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ORIGINAL: DomAviator
I didnt think of the issues you raised. Good points. I assumed what comes out of a pet shop to be healthy but in retrospect I have bought enough 2 day life expectancy betta fish that I should have known better.

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I totally never even thought of the rat getting in a few good shots in and winning.... Yikes, thats the kind of thing you dont envision.

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On the feeding I never used tongs because I had self built enclosures with a "food box" on the side. So I would put "dinner" in the food box, close and lock it and then pull up a lexan divider providing the snake access to it and / or it access to the cage. Kind of an "airlock" arrangement  to keep my hands away at feeding time ...  If I was feeding dead, or live directly into the enclosure with no barrier between myself and the snake, i would definitely use tongs...  I was all about keeping my hands out of the way...

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Native North American snakes are not puppy eaters.  Dumbass.

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Agkistrodon piscivorus and other terrestrial viperids can't climb trees and all the nonvenomous constricting species can.  Again, dumbass. 

There's no "self preservation" involved here, just a total lack of knowledge and respect for nature.  If you have a problem feeding meat to obligate carnivores, I would suggest to avoid hypocrisy you had better be a vegetarian who uses something other than leather for your kink.  

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ORIGINAL: slaveboyforyou
Native North American snakes will eat any small mammal that is avaliable.  I'll be a little more tactful and refrain from calling you names.

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Water moccassins most certainly do sun themselves on low lying tree brances near bodies of water.  I have seen them, I know what they look like.  I wasn't making my story up.  I don't care what you heard at your snake lovers meeting.

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I don't have a problem with eating meat, I just don't like snakes.  I happen to find rodents more interesting, and I find nothing thrilling about watching one shiver in fear in the corner of a snake tank.

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You mean, other than suggesting that I'm a dirty, hemp-garbed nut?  Thanks so much for your restraint.

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Puppies, with the possible exception of specialty breeds so tiny that they'd really need to be indoors, are physically too large to be ingested by the native species.  Just maybe, the very largest of our snakes could ingest the very smallest puppy, but since you described a black snake you're already out of the running for anything large enough in your state.

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If I had a nickel for every water moccasin that mysteriously turned into a nonvenomous species when I got on the scene, I'd be rich.  And there's always somebody right there swearing up and down that he knows what water moccasins look like.  Yadda yadda yadda.  It gets very, very old.  If the branch is low enough, a cottonomouth can haul up on it, but their bodies are not built for climbing or for hanging on and they fall when even slightly challenged. They are not climbers, and a great many other snakes are. 

It's also a lot less likely to result in a Darwin award if you toss a snake out of your boat with the paddle rather than having a fight with a wild animal on purpose that you could have avoided. 

If you think that my source of information is a snake lovers meeting, you're much mistaken. 

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Responsible snake keepers don't either.  Live feeding is not a recommended practice. 

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ORIGINAL: slaveboyforyou
Well maybe so.  But I didn't make that story up.  It was a large black snake.  It was probably a Western Rat Snake, and they are fairly large.  It was near their dog house, and we killed it.  Better safe than sorry IMO.

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Well I know it was a water mocassin, and I do know what they look like.  I have seen lots of them.

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According to this, cottomouths do bask in tree snags.  It was dead tree hanging out over the water, and it was a cottomouth.

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According to the Arkansas Game and Fish Commision, I have every right to defend myself from wild animals if I feel threatened.

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I've always been of the opinion that responsible people don't keep wild animals as pets.  Everyone I have ever known that keeps snakes feeds them live mice or rabbits. 

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Obviously not better for the snake, or the local ecoystem, but you clearly don't care about that.

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What species might come in to occupy the niche you freed up for them?

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Anyhow I've largely lost my sense of humor about all the wild goose chases, along with any possible trust in a non-herpetologists identification of a snake as a sure'nuff water moccasin. 

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And the average non herpetologist cannot accurately distinguish between Nerodia and Agkistrodon.  Absolutely can't.  They just think they can. 

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I am reminded of a scene in South Park.  "It's coming right at us.  We have to shoot!"  Mmm hmmm.  

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If you know and care about anyone with breast cancer, or who has had a bypass operation, you should be very thankful indeed for private keepers of wild venomous snakes. 

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Australia produces awesome antivenins, but they're even more expensive than the crapwater we currently have here in the US.

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ORIGINAL: popeye1250
We do have the Eastern Diamondbacks and Copperheads and Water Mocs as well as a very few Corals here.
So after reading that article and seeing those pictures if I ever run across any of them in my travels I'll give them a very wide berth!
The state's site says to just stay away from all snakes as a general safety issue.
And of course allegators too!
We have some here that are real monsters!

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ORIGINAL: pahunkboy

DA;  I had thought your posts were cut and paste, and now I wonder why -well- did you ever write a book?   You should be working at a research lab.

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ORIGINAL: slaveboyforyou
I don't know.  But considering that we've thinned out the population of natural predators of snakes in the last 200 years, I doubt I made that much of an impact. 

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Well I've never called to report a snake, so I don't cause any grief to anyone.  Unless you're an actual game and fish officer or an animal control officer, I'd have to assume this is your hobby.  If it stresses you out so much, than find something else to do. 

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OMG, if you had any idea how pretentious this statement sounds.  I'm sure you think everyone in the world is an idiot besides yourself.  But I assure you that many of us that grew up in rural areas in the South know what cottonmouths look like. 

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....and this has what to do with keeping wild animals as pets?  I'm well aware that snakes are kept for research and medical purposes.  It's not the same thing as someone keeping them in tanks in their homes. 

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You don't actually read any literature in the herpetological field, do you?  Is your knowledge of wildlife biology limited to what you learned on Animal Planet re-runs?

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I'm not posting my resume here, thanks.  But no, it's not a hobby.

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I assure you that I have been on literally hundreds of snake calls in the Southeast, with hundreds of good old boys who say exactly the same thing.  They sure'nuff know what a cottonmouth looks like all right.  Except they don't.  I wish the percentage of real cottonmouths was higher, because they are wanted, and Nerodia are not.  But it never is.  This experience is exactly the same for everyone in my field.  There just isn't any variation. 

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The largest actively producing venom lab in Florida, the one supplying the majority of product to the current US antivenom producer, operates out of a family home.  A great many educators and classrooms keep snakes and frogs in tanks for education and outreach.  Where exactly do you draw the line?

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In the zoo here snakes are fed dead mice. Live mice might attack the snake and kill the snake.
 
Edited to add: Ah, I surmise that Najakcharmer already raised that point.

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Najakcharmer is extremely qualified in matters pertaining to biology, especially when it concerns venomous or otherwise dangerous animals. I suspect that the safest place in the world regarding such animals is to be as far away from her as possible, and that the second most safe place is to be as close to her as possible, as she knows how to deal with them safely.