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Question on N. Kaouthia
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by RYAN_S on January 2, 2001
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Anyone know where I can find info. on their captive care? Chris, I believe you own one of these? (I saw a couple of pics. of one under the photo album on this site uploaded from you). What is it like to clean their cage? I've been told that everytime you goto clean their cages, they come right at you (with all cobras...a guy at midwestern informed me of that).
And what exact method do you use? Double hook or hook-and-tong?
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RE: Question on N. Kaouthia
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by Charper on January 2, 2001
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Not me. I think Dave Girk sent me those photos. I'll wait for someone else to answer this for you.
CH
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RE: Question on N. Kaouthia
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by Vanyul on January 2, 2001
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I currently keep 1.0 Naja kaothia. He is one of the most aggressive snakes I keep. The problem with him is that he will appear asleep or calm and as soon as his enclosure is opened, he will instantly "hurl" himself at me. He strikes nonstop. He will strike his glass until his nose is bloody if not given a hidebox. Mostly he will just head-butt as a bluff but when I least expect it, he comes at me with both fangs. Very, very cranky animal.
As far as care goes, very easy to care for. Very forgiving as far as temperature and humidity. They shed faily easy too. He never stops eating. He is an eating machine. He stays on a hook fairly well, he sometimes has to be tailed though. He has never been sick, but his cage needs to be cleaned VERY frequently so I use newsprint for substrate.
Due to the fact that they are very cranky, tend to "spring to life" suddenly, and also frequently go into a "feeding frenzy," they can be a handful, but they are very easy to care for.
Hope this helps,
Vanyul
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RE: Question on N. Kaouthia
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by RYAN_S on January 2, 2001
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Excellent.
Sounds like a nice hot, minus the jumping at you part.
Thanks for the replies, guys. If I may happen to get one and have a question, I'll be sure to post here.
Ryan
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RE: Question on N. Kaouthia
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by Klaus on January 24, 2001
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I keep 1.1 N. kaouthia from Thailand (approx. 45 inch long; heterozygotes) for quite some time in a 50 inch x 25 inch terrarium with pieces of bark as hiding places and plastic plants for cover. Kaouthias are very easy to keep as they are enthusiastic eaters of mice and chickens (I always feed dead food), and are doing fine at temperatures between 20 and 30°C and a humidity between 40 and 80%. I recommend separating kaouthias (and other cobras) during feeding (even of dead food) as they tend to bite and hurt each other (had a cobra with a severe bacterial infection requiring antibiotics following the bite by a fellow 'inmate' during feeding). My current kaouthias are very aggressive and fast snakes, and I kept a specimen for almost ten years in the 1980 that was even more aggressive and didn't calm down during his entire stay with me. Like many of the large Elapids, they refuse to stay on hooks, and - having tried many methods during my 20 years of herping - I find it most convenient and save to handle them with double-gloved hands. The first set of gloves I use for handling large and aggressive Elapid snakes are relatively thin but strong and dense textile gloves for gardening sold in many home depots; these are covered by another set of thick firefighter gloves that reach to the elbow. The advantage is that one 'feels' the animal' during handling and can adjust pressure in a more controlled way than with tongs. Although this may sound dangerous, I find it actually the most convenient way to handle such aggressive snakes, and after all, I have never been hurt by any of my hots. Of course, this procedure can ONLY be used with Elapids and not large Viperids since the former have relatively short fangs and a biting pressure not high enough to drive the fangs through the glove tissue. Even large cobras weren't able to get through to the skin - the very few times they actually tried - and the procedure seems to me more save for the snakes, too, as injury is less likely than with hooks and tongs. Beyond that, as with all large elapid snakes, it is best to work with closable hiding boxes.
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RE: Question on N. Kaouthia
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Anonymous post on January 25, 2001
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As forum moderator, I almost deleted the above post by Klaus concerning handling cobras with gloves. I must say that I do not approve of handling ANY venomous snake with gloves, because quite frankly I have never seen a glove that I'd trust my life with. I did not delete the post because it does contain some useful information, but I would highly discourage any keeper from using gloves to handle a venomous snake. There are much safer methods. Spend some one on one time with a professional keeper to learn the correct method for handling whatever animal you intend on keeping before acquiring the animal.
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RE: Question on N. Kaouthia
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by Klaus on January 29, 2001
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Hi Chad. I respect your concern and would like to emphasize again (just in case I was misunderstood) that the safest method to transport etc. large elapids is working with closable hiding boxes and that keeping these animals is no business for beginners and requires long years of experience, but I strongly disagree that under circumstances where the handling of such snakes is unavoidable, the double-glove method I described is unsave - to the contrary! Being a professional biologist by training, I'm handling large elapids for more than 20 years and have frequently experienced people getting in trouble working with hooks and tongs or other methods to control their animals. In your comment you say that you know better methods to work with these snakes. I'd be curious to learn about them. From my experience, 'double-hooking' and 'tailing and hooking' etc. are definitely NOT among the save methods (believe me!). Needless to say, the least thing I intend is to endanger anyone. So once again: LARGE ELAPIDS DON'T BELONG IN THE HANDS OF BEGINNERS.
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