it's just hard to predict when she will be in a "talkative" mood. She is not like that every night, although she always acknowledges me with at least a small "nod."

I am firmly convinced that more goes on in the heads of these animals than the general populace, and even many keepers, give them credit for. Throughout my years of working with many different species of snakes, I have determined that the vipers and elapids are more intelligent than pythons and boas. They are more active, more curious, and more careful. What I mean by this is that most of my pythons and boas never moved when I came into a room; my vipers will always look at me, and many come to the fronts of their cages to watch me and pace around. It's not defensiveness or aggression-they are not in a thread posture, or rattling or hissing; they simply seem stimulated by my presence in some way. Also, with regards to feeding, there is a certain level of trust that the snake has before they will accept food from you. My pythons, boas, colubrids, etc never cared who fed them. If I had a friend over I could have them help with feeding. The majority of my vipers will NOT accept food from anyone other than me. I had a friend who also works with hots (albeit a more recent addition to the hobby) over to visit and watch me feed some of the larger species. He only keeps small arboreals like eyelash, squams, purple mangroves, etc. and he was really interested in feeding the rattlesnakes and Bitis. My rattlesnakes immediately went into coiled tense postures and rattled their tails off at him. My Gaboons refused to accept food off the tongs when he was holding them. They just rolled their eyes around and stared. When I took the tongs, they immediately ate. When I first started at my mentor's facility, none of his snakes would take food from me. It took about three visits before they stopped hissing and refusing food from me.
So at the very least they recognize a stranger, and they do not trust that stranger enough to take food from them. There is some establishment of acceptance/trust/whatever you want to call it that makes them feel safe enough to accept food from me.

I agree, snakes are more intelligent than we give them credit for. I believe that most snakes recognize their keepers and respond differently to them as they do to a stranger.

[IW17]

Couldn't agree more. I've had snakes that were downright mean to anyone else, but a lamb for me.