My dream snake...

[Nikki Gervais]

If only I could get ahold of these guys here in canada! I wonder if Santa will bring we a few of these? :D My friend is so lucky to have this guy! Enjoy :)

Banded Mangrove Snake - Boiga Dendrophila Melanota

[Dom]

Now thats a risky thing to do ..

True they are not venemous enough to kill a human but Why The Heck is he doing holding it... I don't care how tamed it is .. I just don't get some ppl out there..

It seems to be in attack possition as well .. I think its ppl like that wich ruin it for others...

Just my .02 - I strongly disagree with any free handling of venemoid.. Unless it has a purpose ..

[Nikki Gervais]

Actually he's a sweet heart, his venom is not strong enough to hurt anyone, especially at his size. He has never hurt anyone and he's actually not in strike position at all. :) If he was a venomoid he wouldn't have him, we are strongly against venomoids, and I don't think anyone would waste time making a venomoid out of a rearfanged snake that couldnt kill anyone anyway. However opinions are always welcome.

I especially love this pic because I have another friend who also has a mangrove and they are both tame. :) Dispite the ol' stereotype that they have demonic tempers. :rolleyes:

[Vanan]

Just my .02 - I strongly disagree with any free handling of venemoid.. Unless it has a purpose ..

I think you meant free handling of venomous.

My $0.02 is that it's a rear-fanged snake. Now even though it doesn't necessarily mean the fangs are all the way at the back, it still means that there's a lesser risk of envenomation by one compared to front-fanged snake. Rear fanged snakes have to chew into their victims to let venom seep into the wounds. Now tell me how long are you gonna watch a snake do that to your hand?

Also I do not at all see it in strike position, hence I don't think it's showing signs of aggression. And btw, B. dendrophilas have been known to be puppy tame.

Wouldn't you handle a hognose, or a FWC? Same mechanics here too. As for potency of the venom of B. dendrophila, yes it is more toxic but keep in mind that the fatalities recorded are from rural Asia. All that means is that, it's not life threatening to be handling an obviously tame specimen in North America where medical is closer.

Don't get me wrong as I do not believe venomous (the real hot ones) should be handled, especially for stupid 'macho' reasons. That really gets me going. But we'll leave all that for some other time.

Hope I didn't offend anyone but hoped to add some facts in, that's all.

Vanan

[cobraman]

I don't have any babies, but I have 25 3-4' mangrve snakes available (hard to ship to Canada though). I can't say these are tame as they are imports, but I can tell you the bite is not very painful (but I don't recommend the experience).
Blessings,
Ray

[Vanan]

but I can tell you the bite is not very painful

Is that with play of their rear fangs? Ya mean the envenomation isn't all that it's made out to be?

I'm looking to get mangroves as a starter hot. To kinda get the swing of things. A WC is fine by me cos then I know they're totally friggin hands off. A nice CB baby would probably not be too good to work with to gain experience with the rest of the hands off species of hots. Any suggestions?

Vanan

[Nikki Gervais]

Hey Vanan,
I may not be a hot keeper yet however I do believe that if you want to get into hots, mangroves do not make good starter hots, before you disagree lemme tell you why...

First off we both know that a bite from a mangrove is not likely to be fatal, unless you are dumb enough to let it chew on ya. Knowing this won't make you prepared for the real thing because you know chances are that a handling/feeding mistake is not gonna do much more than give you flu like symptoms. Which can cause carelessness that could be detrimental to your health in the future.

Second, cb ones are often cornsnake tame (sorry I dont like dogs very much lol), making them easy to deal with unlike a lil pygmy that would take a lil twitchin, hissy fit lol.

For a starter hot I would start with the smaller sistrurus and agkistrodon families. A bite would be a painful reminder but not usually lethal. Good training, especially with the snappy lil copperheads.

[Nikki Gervais]

cobraman that aint fair! I want mangroves soooo bad, I wish they were more common in Canada. Gorgeous picture tho!

[jantjesmith]

i have 4 times offspring from the mangrove snake

[psilocybe]

I have a 5 ft. female CBB'02 mangrove, and I can tell you that being captive bred does not neccesarily mean they will be sweehearts...she can be cornsnake tame one moment, and the next striking like mad. I never freehandle her, and have not been bitten by her either (which I attribute to not freehandling her!).

I have heard other anecdotal remarks that mention that mangrove bites can be pretty damn painful, though there have been NO recorded fatalities for this species...so even saying that fatalities are rare is probably an overstatement.

Ray's statement that the bite isn't that painful might be attributed to a few things:

1. He's been bitten by A LOT worse
2. He self innoculates, and mangrove venom has been shown to be rich in so called "three finger toxins", which are the same neurotoxins found in most elapids, and Ray may have some immunity to the bite by the fact he innoculates with various elapid venoms.
3. Every individual's body chemistry is different, and some may present more serious symptoms than others.

In reality, research has shown that B. dendrophila's venom is actually just as potent as death adders and other elapids...it's the innefficient delivery through their primitive rear fangs that prevent a serious envenomation...if their fangs were evolved to that of an elapid, or even the boomslang, they would probably be a much bigger threat.

[BWSmith]

I have a buddy of mine that was bitten on the knuckle by a mangrove and ended up with some permenant damage and alot of pain. Not worth it to me. Also remember that younever know if you are going to be allergic to the venom. People die from bee stings every day.

[Vanan]

OMG! Talk about resurrection of an old post! Did I really sound that dumb 2yrs ago?! Oh wait, I still do. :D

[psilocybe]

Wow, I never even saw the thread dates on this thing...just saw it at the top of the board and replied, LOL...

[Colonel_SB]

Nice pics Mangroves are one of my favs lol I'd own some if I could find them too, but I don't think I'd ever free handle them even if they are rear fanged!