Handling Equipment

PLEASE BE VERY CAREFUL WHEN CHOOSING YOUR SNAKE HANDLING EQUIPMENT ...... 

A FEW POINTERS TO LOOK OUT FOR

Ask reliable handlers and well established recognised reptile parks for advise on what equipment works best and always use equipment that has been tried and tested by experts in herpetology. Watch out for home made hook and grab sticks with possible imperfections that can be dangerous for both animal and handler. Below is a list of points to look out for when purchasing a grab stick:

• You pay for what you get  Understand that a good grab stick doesn't come cheap. A well made more expensive grab stick will last a lifetime under normal use.
• Size does matter  Be careful not to buy a stick that is longer than one and a half meters, although one meter is ideal for most situations. A longer stick is heavy and very awkward to use especially for larger snakes.
• Rods and cables get in the way  Most cheaply made grab sticks have rods and cables exposed along the shaft that pose a potential disaster for snakes getting entangled.
• Breaking point  Be very careful of home made aluminium cast, plastic or wood sticks that may break under pressure.
• Pump iron in a gym  You will find grab sticks that are badly designed with bulky heads and grips and are made with heavy materials. This makes handling a snake, especially large snakes, an almost impossible and unsafe task.
• Don't hurt that snake  Inferior equipment is often badly finished off and often has sharp edges and rough surfaces that may hurt snakes.

The Khamai Reptile Centre recommends the standard one meter Midwest range of grab sticks. We use Midwest equipment on an industrial capacity. Grab sticks and hooks are used multiple times daily on snakes large and small. We sometimes abuse the equipment when feeding our large crocodiles or breaking off branches when capturing wild snakes. Grab sticks are sometimes thrown about, dropped or left to bounce about on the back of a pick up with so far no problems at all. We have been using Midwest tongs for seven years now so we have a pretty good idea of the level of quality. Khamai Reptile Centre will only allow the use of Midwest tongs by it's employees to guarantee the safety of handler and animals.

We stock Midwest tongs

CONTACT US FOR MORE INFORMATION

Here's what Midwest Tongs have to say .........

Midwest Tongs is proud to introduce to you the highest quality snake handling tools made in the USA. Don't be fooled by cheap imitations of our professional grade equipment. The people at Midwest have been taking care of various exotic animals for over 30 years, with all of our products being designed and tested with them in mind. We construct every piece of equipment from aircraft grade materials to insure not only your safety, but the safe handling of your animals as well. It is our goal to produce only equipment that we are proud to put our name on, and that's the guarantee that you are purchasing a genuine Midwest product.

Many professional researchers, zoo keepers and field collectors are also involved in the field testing of our equipment. With their input, we feel that we can provide the best made equipment in the industry.

MADE BY PROFESSIONALS, FOR PROFESSIONALS
One of the reasons for our success is our close co-operation with some of the most knowledgeable and experienced snake handlers in the industry.