# Asian Spitting Cobras



## salvatoruk (Apr 28, 2009)

As those of you that know me will be aware I am a huge fan of Asian Spitters. I've kept a few of them so thought I'd share some with you all.

If anyone on here keeps any of the Asian Spitters please do add your photos too.

Naja sputatrix









Naja sputatrix "white phase"

















Naja sumatrana

















Naja siamensis

























Naja sumatrana x Naja sputatrix hybrid

































Laurie


----------



## Berber King (Dec 29, 2007)

Very nice.Forgive my ignorance,i have very little experience with hots,but should you not wear goggles when working with spitters?


----------



## SiUK (Feb 15, 2007)

some nice spitters Laurie, love the white phase sputatrix


----------



## pythondave82 (Nov 14, 2007)

I should be having some Naja samarensis soon  Bet that white phase is a monster now :mf_dribble:

Cheers,

Dave


----------



## salvatoruk (Apr 28, 2009)

Berber King said:


> Very nice.Forgive my ignorance,i have very little experience with hots,but should you not wear goggles when working with spitters?


That's a perfectly good question. Asian Spitting Cobras on the whole don't often spit in captivity from my experience. You would really have to wind them up to get them to spit most the time. Personally when working with specimens that I have had in my care for a while and 'know' I do not wear goggles but this is just me and I have never come close to getting venom sprayed in my eyes to date. I would still say if you are planning on getting into them as a safety precaution goggles should be worn though... do as I say not as I do : victory:



pythondave82 said:


> I should be having some Naja samarensis soon  Bet that white phase is a monster now :mf_dribble:
> 
> Cheers,
> 
> Dave


Samarensis... pft. Who would want an extremely rare jet black and luminous yellow Cobra? Besides me of course!

Laurie


----------



## wildlifewarrior (Jun 26, 2008)

Now they are some cracking snakes....awesome quality photos aswell


----------



## snakekeeper (Oct 29, 2008)

Lovely snakes mate!


----------



## leecb0 (Apr 14, 2009)

salvatoruk said:


> Samarensis... pft. Who would want an extremely rare jet black and luminous yellow Cobra? Besides me of course!
> 
> Laurie


i saw someones the other day, one word, "STUNNING"


----------



## salvatoruk (Apr 28, 2009)

wildlifewarrior said:


> Now they are some cracking snakes....awesome quality photos aswell


Cheers, they were all taken on a pretty basic digital. DSLR soon then I'll be putting up some much better photos  Do you think you'll ever make the jump over to keeping DWA species?



leecb0 said:


> i saw someones the other day, one word, "STUNNING"


 That's it tease me. I want them so much! Was that a UK keeper?


----------



## leecb0 (Apr 14, 2009)

salvatoruk said:


> That's it tease me. I want them so much! Was that a UK keeper?


YARP:lol2:


----------



## paulrimmer69 (Oct 26, 2008)

the white sputatrix are stunning m8


----------



## WW** (Jan 20, 2008)

Some very nice photos!

Did you produce the sputatrix x sumatra yourself?


----------



## salvatoruk (Apr 28, 2009)

WW** said:


> Some very nice photos!
> 
> Did you produce the sputatrix x sumatra yourself?


Thank you, they are a fun group of snakes to photograph. 
The sputatrix x sumatrana were not bred by me. They were bred on a farm in Indonesia but when I bought them they were sold as sumatrana. Only when I got them home, had a closer look and one of them hooded I saw the hood marking. You may be aware of the page "Asiatic Cobra Systematics"... I had a quick check and sure enough sumatrana may be highly variable but they never have a hood marking. On closer inspection the specimens displayed characteristics of both sputatrix and sumatrana. I prefer my snakes natural and had someone in Germany interested in them so I let them go. If you are interested in more information I could get scale counts and up to date photos? I do not look at the snakes I keep and imagine a bite from them but I presume not much is known on the effects of venom in hybrids? That thought wasn't a particularly nice one!

Laurie


----------



## randomcookiemonsta (Mar 5, 2009)

salvatoruk said:


> Thank you, they are a fun group of snakes to photograph.
> The sputatrix x sumatrana were not bred by me. They were bred on a farm in Indonesia but when I bought them they were sold as sumatrana. Only when I got them home, had a closer look and one of them hooded I saw the hood marking. You may be aware of the page "Asiatic Cobra Systematics"... I had a quick check and sure enough sumatrana may be highly variable but they never have a hood marking. On closer inspection the specimens displayed characteristics of both sputatrix and sumatrana. I prefer my snakes natural and had someone in Germany interested in them so I let them go. If you are interested in more information I could get scale counts and up to date photos? I do not look at the snakes I keep and imagine a bite from them but I presume not much is known on the effects of venom in hybrids? That thought wasn't a particularly nice one!
> 
> Laurie


 plase ignore me if this a stupid question, but if that's a hybrid between a spitter and a non spitter, will it spitt ?? as i said i'm not up on venemous but if i'm right then those hood markings would make it a spectacled cobra ??? : victory: nice snakes anyway


----------



## salvatoruk (Apr 28, 2009)

randomcookiemonsta said:


> plase ignore me if this a stupid question, but if that's a hybrid between a spitter and a non spitter, will it spitt ?? as i said i'm not up on venemous but if i'm right then those hood markings would make it a spectacled cobra ??? : victory: nice snakes anyway


I won't ignore it, instead I'll answer- how about that 
I did put all the species names down so anyone who wasn't familiar with them could research them but... :whistling2:
Quickly, both species are spitters and the offspring were spitters and Spectacled Cobras are an entirely different species.


----------



## randomcookiemonsta (Mar 5, 2009)

salvatoruk said:


> I won't ignore it, instead I'll answer- how about that
> I did put all the species names down so anyone who wasn't familiar with them could research them but... :whistling2:
> Quickly, both species are spitters and the offspring were spitters and Spectacled Cobras are an entirely different species.


sorry, didnt see them, i am an idiot :bash:


----------



## PDR (Nov 27, 2008)

salvatoruk said:


> Thank you, they are a fun group of snakes to photograph.
> The sputatrix x sumatrana were not bred by me. They were bred on a farm in Indonesia but when I bought them they were sold as sumatrana. Only when I got them home, had a closer look and one of them hooded I saw the hood marking. *You may be aware of the page "Asiatic Cobra Systematics"*... I had a quick check and sure enough sumatrana may be highly variable but they never have a hood marking. On closer inspection the specimens displayed characteristics of both sputatrix and sumatrana. I prefer my snakes natural and had someone in Germany interested in them so I let them go. If you are interested in more information I could get scale counts and up to date photos? I do not look at the snakes I keep and imagine a bite from them but I presume not much is known on the effects of venom in hybrids? That thought wasn't a particularly nice one!
> 
> Laurie


*WW** darn well ought to be.... HE WROTE IT!! **WW** IS Wolfgang Wuster*
:lol2:


----------



## salvatoruk (Apr 28, 2009)

PDR said:


> *WW** darn well ought to be.... HE WROTE IT!! **WW** IS Wolfgang Wuster*
> :lol2:


Sarcastic humour can be quite a difficult thing to acknowledge on a forum can't it... Maybe I should have put a silly face next to it - :whistling2:. Yeah that one would have been perfect. I'll remember next time!
But I do like how you instantly thought I was stupid enough to say such a thing not in jest. You don't appear to have any faith in people you don't already know, which given some keepers these days I think making that assumption isn't necessarily a bad thing at all!

Back to the thread though, have you ever worked with any venomous hybrids? Not that I'd be interested in keeping any more but I am curious to how it affects the venom. Surely someone in the states must have been bitten by some Bitis sps or Crotalus sps hybrid by now.

Laurie


----------



## PDR (Nov 27, 2008)

salvatoruk said:


> Sarcastic humour can be quite a difficult thing to acknowledge on a forum can't it... Maybe I should have put a silly face next to it - :whistling2:. Yeah that one would have been perfect. I'll remember next time!
> But I do like how you instantly thought I was stupid enough to say such a thing not in jest. You don't appear to have any faith in people you don't already know, which given some keepers these days I think making that assumption isn't necessarily a bad thing at all!
> 
> Back to the thread though, have you ever worked with any venomous hybrids? Not that I'd be interested in keeping any more but I am curious to how it affects the venom. Surely someone in the states must have been bitten by some Bitis sps or Crotalus sps hybrid by now.
> ...


Ahhh, I didn’t pick up on the fact it was said in jest! :blush: And yes I need to chill after dealing with dammed V.L. :devil:
We aren’t doing any work with hybrids. They would be of little use for our research. Most of our snakes come direct from the wild and with collection site data.


----------



## Jellyman (Sep 22, 2009)

very very cool


----------



## WW** (Jan 20, 2008)

Belatedly thanks for the info, salvatoruk. I must admit that, like PDR, I had missed the jest in the comment on the page .... :blush:

Anyhow, those hybrids are interesting. Looking at them briefly in the photos, I would have just guessed them to be N. sputatrix, but looking more closely, the rather elongate lateral throat spots and the high extent of the lighter throat area up the sides of the throat are indeed more indicative of N. sumatrana. Very cool. It would be interesting to do some scale counts on these, and it will also be interesting to see what they look like as adults. Are you planning to hang on to them?

Cheers,

WW


----------



## _TiMiSdRuNk_ (Aug 27, 2008)

Yeah really stunning and i'm not even a snake person....


----------



## boapugh (Jan 25, 2010)

wow, its amazing what some people have as pets


----------



## Nicky_KM (Feb 7, 2010)

:gasp: Absolutely GORGEOUS snakes! Those pictures made me go "wow!" :2thumb:


----------



## Jonathan4 (Nov 19, 2010)

salvatoruk said:


> That's a perfectly good question. Asian Spitting Cobras on the whole don't often spit in captivity from my experience. You would really have to wind them up to get them to spit most the time. Personally when working with specimens that I have had in my care for a while and 'know' I do not wear goggles but this is just me and I have never come close to getting venom sprayed in my eyes to date. I would still say if you are planning on getting into them as a safety precaution goggles should be worn though... do as I say not as I do : victory:
> 
> 
> 
> ...


I'd wear eye protection, I have had many N.siamensis that are nasty B%st%rd and would spit at a shadow, you couldn't even see through the glass and I am not exaggeration, there was venom every where.

I also know a handful of people that have kept spitters and do t wear glasses and they have all been to the hospital.


----------



## DWABrett72 (Jun 7, 2013)

Beautiful


----------



## Guest (Jun 9, 2013)

I suppose you would have to wear goggles to be on the safe side anyway. Plus any accidents will make the hobby look bad.


----------



## DWABrett72 (Jun 7, 2013)

I don't think it will make the hobby look bad, i don't wear either if it feels right. Although i do understand where your coming from


----------



## DavidR (Mar 19, 2008)

DWABrett72 said:


> I don't think it will make the hobby look bad, i don't wear either if it feels right. Although i do understand where your coming from


I am intrigued. In what sort of situation does it feel 'right' to not wear face protection when dealing with spitters?

David.


----------



## henry415 (Apr 1, 2012)

Amazing snakes!!!!


----------



## SiUK (Feb 15, 2007)

DavidR said:


> I am intrigued. In what sort of situation does it feel 'right' to not wear face protection when dealing with spitters?
> 
> David.


Maybe once you have asked them kindly not to spit?


----------



## coldestblood (Jun 4, 2011)

DWABrett72 said:


> I don't think it will make the hobby look bad, i don't wear either if it feels right. Although i do understand where your coming from


Below is one of my N. siamensis, which hasn't spat since she was tiny. No venom got anywhere near me, but the fact she spat was quite a surprise. That's why eye protection is a must with any spitters, regardless of how right it feels, or how well you know the animal. 





It takes a few seconds to put on eye protection (and mask too). It's better than risking your sight on a whim.


----------



## CheloniaDude (Oct 3, 2011)

The hybrid somewhat reminds me of a PNG taipan :2thumb:


----------



## woodwardm28 (Aug 8, 2014)

I have been searching for this answer all over the internet and cannot find it anywhere. I am going to southeast Asia soon and I am really curious to know how to tell the difference between a spitter and a non-spitter. As an American, if I saw a Cobra, I would like to take a picture of it. Of course, if it's a spitter, I will want to stay as far away as possible. So I'm just wondering if there is a way to tell by looking at them. Thanks in advance


----------

