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Venom in Vegas

One misconception the general public has is that snakes will "come after" you, i.e., chase one. At least he disproved that myth, and I like that he kept emphasizing that snakes are defensive animals and only will strike if provoked. So there was bad, but also some good IMO. I do think that he should have handled some of the nonvenomous more. Did anyone see a BP?
 
I watched some of it and to be honest was not impressed. He obviously did it as a stunt. While I loved seeing all the different kind of snakes, I was rather put off when they showed the scenes of him capturing the wild snakes. I was horrified with the way he handled them.
I haven't seen his show "wild recon" and after seeing "venom in vegas" I'm positive I won't bother.
 
I think all the venemous snakes in there were still venemous because like someone said earlier he did milk a bunch of different snakes in the room and tested it with his own blood. Also i dont think he would want to do a thing like taking the venoum out of all those snakes.
 
I saw a BP or 2! :)
Lynnea said:
One misconception the general public has is that snakes will "come after" you, i.e., chase one. At least he disproved that myth, and I like that he kept emphasizing that snakes are defensive animals and only will strike if provoked. So there was bad, but also some good IMO. I do think that he should have handled some of the nonvenomous more. Did anyone see a BP?
Click to expand...
 
snakemom1961 said:
I watched some of it and to be honest was not impressed. He obviously did it as a stunt. While I loved seeing all the different kind of snakes, I was rather put off when they showed the scenes of him capturing the wild snakes. I was horrified with the way he handled them.
I haven't seen his show "wild recon" and after seeing "venom in vegas" I'm positive I won't bother.
Click to expand...

Has anybody said it wasn't a stunt? I would also argue that his handling of the snakes was no different than any other herp personality on TV today. I don't agree with the snakes being taken from the wild, but at least their venom is being used for research. The show was a wash for me...and I definitely was not horrified by anything I saw.
 
I didnt think it was a stunt. I also thought his handling wasnt that bad either. I think he is pretty experienced and good at what he does. That my opinion though.
 
Stunt or not, that's using snakes for commercial uses...
Milking snakes is dangerous, I don't see why it should be made a spectacle of... nor does it do anything other than earn him publicity points.

I don't think such a thing really makes people reconsider snakes... he just turned it into a kind of a "freak show"
 
How many herp zoos have "venom shows" where they milk snakes in front of a crowd? The only difference here is that his was on TV...
 
I understand both sides really, where some people think it was just milking snakes but some think it was commercial. Well i think the thing he was mainly trying to do was get people to understand snakes are not evil things that are hunting to kill us. I think he was trying to make a point that most snakes wont bother you unless they are being botherd first.
 
The guy on Venom in Vegas and Wild Recon is against S373 and actually has a youtube video against it so in my eyes hes a good person lol. The show I thought was really good and his series is pretty good to.
 
Aren't there protocols that must be adhered to in venom collection? If it is not done properly, in a sterile facility, is it not rendered useless? If it is of no use, what is the use of extracting it other than for entertainment purposes? If it is extracted for only entertainment purposes, then is not claiming it is for research not only a lie, but a slap in the face to actual venom research facilities and those who follow proper procedures? And, if all of the above is true, do you still have faith and confidence in this guy?

All of you who are 17 or less seem quite taken with this show. Those who are older seem to be not so favorable. I wonder who his target audience is....
 
He did say the venom is going to universities. It could have multiple purposes. Like showing a college student what a sterile venom collection looks like compared to one that is not sterile.
I dont like how small the space was for all of the snakes but he did take out furniture and other comforts of his as he added more snakes, and also introduced more hides for the snakes. I was a bit ify on that tree of death though. Common sense says if you are going to put that many snakes in that amount of space youa re going to need something stronger for them to climb than a office decoration of a tree.
 
wilomn said:
Aren't there protocols that must be adhered to in venom collection? If it is not done properly, in a sterile facility, is it not rendered useless? If it is of no use, what is the use of extracting it other than for entertainment purposes? If it is extracted for only entertainment purposes, then is not claiming it is for research not only a lie, but a slap in the face to actual venom research facilities and those who follow proper procedures? And, if all of the above is true, do you still have faith and confidence in this guy?

All of you who are 17 or less seem quite taken with this show. Those who are older seem to be not so favorable. I wonder who his target audience is....
Click to expand...

If you've ever watched his series you'd see that he always has lab equipment with him at all times. I have comcast and on demand and under animal planet there is a 4min deleted scene where he catches a snake but won't take vemon from a snake because it got dirt in its mouth and he explained how if its not sterile its useless. The vemon he collects isn't for anti-venom anyways, he sends it to labs where they study it for possible medical uses. It does come off as a whole thrill factor show where hes just doing it for entertainment but when you actually watch it you can see theres more to it that just the "wow' factor.
 
I see that there is some scientific importance to what he does, but there is also harm in what he does too. I hate seeing people squeeze the head of a harmless snake, to the point where their jaws are facing either direction, and they're motionless when he sets them back down. I also hate watching someone tug a snake out of it's area like a rope, remove it from it's comfortable hide, and place it back in a completely different area than it was found. I see nothing in his experiments that couldn't have been done more securely in a lab, with less exploitation of the snakes, and less danger to himself.
 
I find the guy mildly irritating myself. Hubby HATES him! Thinks he's a blowhard. I was personally insulted when he opened the bag of corn snakes and then said. "Oh. Its just a bunch of corns." and shoved them aside as if they weren't worth his time. And then I felt vindicated when a corn nailed him at the end when he was trying to separate it from the camera where it was hanging out with the mamba.

I noticed that there wasn't a single kingsnake to be seen. Hmmmmm.

Devon
 
Well the kingsnakes could of ate some other snakes. Also i think he said "Oh, its just a bunch of corns," because he was glad it wasnt the mambas, as he said through the whole show he was dreading the mambas.
 
One thing I wish is that it wouldn't be advertised as "Venom in Vegas", when over half of the snakes in there were harmless, like the corn snake, or just plain nonvenomous, like the bigger constrictors. "100 of the most dangerous snakes in the world". Ha. Corn snakes. They could have called in "Snakes in Sin City" to make it more believable. Or even "Serpents in Sin City", though I realize that's less catchy.

I just don't don't like the guy for the "I'm bit" stunt, and I don't believe anything he does will clear up that bad first image of him.
I was a big fan of Corwin and Irwin, but this guy just strikes me as sleezy. Just my opinion, of course. I'm only watching the show (Wild Recon) tonight, because the snake interests me. Reminds me of my own little hateling (though far more dangerous, of course), with the really attentive attitude.
 
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