# Venomous outbuilding



## osouthlondon (Feb 8, 2010)

I have a very quick question not specifically aimed at the DWA holders on here but at anyone who might know.

I am due to move soon from my flat to a house.

I ideally would really like to have a building in the garden (Obviously I will go through the proper procedures - Planning permission, suitable materials etc etc) to house my (Admittedly small, but at some stage to be expanded) collection.

I am an absoloute stickler for security and it would be easier to break into my house when I had finished with it.

But my question is:

IF or when, I get my DWA license, I decide to set this building up as my DWA room (Still in the required way - Vacuum doors, viewing glass etc etc, would that be deemed acceptable?

I realise that there is probably not a set national standard; but thinking ahead it would be prudent to take into account in the original build if there was a possibility of the above.

I feel that I would benefit from being able to choose the amount of space available to myself, mostly with all my non DWA animals in mind as they will be my 'daily bread' for the next 10-15 years until I have enough experience with non venomous to be able to make a decision on whether to pursue a license or not.

I am also going to be cheeky and tag another question on to this as well!!

Can non DWA and DWA animals be kept together? (In the same room not viv!!).

Thanks in advance for any help.


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## leecb0 (Apr 14, 2009)

i cant speak for your council but my snake room is a detached brick building in my garden and i know others have detached converted buildings too. as for keeping venomous and non venomous in the same room i have and do keep non venomous within the same room


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## osouthlondon (Feb 8, 2010)

leecb0 said:


> i cant speak for your council but my snake room is a detached brick building in my garden and i know others have detached converted buildings too. as for keeping venomous and non venomous in the same room i have and do keep non venomous within the same room


Lovely, I just wanted to establish the possibility before I talk to the local council about planning permission and then draw up designs.

And I would also not be looking to get rid of my non DWA collection because I like them (No matter how sad that may seem to some), so housing them all in one area is a brucey bonus.

Thanks for the answer


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## leecb0 (Apr 14, 2009)

I have never really been someone who gets his animals out to handle very often and tame them down (non venomous) and i dont have many non venomous, but i treat all my snakes as venomous in my snake room to a certain degree anyway, in fact i have handled my cobras (hook and tail) more than my non venomous, mind you there nastyer than my venomous:lol2:


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## osouthlondon (Feb 8, 2010)

leecb0 said:


> I have never really been someone who gets his animals out to handle very often and tame them down (non venomous) and i dont have many non venomous, but i treat all my snakes as venomous in my snake room to a certain degree anyway, in fact i have handled my cobras (hook and tail) more than my non venomous, mind you there nastyer than my venomous:lol2:


Interesting that you should say that. What non venomous snakes have you got?

Also is venomous handling a must?

I really would prefer to keep the environment for any snakes and even more so (If only to lessen the risk to myself) for hots; as natural as possible. I would love a self contained ecosphere(?) as my enjoyment is more in the viewing than the actual hands on interfering with the snakes. Although with that said, I really do enjoy the day to day maintenance (Bar picking up snake sh:censor: lol!!) and the leaving them alone is more to bring out natural behaviour than reluctance to handle.


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## leecb0 (Apr 14, 2009)

I am in the process of building some new cages with a view to a more natural habitat, but with this comes problems if i could give you any advice i would refrain from over filling vivariums with loads of plants and furnishings to give the natural look to begine with. Although it may look good you will have problems trying to extract your animal from plants branches etc and in doing so you may halm your snake or possibly put yourself at risk.


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## terciopelo_dave (Jun 1, 2007)

As Lee said, naturalistic vivaria with venomous species poses several problems, first and foremost how to extricate the animal for vivarium maintenance without considerable risk to yourself. Zoos do it because the size of the enclosure often permits working around the animal, but this is difficult at best to replicate in the home.
As for keeping non-venomous in a "hot room", there's no problem with that. Provided the room is suitable for venomous, what you put in it is your business. Putting venomous in a "non-hot" room, e.g a bedroom however is a strict no-no.


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## paulrimmer69 (Oct 26, 2008)

heres mine............


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## kelboy (Feb 10, 2009)

Just a suggestion, from a non-DWAL holder. Would it not be prudent, if you are looking to apply for a DWA in a number of years to get in touch with your LA and ask them for the room specifications required for a license? I wouldn't imagine that you'd have to commit to anything for the sake of an enquiry.


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## SiUK (Feb 15, 2007)

leecb0 said:


> I am in the process of building some new cages with a view to a more natural habitat, but with this comes problems if i could give you any advice i would refrain from over filling vivariums with loads of plants and furnishings to give the natural look to begine with. Although it may look good you will have problems trying to extract your animal from plants branches etc and in doing so you may halm your snake or possibly put yourself at risk.


I would really like to do that as well for some species, I saw Laurie's planted vivs the other day and they look great.


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## paulrimmer69 (Oct 26, 2008)

i agree with lee if theres one thing iv learned since i started keeping venomous its keep the cage decor down to a minimum especially for fast moving species ie cobras, i can see where a planted viv would be good for the arboreal viper species though


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## leecb0 (Apr 14, 2009)

Im only going to do it for now for my whitelip vipers and hopefully should have some Hagens bamboo vipers (C hageni) soon as i am used to dealing with these in an arborial viv with a reasonable amount of decore and branches vines and bamboo. I have just started it so will post some photos when its finished


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## leecb0 (Apr 14, 2009)

osouthlondon said:


> Interesting that you should say that. What non venomous snakes have you got?
> 1.1.0 Stinking goddess and a male Macklots python, but i have got a couple of red tailed rat snakes and some viper boas coming soon there are a few other bits and pieces i would like but i am really consentrating on venomous
> 
> 
> Also is venomous handling a must? Well its not a must i do hook and tail most things, but you must be able to safely handle them for veternary reasons or for removing brill caps etc but you must be confident in doing so and you have to be honest with yourself if you dont have that confidence then you really should think again about having them





kelboy said:


> Just a suggestion, from a non-DWAL holder. Would it not be prudent, if you are looking to apply for a DWA in a number of years to get in touch with your LA and ask them for the room specifications required for a license? I wouldn't imagine that you'd have to commit to anything for the sake of an enquiry.


I think the more you know about the subject and arming yourself with as much info from others who have gone through the process is far more constructive than asking your LA. Th e chances are they havnt got a clue and will contact another LA who has issued a DWAL for guidence. So if you go to them saying this is my plan for my snake room etc then at least they will get idea you are serious and you know what you are talking about. They may come back to you with a curve ball and say you need this or that in place, but this is something you will have to overcome. I was lucky i allready know my enviromental officer and held a licence some time ago, he came to see me i showed him what i was going to do and he said "OK you know better than me"


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## SiUK (Feb 15, 2007)

My building is a double garage at the rear of my garden, I blocked off the garage door and used just over half of the garage for my venomous room. I keep just over 30 snakes with 5 of those being venomous. And about 70 inverts mostly spiders all my animals live in the room.


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## osouthlondon (Feb 8, 2010)

Cheers guys.

I emailed my local council from work and the fella that replied saw who I worked for and then asked me for a favor related to my company so I guess he owes me one!

Let's hope he's still working there in 15 years....

That picture of the outdoor shed is exactly what i'm going for and looks great!!

As for keeping the snakes in a naturalistic environment I can see the sense in not complicating the process of removing a snake for maintenance of the snake and/or the viv. I just don't particularly enjoy '3 white walls and 2 flower pot' vivs. Perhaps I could do something where its more of a background thing with removeable hides...to be honest though this is all in the future so i'm just learning in general rather than getting into detailed specifics; and I will also learn a lot by applying various methods and techniques to my current animals.

I am glad that I can keep them together, because to be honest i'm not a 'reptile lover' that only loves hots, I like all things reptile, so will be happy to house both collections under one roof.


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