Overview of venomous snakes management in captivity, a case study at planet exotica

Snakes yield among the great public a rather bad reputation, often being seen as slimy, devious and unpredictable creatures. One could say that this fear is taken a step further when talking about venomous species. Venom is a powerful tool present in every branch of the animal kingdom. Reptiles, and snakes more in particular, make no exception to it. A great variety of ophidian species around the globe are equipped with venom having diverse use and properties. Concerning snakes, many of the aformentioned specimens are dangerous if not lethal for humans with a single bite. This can result in unfortunate encounters especially in an era where human expansion leads to more and more contact with wild fauna. Still nowdays, many animals are seen in a pessimistic way because of these events exacerbated by medias but also attributes legends and popular culture gave them. They end up suffering from this bad image while they often are just misunderstood animals, more scared of humans than we are of them. Those prejudices with people and the eventual risk they represent makes venomous reptiles challenging species to hold in zoological settings. Some structures like planet exotica still face off the challenge and keep a wide variety of them to present to the public with the hope to change their minds. Keeping these animals requires a lot of attention in terms of feeding, temperatures, humidity but also many different compositions of terrariums where the balance between animal welfare, requirements, security and public visibility has to be found. A lot of precautions and safety measures have to be taken by the people taking care of them on a daily basis, people who need appropriate formation and teaching but also intriquate qualities such as discipline and self-control. The danger that these creatures can represent lead them to work in peculiar conditions and with specific telescopic tools, protocols and techniques of handling and cleaning. This paper will expose in more details all the intricacies of such activities after many months working at planet exotica, observing and discussing with the concerned professionals.