And what happens once dude is bitten? Well ....if he is lucky he'll be able to call the medics (and if the medics are lucky they will not be bitten once the arrive .....like some firefighter was when he was introduced to a Gaboon viper. He died ......in an excrutiatingly painful way since Gaboon venom seems like it was concocted in the lower levels of Hades). But the thing is most states do not have antivenin for exotic foreign species.
And even if some adjacent state might have stores, just how long do you think it will take before Dude dies from Krait venom? Or massive envenomation by a Green Mamba? Or a face strike from a Rhinocerous viper (and if that happens to you you can claim a free pass to heaven ....since you have been punished enough).
It is just an accident waiting to happen. It would be even better to have a Rattlesnake or a Coral snake ...at least they are local species.
But no .....Dude wants to have the 'super-venomous Australian Elapid that is 80 times more venomous than a DiamondBack Rattler!' Which means only one thing: if that 'super-venomous' snake bites him he'll be 80 times more likely to die than if he was bitten by a rattler.
If you want to have a dangerous snake ....buy viagra!
What about the Dude who has 100 rats infested with "who knows what" and loses or unleashes them out his back door?
What gets me,is that it's bad enough for them to take chances with their own lives,but they have absolutely no right to put the lives of their families,pets,neighbors,and emergency personnel at risk that way.All it takes is ONE TIME for one of these snakes to get loose,and bite some innocent bystander,or get out in the neighborhood,and someone has to pay with their life for this person's selfishness.
I know it's not all that likely,but it's just stupid and selfish for them to even risk it all for the pleasure of feeling "macho" because they keep an extremely dangerous snake.
It's probably an urban legend,but have you ever heard anything about some cobras that are supposedly descended from some that got loose somewhere near Miami and have colonised? It sounds ridiculous,but until I started reading at that website,I didn't realise how many people are keeping these exotic hot snakes,very dangerous ones. A lot of these people keep many different species,and they breed them for resale to other idiots.
Your whole article was good, but your last sentence killed me. Thanks.
Another one bites the dust.
Thanx for the ping and the laugh.