Cobra found dead near north Austin Lowe's store

KVUE ^ | July 17, 2015 | KVUE

[SWAMPSNIPER]

AUSTIN -- Austin police have found the missing monocled cobra that may be connected to the death of an 18-year-old Temple man. The snake was found dead not far from the place where police believed it went missing.

[HiTech RedNeck]

I thought there were venomous snake farms for that purpose. That’s not your average pet to me. YMMV.

[Salamander]

Lots of private owners sell venom to labs.

Many people have hots for display animals, much the same as other people keep venomous/poisonous fish and other beasties in aquariums.

The whole world is not exclusively warm and fluffy.

[Salamander]

I treat my snakes with respect and affection.

None of them are any danger to me, whatsoever.

Is that your meaning?

[HiTech RedNeck]

Still. Not the kind of stuff I’d want in my terrariums, and the insurance issues must be interesting (oh, the terrarium broke and Poisonous Pete just got loose). If I ran a lab I’d think I’d want to farm them too, or go to something like a zoo. I’d know just what I was getting.

[HiTech RedNeck]

Yeah... and more power to your pythons etc.

I hope you aren’t into rattlesnakes though....

[Salamander]

I sincerely despise journalists, especially stupid ones.

“Highly aggressive cobra”?

Crap.

---

“Ecology and behaviour
Monocled cobras are terrestrial and most active at dusk and in the evening.
In rice-growing areas, they hide in rodent burrows in the dykes between fields and have become semi-aquatic in this type of habitat.
Juveniles feed mostly on amphibians, and adults prey on small mammals, snakes and fish.

_When disturbed they prefer to take flight._

*However, when threatened, they will raise the anterior portions of their bodies, spread their hood, usually hiss loudly, and strike in an attempt to bite and defend themselves.*

They are often found in tree holes and areas where rodents are plentiful.

---

NO snake is “aggressive”.
ALL of them are only defensive.

Every snake on earth will flee, if given half a chance and any “attack” on their part was motivated by the fear of something that they either could not escape or that occurred to them so suddenly they reacted instantly.

People are idiots.

[Salamander]

Boas.

It is not legal to keep hots in Maryland and I do not have the training to do so, at any rate.

I will, however, help rattlers and copperheads to flee to a less hostile environment, if I find any.

[HiTech RedNeck]

If someone likes poisonous snakes I do hope they have secure farm facilities for them. To each his or her own.

(I’m being eaten by a boa constrictor)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p0Sff6Lxj64

[HiTech RedNeck]

Actually I saw a video the other day where people were all aghast at a little 2 year old girl kissing... what looked like a pet python.

Now they’d be all awwwwwwww if that was a cat or dog, or bunny rabbit. But a snaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaake?

I was laughing to myself. I sincerely hope it wasn’t a poisonous snake of course, and the risk of zoonoses should be kept in consideration (a veterinarian or a doctor would be able to advise better) but otherwise... it’s a pet for goodness sake. That’s what being a pet means.

[HiTech RedNeck]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EIyixC9NsLI

(badger badger badger mushroom mushroom snaaaaaaaaaaaake!)

[HerrBlucher]

No doubt. So how do private hot keepers save lives by keeping poisonous snakes? Sounds like just a hobby in most cases, and a dangerous one. I am not against dangerous hobbies if the danger is only to the individual participating. If I knew a neighbor was keeping cobras or other super poisonous snakes at his house that would be a major concern for me.

[BCR #226]

It’s venomous not poisonous and those “special kinds of morons” as you so ignorantly refer to them are the very reason that there is anti venom available at all.

I don’t keep hots but I know many people that do. My friend has a collection that he milks about once a week. From just one snake, per milking, he gets about $2500. Now, multiply that by about 50 snakes and you see why people do it.

The situation with this cobra is interesting. From people in the investigation, it appears that the situation was a suicide. The snake wouldn’t have lived long in the environment there had it not been run over. People are making a huge deal out of what is really a minor issue.

[BCR #226]

In some places it’s not legal to keep VENOMOUS snakes. Most places it is with varying levels of permits and such.

This snake was used in what is looking like a suicide. Very unusual circumstances to say the least.

Think of it this way, if you’ve ever needed blood thinners or heart medication or medication for kidney ailments and a host of others, you need to realize that without keepers of venomous snakes, you wouldn’t have had those medicines... Just something to think about.

[BCR #226]

No pythons do not have a reputation for being ill tempered. The whole thing about released pets in Florida is a myth perpetrated by the Southern Florida Water Management Agency to shift the blame for their mess up in the Everglades to the Burmese Pythons.

The reason there are Burms in the Everglades is because of the breeding/import facility there that was destroyed in hurricane Andrew.

And, I speak from first hand knowledge on pythons, I have dozens of them. Though I currently do not have any Burmese pythons, I keep their bigger cousin the reticulated python.

Cobras are actually pretty chill snakes. Wild ones are much more easily handled than most other hot snakes.

One of my "ill tempered" pythons. This is Chaos, he's a male reticulated python that is currently about 12 feet long and near if not over 50 pounds. As you can see, he's such a ferocious animal... NOT.

[HerrBlucher]

I completely understand that keeping poisonous snakes, by professionals who know what they are doing, is needed for medicine. What I don’t get is having them as pets.

[Fresh Wind]

Fortunately, not a real Cobra.

[BCR #226]

There are a few venomous snake farms as you call them but not many. The problem is, the genetic diversity of the snakes to get quality venom must be varied. They discovered an enzyme that apparently helps to stop seizures in patients a year or so ago. The enzyme was found in a single specimen of snake. No others of it’s species has this enzyme. It’s a genetic mutation in the venom production that is probably going to have a major impact on medicine.

This is why it’s important to not be a pansy and freak out over venomous snakes. Far too many medicines are being discovered due to their venom.

Knee jerk reactions like the Lacey Act ban on Burmese pythons has already had a major negative effect on research. Burmese pythons enlarge their heart after eating. It’s not known why yet but they can control it. Scientists think that with enough examples of pythons to study, they might be able to find a cure for all diseases related to enlarged hearts. The problem is, they can’t get the samples now because of knee jerk pansies that demanded the Burms be put on the Lacey act. They can’t get enough diverse genetic material to isolate what the Burms are doing to enlarge their hearts.

So, tens of thousands if not more people have died because of enlarged heart disease and because of panty wetting, monster under the bed, cowards, the cure which is sitting right in front of us, can’t be found.

Sad really. But that is what you get when ignorant people make policy on a subject they have zero education on.

[BCR #226]

Yes, people are idiots. Uneducated and believing the crap the media tells them over people that actually keep and work with these animals on a daily basis.

Like some CNN reporter is going to know more about a snake than someone that keeps dozens of them...

[BCR #226]

They save lives by milking the snakes. Do a google search on medicines derived from snake venom. The list is very long and very wide ranging. All of the labs that develop these medicines buy the venom or snakes or borrow the snakes for a period of time from... yep, you guessed it, private keepers.

[BCR #226]

I don't get why people keep birds as pets. They stink, are noisy, carry a host of diseases that are communicable to humans...

Yes, care must be taken with snakes but this is honestly true for all animals. Hots do require a level of knowledge and attention that most people are not capable of giving. But you may not understand why people keep them but those people like them. I love my reticulated pythons. They're smart, interactive, curious and they have some of the most unique personalities of any animals on earth. They can be derpy or serious or a host of other moods. Some of mine don't just like being handled, they insist on it. They're quite demanding of attention.

Two photos, one snake... one with him being a total derp and the other on the more serious side...