The Beauty of Samar Cobras!

Najakeeper

Najakeeper

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Well, I had to post a new topic about these guys. After my move to Switzerland and needed to get a permit, I had to decide which cobra species to keep due to space restrictions. Aside from the N.kaouthia morphs and the water cobras, I choose the Naja samarensis, the Samar Cobra.

These animals come from the Samar Island in the Southern Philippines. Although they are true spitters, adults rarely do so and this is a nice spitter to work with. Also, their colors are so amazing, this just makes them the most beautiful Naja species in my opinion and they stay around 3ft range, less than a meter in most cases. The only problem with them is their 'attitude'. These guys are always angry and they do not take prisoners. Someone I know used to say that if they were 6 ft instead of 3, we would probably be all evolved from them :).

Ok, here is my female, which is a whopping 1.3 meters, very large for this species:







And my male, which is much smaller:







And here is a feeding video:

[youtube]u2vP4QBhiUA[/youtube]
 
ratluvr76

ratluvr76

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Absolutely beautiful snakes. Do you breed them for sale? Do you milk them and sell them venom? Or do you just keep them because they interest you. Sorry for being nosy, I'm just curious lol. Truly beautiful. I'm a chicken though and could never keep hots. ;)
 
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freedumbdclxvi

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I gotta agree - sexy is the best descriptor. And their intelligence just amazes me - the way the male tracked your every movement at the beginning of the video was awesome, in all of its meanings.
 
Najakeeper

Najakeeper

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ratluvr76 said:
Absolutely beautiful snakes. Do you breed them for sale? Do you milk them and sell them venom? Or do you just keep them because they interest you. Sorry for being nosy, I'm just curious lol. Truly beautiful. I'm a chicken though and could never keep hots. ;)
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I keep them because they interest me. I will breed them as well but that's a part of my interest more than the potential financial benefit.

I don't milk them because:

-Stressful for the snake
-Stressful and dangerous for the keeper
-No lab will buy venom from me

I am glad you guys like them. Samar cobras were in my list since 2003. I was in the US back than and there were only a few available with a price tag of 6k for a pair of babies! I am glad I live in a country where I can buy a full grown pair for less than a k.
 
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freedumbdclxvi

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You guys have some amazing reptiles over across the pond that are high ticket or impossible to get here in the states. (I am looking at you, albino African rock python.)
 
viper69

viper69

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Wow these are gorgeous!!!!! I didn't realize there was a cobra that was only a meter, let alone a small spitter.

I'm actually surprised Switzerland lets people keep HOTS to be honest. My friend lives there and they don't even like when you flush the toilet after 10pm in apartments. And some apt bldg's have assigned laundry day. Seemed like a beautiful safe and somewhat quirky restrictive country in odd tiny ways.
 
Najakeeper

Najakeeper

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viper69 said:
Wow these are gorgeous!!!!! I didn't realize there was a cobra that was only a meter, let alone a small spitter.

I'm actually surprised Switzerland lets people keep HOTS to be honest. My friend lives there and they don't even like when you flush the toilet after 10pm in apartments. And some apt bldg's have assigned laundry day. Seemed like a beautiful safe and somewhat quirky restrictive country in odd tiny ways.
Click to expand...
You can own pretty much anything in this country if you obey the regulations, if you are persistent enough and patient enough. I have explained the permit process in another topic. It is time consuming and expensive but I think it is fair.
 
Tongue Flicker

Tongue Flicker

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Jus a little correction, Samar is in the eastern Philippines :)

But yes of all the spitters, this sp. Is definitely on top. Not so spitty and not so long as most cobras sp. as well
 
Najakeeper

Najakeeper

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Tongue Flicker said:
Jus a little correction, Samar is in the eastern Philippines :)

But yes of all the spitters, this sp. Is definitely on top. Not so spitty and not so long as most cobras sp. as well
Click to expand...
Ah, my geography fails me again ;). More east than south for sure.
 
klawfran3

klawfran3

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at the 1:30 part when he turned to your hand, I jumped a little. one of the ballsiest things I've seen in a while. That is by far one of the most beautiful snakes I have seen. And yes, I agree. Sexy is a good describer!
 
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Najakeeper

Najakeeper

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The Samar male looks so peaceful behind the glass... 2 seconds before he starts thrashing in the terrarium :) :

 
The Snark

The Snark

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To my deranged thinking their heads look a lot like the grumpy O Hannah appearance.
 
Nada

Nada

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I'm not usually a big fan of Hots, but these are stunning. Great pics, Great Vid.
 
Najakeeper

Najakeeper

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Man, these are grumpy. I had to take the male out for a routine cleaning and he refused to go into the temp. enclosure. Proceeded to chase me around etc. Finally, after the cage cleaning, this is his reaction:



Sorry for the quality as it is a cell phone photo...
 
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