What Is A Snake Hook & Why You Should Use One

What is a Snake Hook

For people who are wondering what a snake hook is, it’s a tool used by either snake owners or herpetologists who need a way to safely capture or move a snake.

For pet owners at home they are often used as a way to signify to the snake that it is going to be handled. This is good practice as it is a great way of ensuring you don’t get bitten (struck).

Your snake like the Boa featured in the video may be either in feeding mode or near it and you don’t want to put your hand in the way of that.

Below are a couple of guides, one for learning how to use a snake hook and how to train your snake to get used to it and the other is how to make a snake hook.

How to Hook Train Your Snake

Hook training your snake is quite simple really, all you need to do is take the side of the hook and gently rub the snake before taking it out. Once the snake has been made aware of your presence you should be able to reach in to grab it, but since you have the hook in the enclosure already, you may as well just pull it out with that.

DIY Snake Hook Instructions

When looking for ways to make a snake hook, I came across two methods which seemed quite feasible. One is much easier than the other, but both are good options.

The paint roller method

The first method and my preferred method if you choose to make your own snake hook would be to basically buy a small paint roller and an extension bar. You can choose the length, but I would say a 3 foot bar is more than enough.

Cost for something like this can range depending on quality but you can pick something up for around 15 – 20 bucks.

Items Needed

• Mini Paint Roller kit with pole

The modified golf club method

The golf club method is a bit more labor intensive than the option above using the paint roller.

The cost for this is a bit higher than the first option, especially when you factor in your time to building this. Used Clubs vary in cost, but you can probably buy one at a garage sale for let’s say 10 bucks or so. Then you need to factor in the glue, tape, and tools as well.

Supplies Needed

• Used Golf Club (Get at a local garage sale)
• Steel Rod 1/4 x 3/8 bar (Get at a local hardware store)
• Gorilla Glue
• Electrical Tape
• Vice you can use the tube end to make bends

Steps

1. Take your golf club and remove the head
2. Next take your piece of steel rod (14 x 3/8) and cut it down to be about 10 inches.
3. Next grind or file any edges off of the ends to make sure it is smooth.
4. Now take the steel rod and bend it around a bar from the middle or using the vice (on the anvil) to around 100 degrees.
5. Then take the end which will go into the golf club and stick roughly 3 inches in the vice and bend it to around 80 degrees.
6. To finalize the hook take the golf head you removed and stick the end that will go into the golf club shaft into it and bend it accordingly to get the final shape.
7. Now that you have your hook shaped you can prepare to combine the two items using Gorilla Glue.
8. Take a wet paper towel or rag and wet the hook porting to be inserted into the shaft and wet the inside of the shaft as well. The water will cause a reaction with the glue making it expand and filling the gaps.
9. Once everything is wet apply the Gorilla Glue to the hook and to the inside of the shaft.
10. Next insert the hook into the shaft giving it a good turn to make sure it is secure.
11. Then add some water again which will help the glue expand, simply wipe off the excess that comes out of the shaft.
12. Lastly take some electrical tape and just wrap around the joint to ensure there are no sharp edges and to make a clean finish.

What is the Best Snake Hook

Now that you have seen how to make a snake hook above, let’s talk about what’s available on the market.

Basically for just a little bit more money you can buy a high quality snake hook without dealing with any of the side issues of your homemade version.

Zoo Med offers a nice cost effective collapsible snake hook which can be handy for small and medium snakes. It extends from 7-1/4 inches to 26 inches (18cm to 66cm).

There isn’t much to say about it really as there aren’t many options for a snake hook. We feel that for smaller snakes the Zoo Med Deluxe Collapsible Snake Hook is one of the best you can get, especially for the price.

If you have a larger snake the DocSeward Snake hook is a perfect pick. It has a solid 5 star rating and people just generally seem satisfied with it. It is sturdy, doesn’t have any sharp edges, and looks pretty stylish too.

Our Thoughts

Now that you know what a snake hook is, how to make one, and what the best snake hook is, I think you are in a good place to making a decision if one is right for you.

In our opinion, having a snake hook on hand is a handy tool, and if we had to choose for time, cost, and effort I would highly advise you to just buy a quality snake hook like the the Zoo Med or the DocSeward ones mentioned above straight away.

For one you will ensure it is safe, secondly it will be reliable. With time the glue in your home made fixture may wear out, and that could become frustrating resulting in you just buying a snake hook anyways.

Let us know what option you went with in the comments below and don’t forget to check out or list of snake tools every snake owner needs to have!

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