Hi Rick,
I keep RBB Snakes. The first thing I'd like to cover is that despite being known as a reasonably placid species, remember they are venomous and a bite from one can be very unpleasant, extremely painful and have severe consequences. I have a couple of friends who have had to have fingers amputated as a result of a bite and I have a nice scar on my left index finger from a bite as well.
Before obtaining one, get to know someone who keeps vens, ask if you can observe the way they handle them and after a bit of time try and see if you can get to handle them under supervision.
Familiarize yourself with the conditions they may be kept under in your State. I don't know about Victoria but in NSW dangerous vens have to be maintained under specific conditions, ie - locked enclosures kept inside a locked, escape proof room with visible first aid notices relating to snake bite and compression bandages that can be easily accessed.
So, my advice is to handle them just as if they are a highly venomous species, never trust them, only handle them when absolutely necessary (eg; cleaning), always use a snake hook and tail them when removing them from their enclosure and never, ever free handle them. When I clean them I remove them from their enclosure and place them in a plastic garbage bin with a closed and sealed lid.
They are a very easy snake to maintain and care for provided you have the right set up. I don't advocate keeping vens in front opening enclosures but RRB's are one snake that can be maintained in such a manner. I don't display my snakes, they are all kept individually in marine ply enclosures 800mm long, 600mm wide and 500mm high with a small glass observation window in the lockable lid. I have a 60W spot light at one end in the roof for heating that is connected to a thermostat set at 28deg C and a timer that is adjusted according to the time of year and relevant to the photoperiod. I use newspaper as a substrate (which is thick enough for the snake to use and get under if it desires), a wooden hide and provide 2 water bowls because RRB's seem to have a bit of a habit of depositing waste in water, so one of the bowls is too small for this to happen and provides fresh untainted water for the snake to drink.
Being a very active snake they need to be fed far more regularly than snakes such as pythons. They grow quickly and need to be fed a decent meal of appropriate size dependant upon their age every 5/6 days. Mine are currently around 1.3metres and in summer they can go through 5 or 6 large adult mice around every 5-7 days. Because of this their enclosures have to be cleaned regularly at least once (and sometimes twice) a week.
Hope this helps.
Regards,
George.
