Spit in eyes

Venomhunter · 01-27-16, 01:43 PM

Hi everyone, VH here with an educational story.

So i was doing some routine cleaning of my CB2015 Naja siamensis, and i was only wearing my casual clothing (t-shirt, khakis etc.) and of course some safety goggles.

She was rather feisty that day, just out of shed and hungry..
So, of course miss became cranky and started to spit all over me.
Got the cleaning done and fed her a nice fuzzy rat, i put her back in the enclosure (she was in a special box that i made for her so that i could work safely in her enclosure.)

Then i washed my hands but forgot my arms! A little while later i was taking care of the scorpions/spiders and i was sweating a bit because it was rather hot inside.
I wiped off my forehead with my left arm and moments later my eyes began to water and they hurt like heck.
I quickly went to wash them out with water and milk, after which it was still stinging so i called the doctor.
He gave me the advice to try to flush out my eyes once more with milk, after i did that the pain subsided for the most part, eyes were still watering a bit but that subsided in the following hour as well.

I got lucky that it wasn't more severe, it could also have been the hairs of a tarantula which are very irritating to the eyes as well.
But since i also got spit on my arms, and i didn't wash them chances are big that there was still a bit of venom on there.
I have never been spat in the eyes before so i didn't know what to expect (still not spat in the eyes by the way) but this was a mistake i'll never make again.
I will either put on a shirt with long sleeves or wash my arms thoroughly.

Greetings,

Venomhunter

prairiepanda · 01-27-16, 03:33 PM

Thanks for sharing. It's easy to overlook the little things like that.

When my tarantulas need to be transferred to larger enclosures, I do it in the bathtub to prevent escapes. Well, one time I was transferring a particularly trigger-happy B smithi who sent clouds of urticating hairs everywhere. I wore long sleeves and gloves, even a dust mask and goggles, and was careful not to disturb things too much when I took off my protective gear. But I forgot to rinse the tub...so the next time I took a shower, my feet started to burn like mad....

Not as serious and cobra venom, but nonetheless it is a risk to consider.

**Aaron_S** · 01-27-16, 06:03 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Venomhunter

Hi everyone, VH here with an educational story.

So i was doing some routine cleaning of my CB2015 Naja siamensis, and i was only wearing my casual clothing (t-shirt, khakis etc.) and of course some safety goggles.

She was rather feisty that day, just out of shed and hungry..
So, of course miss became cranky and started to spit all over me.
Got the cleaning done and fed her a nice fuzzy rat, i put her back in the enclosure (she was in a special box that i made for her so that i could work safely in her enclosure.)

Then i washed my hands but forgot my arms! A little while later i was taking care of the scorpions/spiders and i was sweating a bit because it was rather hot inside.
I wiped off my forehead with my left arm and moments later my eyes began to water and they hurt like heck.
I quickly went to wash them out with water and milk, after which it was still stinging so i called the doctor.
He gave me the advice to try to flush out my eyes once more with milk, after i did that the pain subsided for the most part, eyes were still watering a bit but that subsided in the following hour as well.

I got lucky that it wasn't more severe, it could also have been the hairs of a tarantula which are very irritating to the eyes as well.
But since i also got spit on my arms, and i didn't wash them chances are big that there was still a bit of venom on there.
I have never been spat in the eyes before so i didn't know what to expect (still not spat in the eyes by the way) but this was a mistake i'll never make again.
I will either put on a shirt with long sleeves or wash my arms thoroughly.

Greetings,

Venomhunter

I appreciate this story much more coming from someone with experience.

It shows that no matter what, you need to be ever vigilant when keeping venomous snakes.

Glad you're okay.

dave himself · 01-28-16, 03:02 AM

First of all, glad you're OK

. My friend has recently acquired a spitter I must show him this as it's something that could be so easily overlooked but so dangerous. Thanks for sharing mate

Venomhunter · 01-30-16, 05:06 PM

Thanks everyone! This was exactly what I intended with this topic.. To give an example that even something as simple as not washing your arms can have big consequences!

reptiledude987 · 02-01-16, 03:32 PM

I heard a similar story from a friend of minr. He has a purple spotted viper (unsure of scientific name). One day while in the process of putting it into a new enclosure it struck at the screen top (while on a higher shelf) and he felt a light mist of venom on his hair and back of his neck. once the snake was in its new home (where this wouldnt be able to happen anymore) he had a shower and washed his hair thoroughly. While rinsing his eyes started burning like crazy so he flushed them with water while still in the shower and washed again. He was lucky that it was quite dilluted from the first wash avoiding any major issues.

D Grade · 02-21-16, 06:08 PM

Scary story, VH. Glad everything turned out ok and no serious injuries were obtained.

macandchz · 02-21-16, 07:40 PM

glad to hear you are ok. i sure give you credit for handling venomous things. i could never do it!

sam · 02-21-16, 11:02 PM

And that is why I'm not gonna mess with spitting snakes, ever.

Herpo · 02-21-16, 11:14 PM

Thanks for sharing, should hopefully serve as a warning to those without much experience who want to get hots. If an experienced keeper can overlook this after years of care and observation, an inexperienced newbie can easily suffer a worse fate.

Can we get pics of the culprit?