To Cobraman!!

[sSNAKESs.com]

Cobraman... if you are the ray guy in all of your member photo's i just want to tell you that YOU ARE ONE CRAZY GUY!!! I LOVE looking at all of those pictures man!! my hats off to you! i wouldnt have enough guts to touch a cobra or gaboon with a walking stick let alone freehandle one! lol Great pics man!

[BIG SCOTT]

I agree Jeff Cobraman has some guts. But I don't think he would even attempt that uless he absoltely knew wht he was doing. Keep the pics coming Cobraman. As sooon as I can bet a digital camera i'll post a few of my pics.

[cobraman]

Thanks guys, Ihave some more pics but I have not had the time to find them all. I will get them and post them. I'm glad that there are people out there who can enjoy the pics for what they are (entertainment), and not generate a desire to mimic. There is many years of working with the various snakes that is a factor in how I handle, but also the fact that I have been self immunizing for 11 years. Non-the-less, there have been several accidents that I have learned from. You guys have the right attitude --- venomous snakes are beautiful, but should be respected, and viewed from a distance (or in photos).
Thanks again, Be Blessed!
Ray Hunter

[SilverTongue]

forget it............

[cobraman]

From the looks of the other thread,--- Good Idea, Silver Tounge
peace,
Ray

[FacultyX]

Hey there Ray, Freddy here. Whats up with her??? Someone a little obsessed with you??? I admit that I lowered myself to her level, but you always tried to make peace with her, now she follows you here and starts up again. By the looks of the other thread, she is clearly in the minority, so we'll continue to enjoy what you share with us, as well as a good laugh at her remarks (that she obviously can NOT resist from posting everytime you post something). Please let me know as soon as you get the Indo shipment in. I still want a pair of Kings.
Freddy

[cobraman]

Thanks Fred, Your support and the support of others is appreciated. Of course I will continue to share my work with those of you who are interested. I'm not the type to let the feelings, opinions, like, and dislikes of others sway me, so fear not. I will continue to share posts and pics with you all in the appropriate place and context. Do me a personal favor, Fred, please do not continue to post things that may incite her to arguement. This is very unprofessional, and upsetting and unfair to the rest of the members of this site. I don't completely understand her posts, but this is as much her site as anyone elses, and like it or not we must respect each other and each others opinions. Enough said. I don't know how many King Cobras I am getting in, but that should be within the next two weeks. Call my office this week, and I will let you know when and what we are expecting.
Peace, and Blessings!
Ray

[AzR@k]

i like ur work cobraman ...i wish that some day i will be able to work with hots as well! but hopefully not ne time to soon i want to learn more before i do it

[cobraman]

Thanks, Buddy, There are a lot of great books out there about the various hots.
Peace,
Ray

[Kurzix]

Cobraman,

Could you recommend a good book or two to those of us who don;t know much about hots. I'd like to learn about them, but doubt I'll ever keep any. Thanks

Kurzix

[cobraman]

Ok, guys, I found a few more pics to post in the snake gallery. Enjoy, and I welcome your comments, gripes, etc. Click on Gallery, then go to snakes.
Be Blessed,
Ray

[cobraman]

There are so many good snake books out there that I don't know where to start. Unforunatly I have this addiction to buying snake books, so I pretty much have all of them. Some of the better ones are:
"Cobras In His Garden" by Harry Kursh (very hard to find)
"Snake Venom Poisoning" by Dr. Findley Russell
"Venomous Reptiles of North America" by Carl Ernest
"Venomous Snakes of the World" by W.P. Mara
"Snakes of Medical Importance" by L.M. Chou
"Dangerous Snakes of Africa" by Stephen Spawls
"Venomous Reptiles" by Dr. Sherman Minton
"VenomousSnakes" by Oxford
"Poisonous Snakes of the World" manual by Dept. of Navy
"Coral Snakes of the Americas" by Roze
and no snake keeper should be without "Living Snakes of the World" by John Mehrtens.

Let me know if you need more.
God Bless,
Ray Hunter

[Pythonian]

Hey cobraman what part of martin county are u from? I live in Stuart , right off of Kanner Highway

[cobraman]

You're real close, actually I'm from Port St Lucie (St Lucie County), But my brother lives in Martin County and is a flight medic for Martin County Fire Dept. Are you into Hots??? Feeel free to give me a call, or stop by my office if you like.
Blessings,
Ray Hunter

[Pythonian]

Cobraman... I'm into Pythons, but i'm going to be into hots. I've been with snakes only for a few years.. i'm gonna wait till i finish college, and get my own practice (vetinary) before I get any hots. Right now i just have a Ball Python and a Corn Snake. But thats because University of Florida doesn't allow ANY animals (Other then fish) so , i can't get any new ones :( . but once i'm out.. i'm getting a Coloumbian Red Tail Boa, and then (hopefully) A Gaboon, or Cobra.
I'd be very interested in seeing ur reptiles. (if you don't mind showing someone who can't buy any that are too big) I love herps to death.

[BIG SCOTT]

Great looking snakes and good pictures. I hope i'm as fortunate as you to one day know the stuff you do and can have over 350 hots. Your living my dream cobraman.

[cobraman]

Thanks Big Scott. I'm sure you realize that this "dream" has it's rocky roads on occasion. Yesterday was one such occasion for me. The 4" Indian cobra (pic attached) decided to deposit it's venom into my forearm instead of the venom extraction vial. So needless to say I had a rather uncomfortable evening last night and probrably much of today. I do not condone self immunization to everyone, but in my case this was a good test of my resistance to a partiqually hot type of venom. Not fun though. Why am I sharing this bit of misfortune??? I guess to show that regardless of your years of experience, accidents happen (look at Bill Haast' record) and that truely, hooks and such are far safer than hands.
Be Blessed, and careful.
Ray

[AzR@k]

man ur nuts!

[cobraman]

I guess I can't argue that!!!
Ray

[BIG SCOTT]

To cobraman, i've been considering buying that book Corals of The Americas for along time . Is it worth the money.Thank's scott.

[cobraman]

Scott, I got the book right after it came out, and was a little disappointed that it had very little about the three coral snakes we have in North America. It is loaded with coral snakes from Central and South America, but I was wishing it covered the North American Corals a little more. It is a costly book, but it does have great pictures and info on the C & S American Corals.
Peace,
Ray

[Sean_.E.]

Ha Ha! Theres NO way id even go near a hot! lol! You do sum pretty amzin stuff cobraman!

[cobraman]

Look at it this way, You'll live longer than me!
Blessings and Peace,
Ray

[sSNAKESs.com]

come on Ray think positive! lol

[hip]

Hey ray my hat is off to ya and glad to hear you are keeping up on your shots lol be well and take it cool Best regards Hip

[sophia]

Ray,

We looked all over for ya yesterday at the Raleigh, NC show and couldn't seem to find you. We were hoping to meet ya there... Hope all is well after that Cobra tag... I guess there's always next show eh? {G}

Take care,

Jon

[cobraman]

Yep, I missed it. Somehow I thought it was later this month. The bite played no part in my missing the show, just my poor scheduling. Is there another in N.C this month???

[cobraman]

Thanks, Jeff. Actually I stay pretty positive. God has blessed me far more than I deserve. All occupations have their hazards.
Blessings,
Ray

[sophia]

Glad to hear from ya Ray, yep the show in Raleigh was this weekend... there is as far as I know another coming in October - not sure of the date yet... but I understand that one will be including venomous...

I'm sure we'll be there {G} - We'll try to catch ya at that one.

Ya missed a good one - it was shoulder to shoulder in that place!

Jon

[cobraman]

That figures, I did plan to go but..........



________________________
signed (forgot my name)

[sophia]

LOL don't worry bout' it... I often have been diagnosed with C.R.S. - we were just wanting to meet ya.. We'll look ya up at the next one.

From the turnout, I would say that NC needs more reptile shows... MI has one every month ... why can't we??? {G}

Jon

[snakedude_03]

lol.. jon.. ur complaining? here.. we have like one every what? 3 months?

[cobraman]

Must be nice, Florida only has a few a year (Daytona, and Tampa)
Blessings, Ray

[BIG SCOTT]

Houston only has 3 a year and 2 of the 3 it would be very unwise to even waist your money on the admission

[Scott]

Ray

It appears many people are interested this day in Hot Snakes. What are some responsible things a hot herp keeper should do or have on hand in the event of a snake bite.
And also that little bite you occured certainly put the myth that a cobra can only strike forward and as high as it could hood to a certain rest.

Scott Bice

[cobraman]

Scott, That is a good point (or at least it sounds as if you are heading in that direction). It is my firm belief that every keeper of venomous reptiles has not only a responcibility to themselves, but even more so a very serious responcibilty and moral and ethical obligation to society as well. It is not just YOUR safety (and life) at risk when an accident occurs (especialy an escape of a venomous snake), but it could become the safety of your neighbor and their precious children at risk as well. This is your responcibility. So proper caging is a must, as well as proper handling equipment. Another thing I do and encourage others to do is prepare an emergency post bite protocol book. I took a nice bright red notebook and put in it my medical information, a copy of my most recent labs, a copy of the antivenom index, a list of antivenom sources (other than myself), emergency phone numbers, next of kin info, and even a living will. If I were to get a bad bite that would require my going to a hospital (SHUT UP SCOTT!!!), I would grab this notebook and the correct antivenom and take it with me to the hospital. It could be a life saver. I also have on the front a "Post-Bite Report" that I jot down the following info in case I don't make it to a hospital consciously : Date & Time of bite, Type and size of snake, Location of Bite, Any first aid proceedures I did, Etc. You get my point. If there is anyone out there that needs help in any of these areas, feel free to contavt me and I will be happy to help you. As a licensed Paramedic, I can tell you that it is unfair of people to collect venomous snakes, be irresponcible with them, get bit, and just plop yourself down in some E.R.and expect them to save you (or you or your family will sue). Whoops, my soap box is giving way under me. Be Blessed All.
Ray Hunter

[cobraman]

Fred, This is the Green Bush Viper I just got in on the Africa shipment last week. Also got more black mamba, egyptian cobras, mozambique spitters, Forest cobra, puff adders, gaboon vipers, rhino vipers. Etc....
P.S. this thing tells me that the photo file is too big, so I can't upload it to this, so you will need to go to WWW.EXOTICSRUS.COM to see it. Sorry,
Blessings,
Ray

[lanalizard]

ur one brave feller. i wouldnt wanna touch one if my life depended on it man..woohoo for you! congratz