Snake Hooks

[thegeckoguy23]

Okay for a long time I have wanted to get a new snake hook...What ones do you guys use and where do you like to get them?



Jake

 

[M_surinamensis]

A stumpripper and a selection from MidWest, depending on what I am using them for. Since there's really only one distributor for each, I get them from the appropriate manufacturer.

 

[thegeckoguy23]

Are you talking about this one?




Jake

 

[M_surinamensis]

No, never collapsible models. Regardless of the design improvements that prevent rotation (the biggest problem with most of them), it inherently means that the hook is composed of multiple smaller parts. It is not as strong as a single solid piece and it adds a variable in the way the hook feels when it is being used.

I won't use thick gloves at the same time as using a hook because it deadens my ability to fully sense subtle weight shifts and movement translating down through the length of the hook- so I am definitely not going to use anything where the hook itself has potentially moving parts.

 

[neubauer geckos]

or you could make your own if you're not planning to deal with venomous snakes.

 

[thegeckoguy23]

or you could make your own if you're not planning to deal with venomous snakes.

I have made my own 3 times I can't make them well i have used each one 1 time and i have gotten tagged 3 times 1 per pole! lol.



Jake

 

[T-ReXx]

I just use the standard 36in one from Midwest Tongs. Simple, strong, and well suited for staying out of Corallus hortulanus strike range.

 

[thegeckoguy23]

I well be using it on garters northern water snakes and the occasionl rattle snake.



Jake

 

[M_surinamensis]

Why would you hook garters and water snakes?

 

[Stl_Greaser]

Why would you hook garters and water snakes?

That's what I was thinking. Also if you can't handle a garter or water snake without getting bit you will want to stay away from anything, and I mean anything venomous! That is just a disaster waiting to happen!

 

[thegeckoguy23]

with the garters its just more of trying to get it rather then running after it or jumping and having it get away alot faster...Northern water snakes are very mean... I have only got bit 4 times in my life over all like all species...3 were ith nothern water snakes.



Jake

 

[M_surinamensis]

I guess I should acknowledge that there is a reason to hook some non-venomous species.

When the animal in question is pretty much guaranteed to strike and bite, it is lower risk and lower stress for them to use a hook. It is less likely to provoke a bite against its surface and it saves them the chance of losing teeth (and subsequently risking infection) that would accompany biting a person. Like Ted, I hook some arboreals and a few of my Candoia that I know, for a fact, will respond to handling by trying to bite me.

Doesn't really apply to garters or nerodia though. Different dentition entirely.

Comfort and skill when handling a hook are something that needs to be learned, the design of the tool does matter but a far more significant part of the equation are the abilities of the person holding it. Inexperience is nothing to be ashamed of, but it is something that should be corrected before anyone attempts to handle anything venomous. A familiarity with the tool, a familiarity with the species being handled (there can be a massive, astronomical difference in the techniques used) and having someone who is experienced show a few firsthand tips and pointers are all important steps before anyone assumes the risks of contact with a venomous species.

I am pretty good with a hook, I know my tools well from years of use, I instinctively know the balance and can read the motion of the animal through my fingertips. I would not hesitate to use the tool to comfortably and easily handle many species... but not all. The experience of hooking a tree boa is not the same as hooking a rattlesnake is not the same as hooking a coral, is not the same as a cobra, is not the same as a mamba. There are species that I am less familiar with that I would not feel comfortable handling without the supervision of someone experienced. The first time I hooked a mamba (I don't keep them so it hasn't been many), he doubled back up the hook towards me in a way I was completely unprepared for. I have seen lots of experienced keepers that are familiar with elapids and arboreal vipers that are utterly useless hooking rattlers because they could not interpret the warning signs that the animal was about to slip the hook and land on the floor.

I don't want to discourage anyone from developing a skillset- by all means, learn how to use a snake hook, it is worth knowing if you're going to be handling snakes that benefit or require the tool. Just do it responsibly and carefully, simply buying or building a hook is not adequate preparation for using it to manipulate an animal that can cost a person their fingers, limbs or life if a mistake is made.

 

[M_surinamensis]

with the garters its just more of trying to get it rather then running after it or jumping and having it get away alot faster.

A hook is not really the correct tool to address that. They are a precision tool, not a speed tool. Chasing down a garter and taking swings at it with a hook might injure it. If it doesn't injure it, then they are a species that will just keep zipping forward right off the hook.

 

[T-ReXx]

I well be using it on garters northern water snakes and the occasionl rattle snake.



Jake

Leave Rattlesnakes alone. You are too young and too inexperienced to be dealing with them. You will end up getting bitten.

 

[Stl_Greaser]

Leave Rattlesnakes alone. You are too young and too inexperienced to be dealing with them. You will end up getting bitten.

I guess it doesn't really matter where he is at, as endangered as rattlesnakes are in his state! There is only one know population of timber rattlers in the state that accounts for about 25 animals!

 

[thegeckoguy23]

I guess it doesn't really matter where he is at, as endangered as rattlesnakes are in his state! There is only one know population of timber rattlers in the state that accounts for about 25 animals!

No I'm pretty sure theres more...Its in the white mts



Jake

 

[Stl_Greaser]

I guess you know more than the scientist studying them up in that region then!!!!

 

[JordanAng420]

Leave Rattlesnakes alone. You are too young and too inexperienced to be dealing with them. You will end up getting bitten.

Please please PLEASE take this advice!!!