Ever been bitten by a venomous snake?

mistersprinkles · 10-30-13, 11:16 AM

If you've been bitten by a venomous snake and survived to tell the tale, post here!

I was bitten by a large European Adder when I was about 12.

They're barely venomous so I didn't have any issues.

marvelfreak · 10-30-13, 03:05 PM

Not much of a story. We need more detail. Did it swell, did you go to the hospital, what were you doing when it happen?

BTW i believe Jerry been bit a couple times.

mistersprinkles · 10-30-13, 08:08 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by marvelfreak

Not much of a story. We need more detail. Did it swell, did you go to the hospital, what were you doing when it happen?

BTW i believe Jerry been bit a couple times.

I was 12. I saw a snake and I tried to catch it. It bit me. I didn't know what it was at the time but I later looked in a book and it was a European Adder.
That's about it.

No pain, no swelling. Felt sort of like a bee sting but from the world's weakest bee.

SSSSnakes · 10-30-13, 08:27 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by marvelfreak

Not much of a story. We need more detail. Did it swell, did you go to the hospital, what were you doing when it happen?

BTW i believe Jerry been bit a couple times.

Jerry has only been bitten once, by a Western Diamondback Rattlesnake. I have learned not to skip safety procedures when working with the venomous snakes.

The bite was very painful. Was air lifted to nearest hospital and spent a week in there. Lost part of my thumb. Had major welling of the hand and arm. 14 years later I still experience pain in cold weather in that hand.

mistersprinkles · 10-30-13, 09:38 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by SSSSnakes

Jerry has only been bitten once, by a Western Diamondback Rattlesnake. I have learned not to skip safety procedures when working with the venomous snakes.

The bite was very painful. Was air lifted to nearest hospital and spent a week in there. Lost part of my thumb. Had major welling of the hand and arm. 14 years later I still experience pain in cold weather in that hand.

That really sucks man.

. Sorry for your pain.

SSSSnakes · 10-31-13, 07:52 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mistersprinkles

That really sucks man.

. Sorry for your pain.

Thank you, but that was on 5/15/99. The very day I was out of the hospital, I was back handling the venomous snakes and cleaning the enclosures. Just being more careful.

Lankyrob · 10-30-13, 06:22 PM

European adders are no worse than a bee sting unless you have allergies.

Roman · 11-02-13, 06:08 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lankyrob

European adders are no worse than a bee sting unless you have allergies.

Don’t underestimate the European Adder.

Of course you are right that a bite of a healthy adult causes only minor symptoms in almost all cases. It might be more dangerous for children or older people. Most of the time a bite causes only some swelling and local pain, in a few cases it caused also a small necrosis. All of this will usually heal within a few weeks.

But there are some rare cases where the victims were not so lucky. I remember a fatal bite here in Germany about two or three years ago. A woman was bitten by Vipera berus and died from it. As far as you could read from the press releases she died not from any allergic reaction or anaphylactic shock but from the venom itself.

The venom of Vipera berus is quite potent. Because of the small size of the snake the usual amount of venom per bite is too small to harm an adult, but there are exceptions.

I found the following reference in

Jiri Valenta: Venomous Snakes – Envenoming, Therapy
New York: Nova Science Publishers, Inc. 2010

Dr. Valenta provides a chart comparing the LD100 of different venomous snakes for 100 g of mice. The LD100 (or CLD – certain lethal dose) is the minimum dose with 100% lethality for a certain amount of mice, here how much venom kills 100 g of mice.

LD100 for 100 g of mice

Vipera berus 0.250 mg

Compared to

Common Seasnake (Enhydriana schistose) 0.015 mg
Coastal Taipan (Oxyuranus scutellatus) 0.017 mg
Indian Cobra (Naja naja) 0.024 mg
Southern Coral Snake (Micrurus frontalis) 0.250 mg
Egyptian Cobra (Naja haje) 0.400 mg
Puff Adder (Bitis arietans) 0.600 mg
Western Diamond-backed Rattlesnake (Crotalus atrox) 1.900 mg

(Those are only some examples of his chart)

He provided also another chart about the lethal doses for a human and a maximum quantity of venom in mg of dry matter

The human lethal dose for Vipera berus is 15 mg of dry matter, the max. quantity of venom for most snakes is 10 mg, but they found some adders with 18 up to 39 mg.

So in almost all cases the bite of Vipera berus will have no or only light symptoms at all, but under the right (or better wrong) circumstances a bite might cause a serious envenomation and might end fatal.

As for the original question, I was never bitten by any venomous snake, I got some bites from my colubrids, the most recent bite was from my large male Spilotes pullatus.

Roman

dinosaurdammit · 10-30-13, 07:55 PM

Water moccasin when i was 13- who knew they liked to chill out in trees you try and climb. Flu like symptoms, lots of pain, swelling and my gums bled a bit but in about a week I was right as rain. I didnt even get any thing for it cept some pain management and antibiotics >:I

shaunyboy · 10-31-13, 01:00 PM

a well known keeper i know here in the UK,lost 1 of his fingers after being bit by an Albino Cobra

personally ive only been bitten by harmless Carpet Pythons

cheers shaun

Kera · 10-31-13, 01:59 PM

And I'm proudly still not part of this club. Never been bit.

SSSSnakes · 10-31-13, 02:38 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kera

And I'm proudly still not part of this club. Never been bit.

If you keep venomous snakes, the saying is; It is not if you get bit, but when. My first venomous bite was almost 20 years after I started handling venomous snakes. I was one of those that thought it would never happen to me. I took may stupid chances before my bite.

**Aaron_S** · 10-31-13, 04:29 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by SSSSnakes

If you keep venomous snakes, the saying is; It is not if you get bit, but when. My first venomous bite was almost 20 years after I started handling venomous snakes. I was one of those that thought it would never happen to me. I took may stupid chances before my bite.

First, I'm glad you're alive.

Second, I'm glad you're alive to tell this tale to would be arrogant venomous keepers.