SNAKES!

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Since Sis brought up the subject in the chat a few nights ago, and there was some interest, I though that just for GP I'd put up this piece that I wrote a few years back on snakes. The information is as accurate as I can make it, although some of the links may be now outdated. As will be apparent, this was writtten with the possibility of Y2K problems being troublesome, but the information is still valuable, especially if you happen to run across one of these guys!

First, some basics about snakes.

Non poisonous snakes will help keep mice, rats and other critters out of your stored food by eating them before they can find it, so call a truce with them.

Poisonous snakes do the same thing, but the consequences may well outweigh the benefits. The best way to deal with poisonous ones is:

a) know how to identify them

b) know how to avoid them

c) if you find yourself facing one, give him the opportunity to get away (Believe me, he'll take it if he sees it. You're MUCH bigger than he is, he knows that you're too big to eat and he is really more afraid of you than you are of him.)

d) if a,b & c don't work out, kill it rather than let it bite you

e) if, in spite of all this you get bit, know what to do and how to do it.

All snakes are cold blooded and follow these rules: If it's too cold (generally about 65 degrees F. but give yourself a safety margin), they can't move so they usually go underground before it gets that cold. "Underground" may well mean an old board, log, tree stump, brushpile or even a pile of dead leaves.

If it's too hot (about 100 degrees F. but, even more on the hot side than the cold, give yourself a safety margin), they'll die. When it's very hot, they'll hang out where it's cool. Likely places are anywhere out of direct sunlight and in standing water. Hot snakes are REAL irritable and aggressive.

Snakes sense much of the world around them through vibration. If "Jake the Snake" feels the ground begin to shake as a 900 foot tall being (you) stomps across the landscape, he's going to split, IF HE CAN. Most people who get snakebite have "snuk up on 'em and surprised 'em".

Most snakes CAN AND DO climb trees and other things. I have never heard of a rattler climbing a tree, but I lived next door to another Marine in North Carolina once who found one on his bedroom closet shelf. For some reason, copperheads seem to like peach trees. It's probably ALL fruit trees because they can find birds to eat there when the tree is bearing fruit, but I've personally only ever found them in peach trees.

"Make enough noise and watch where you put your hands and feet", is a good rule of thumb to avoid snakebite.

Snakes hibernate during the cold part of the year and are especially aggressive when they wake up and come out in the springtime. They are HUNGRY and very active.

Remember, snakes are not generally competing with humans for the same food supplies. Avoid them and they will avoid you. Most of them are good neighbors, IF you play by the rules.

There are only four "flavors" of poisonous snakes in the USA, outside of zoos (keep that in mind if you live near one). Every state has at least some of them, and some of them even live as far north as Canada. Mexico is loaded with them (they even have a rattlesnake on their flag!) and the farther south you go, the more "flavors" you'll find.

The four in the US are: Rattlesnakes, Copperheads, Water Moccasins and Coral Snakes

Coral snakes are found only in the South, parts of Texas, Florida, along the gulf coast and in the desert regions of the southwest. (also in Mexico). Their venom is neuro-toxic, which means that it attacks the nervous system. It is EXTREMELY deadly and if one gets you, you will die unless you take IMMEDIATE action. There's lots of good news about these guys though. First, they are brilliantly colored and very easy to spot. They have red, yellow and black bands around the entire length of their bodies. The old saying here is, "Red an' Yeller' Kill a feller." They are sometimes confused with the Scarlet King Snake which is about half the size and has the same red, yellow and black bands. On the King snake however, the yellow and red are never next to each other, thus the "red an' yeller. . ." folk wisdom. Coral Snakes have a black face and King Snakes have a red face. A really big Coral Snake is about 3 feet long and they are not an aggressive snake. I remember reading newspaper accounts as a boy about people who had brought them back from Florida vacations in a shoe box without knowing what they had. I don't remember ever reading about anyone having been bitten and I'm sure that I would have remembered reading THAT.

Pit Vipers

Rattlers, Copperheads and Water Moccasins (sometimes called "Cottonmouth" because some, but not all, have a white inside to their mouths), are all pit vipers. They have a heat sensing (infra-red) organ that is a small "pit" between the nostril and the eye, on each side of their head. The Pit is bigger than the nostril and is EXTREMELY sensitive to heat. They use it to locate and evaluate warm blooded prey. I have shot several rattlers, right through the head, and used to think it was because I was such a good shot. It was a humbling experience to discover that those heat sensing pits detect the muzzle flash and sometimes the snake gets "lucky" and "eats the bullet" as he strikes at it. In the USA, if the snake's head is distinctly triangular and reminds you of an arrowhead, IT IS POISONOUS and a pit viper. You will not mistake the head, if you can see it. All pit vipers strike from a coiled position and kill with their venom. Pit vipers have hemo-toxic venom, which means that it attacks your blood. The venom molecules attach themselves to the hemoglobin molecules in your blood. The two molecules are like locks and keys, and they only connect to each other in certain places which are electrically coded. Unfortunately for us, those places are also where the oxygen molecules need to connect to the hemoglobin. If there are enough venom molecules, you will "suffocate" on a cellular level.

Rattlesnakes come in lots of different sizes, from one to six feet in length and colors vary from black and white to tan and grey with diamond shaped patterns on their back. You will not mistake the triangular shaped head, and I promise you, once you have heard it, you will NEVER mistake the sound of the rattle again. The first time you ever hear it, it will freeze you in your tracks and make the hair stand up all over your body. It must be coded into our genes or something. My wife has a pair of earrings made from these rattles. They make an almost inaudible sound as her head moves, and when she wears them, people don't get too close to her, even though her hair usually covers them. The good news about rattlers is that they will usually warn you that they are there but don't count on it; it is very possible to sneak up on them.

Copperheads are various shades of brown with hourglass patterns on their back and in the springtime especially, provide a vivid contrast with anything green. The ones I've been unfortunate enough to come across were 2 to 2 1/2 feet long, but they can get as long as 4 feet or more. They are very difficult to spot on old oak leaves or dead pine needles, which is naturally where they tend to hang out. Again, the triangular head is the checkpoint. If you can spot the "pits", you're probably too close.

Water Moccasins are never very far from water of some sort and are ALWAYS very aggressive and territorial. This is the only poisonous snake in the US that will come after you and attack, even if you try to get away. It is also the LARGEST of the pit vipers (4 to 6 feet long and heavy bodied). They know EXACTLY where the limits of their territory are and IF YOU'RE IN IT, THEY WILL COME AFTER YOU. Be especially careful of branches that overhang the water. Again, the triangular head is the checkpoint. If you can spot the "pits" on this guy, you're DEFINITELY too close.

Well, if you've stuck with me through all this, in spite of the natural inclination to avoid anything to do with snakes, here's the good news. There is a simple, easy to perform and readily available treatment for ALL of these types of snakebite. You will need strong will-power or a strong friend, and it is unpleasantly painful, but it is guaranteed to work and leaves no after effects and will not harm you even if you've not had any venom injected. (IF you're unlucky enough to be bitten by a poisonous snake but lucky enough for it to happen just after the snake has used up the last of his venom on something else, he MAY not inject any venom. I've seen estimates that as many as 50% of rattler bites inject no venom. BUT, I'm a stakes gambler, not an odds gambler.)

I said earlier that the venom molecules attach based on an electrical coding. That's the key. A high frequency, high voltage electric current will scramble that coding and render the venom inert. The voltage needs to be on the order of 20,000 volts or more. Frequency is not critical. The most common place to find this is at the end of a spark plug wire from your car, or any engine that has enough plugs to keep running when you pull one off to use for treatment. About 30 to 45 seconds of playing the arc around the area of the bite is enough. You will almost certainly need help standing still for this and it will be easier done by someone other than yourself.

I have personally witnessed this procedure twice, once on a traveling companion in the jungle in Venezuela and once on my neighbors' cat.

Pat, my running mate in Venezuela, had been bitten on the hand by a "bushmaster" (a deadly hemo-toxic snake). One of the Indian guides held him down and the other one killed the snake and then fired up the three cylinder outboard motor. Using one plug wire, he worked it across Pat's hand for about one minute. These guys didn't speak any English, not much Spanish and they were using their own lingo a mile a minute all the while. Neither Pat nor I had any idea what was going on immediately, and Pat was naturally VERY excited. He had NO ILL EFFECTS however and even though it was two days before he could get a tetanus shot, he never even got sick.

Looking back on the other time is a hoot, although it wasn't very funny at the time. My neighbors have a lot of cats, and rattlesnakes are fairly common here. One day a young kitten, whose name no one but Lauralee remembers anymore, ran across a small rattler, and it bit her on the left front leg. My wife dispatched the snake and as it happened, Lauralee had read about this treatment somewhere. After making a hole in the side of a shoebox, she put the kitten inside and pulled the bitten leg through the hole. By the time it was through the hole, the kitten couldn't get it back out because it had swollen so badly. I started her pickup after my wife had got a plug wire in a pair of insulated pliers and the treatment began. As you might imagine, the noise coming out of the shoebox was pitiful. After about 20 seconds, the wound spat out some opaque, dirty yellow stuff and they quit with the plug wire. The kitten was held and comforted and finally calmed down. After several hours it was apparent that she would survive and she was renamed, "Fry Kitty." Fry Kitty was always very affectionate to people in general after that, but unusually so to Lauralee and my wife. She had numerous litters of her own for a long time after.

Now it may be that there is no internal combustion engine nearby when you need one, so I recommend either a cattle prod or a small "stun-gun" of the type sold for personal defense. They require Ni-Cad or some other sort of rechargeable batteries. You should also get a small Solar charger for the batteries. If things get bad, you will at least have a safe and effective snakebite cure.

------------------------------------------------------------- Palm Beach Herpetological Society

http://www.cdc.gov/niosh/nasd/docs/as31600.html

50% are dry. Squeezing the venom glands to inject is a voluntary reflex. In that strikes against humans are generally defensive actions, it is estimated that no venom is purposely injected about half the time. This holds true with the pit vipers. With the Coral Snake the amount of venom injected is directly related to the size of the snake and the length of time it holds on to the victim. ------------------------------------------------------------- Picture of a Coral Snake

http://www.netmedicine.com/img/img0009.jpg

---------------------------------------------------------------- Color photo of stun-gun used as snake bite kit, plus sales info

http://www.nova-usa.com/SB2100.htm

----------------------------------------------------------------- The General Snake Forum

http://www.kingsnake.com/forum/gnrl_snake//messages/226.html

VENOM STRENGTHS OF SOME SNAKES NAME OF SNAKE

QUANTITY VENOM DELIVERED LETHAL HUMAN DOSE

EASTERN CORAL SNAKE 3-5 mg 4 mg

AMERICAN COPPERHEAD 40-70 mg 100 mg COTTONMOUTH MOCCASIN 100-150 mg 125 mg RATTLESNAKES EASTERN DIAMONDBACK 400-700 mg 100 mg WESTERN DIAMONDBACK 200-300 mg 100 mg TIMBER 100-150 mg 75 mg MOJAVE 50-90 mg 15 mg BUSHMASTER 200-400 mg 150 mg

------------------------------------------------------------- Snake Bite @

http://www.flash.net/~bhphiker/BHP/wisdom/Panel_11_Snake_bite.html

". . .the assumption that the active components of snake venom were enzymes. . . However, subsequent studies have determined that most of the toxins in snake venom are peptides." -------------------------------------------------------------------

-- Hardliner (searcher@internet.com), March 22, 2000

Answers

When I originally posted the above, it generated a fair bit of discussion about the electric shock treatment that I had described, so I researched it a bit, and here are the resutlts.

Wow! I have just taken a whirlwind tour of the world of snakebite! I have been to Florida, Chicago, Arizona, Texas, South Africa, Australia and lots of other places in cyber space. Much of the information I found is repetitive of what you will find in the first snakebit posting on this thread. That which was not, I will attempt to present here either by citing the source (if really good stuff) or by posting the URL (if too long, less valuable, contradictory, relating to non-US snakes, etc.) I shall attempt to summarize my findings in order to avoid an extremely long thread.

The first thing that I discovered was that the Bushmaster snake that bit my companion DOES NOT have primarily neuro-toxic venom. I learned that this guy is a pit viper of the same group as rattlers, but still very deadly. I also learned that although snake venom is primarily hemo or neuro-toxic in a particular snake, they all have some properties of both. ("Gradwohl's Legal Medicine", 2nd Ed., John Wright & Sons, Ltd., 1968, London, U.K., Chap.45, pp.665-668)

After reading what many others had to say and report, I feel that I should state clearly that which I did not in the first post. Recorded reports of poisonous snakebite in the US, although varied and often contradictory in number, had one thing in common. That was, that almost no one died of these bites. DO NOT take this to mean snakebit is not deadly serious stuff. A bite in which the snake actually injects venom will cause extensive tissue damage and disfigurement nearly 100% of the time. The next most common result is THE LOSS OF A LIMB, followed closely by loss of function in some way. Some of the accounts by victims described in graphic and disturbing detail, the progression of symptoms and the experience of pain. You may not die, but might wish you had. The implications for a post Y2K setting are not very comforting.

If you are interested in information beyond what I will present here, try a search with one of the Web Search Engines, using "snake bite treatment." (I first tried "snake bite" and got an awful lot of pages telling me how to mix cocktails!)

When I visited this site, I learned about the MOJAVE Rattlesnake, which may be of particular interest to those of you in Southern California. It is described as primarily Neuro-toxic and almost as deadly as a Coral Snake.

The General Snake Forum

http://www.kingsnake.com/forum/gnrl_snake//messages/226.html

The following site had the only detailed information concerning the electro shock treatment that I found. There were other references to electric shock treatment on the 'net, and they ranged from a page by a 9th grader that said, "IT DOES NOT WORK," to the following description by a working herpetologist. Medical sites at hospitals and universities simply did not mention it, but gave detailed clinical information regarding "Accepted, Approved Medical Treatment." There were many disclaimers of responsibility for ALL treatment information.

Brazos River Rattlesnake Ranch POB 1655 D Weatherford, Texas 76086

http://www.wf.net/~snake/index.html

The electroshock treatment is among the newer methods reported at achieving reasonable success in bite treatment. This is not yet considered traditional even though the earliest reports of application date quite some time back. These were not United States based field experiences and were thus less likely to end up as being counted as having moved through the time tested process of being considered traditional first aid. Still, the potentials for successful first aid reported in this area have been quite impressive. The book may continue to be open on this matter, but the approach itself, like the others, may present a contribution to an overall process that seeks out the best results.

In this approach, the direct application of electric current to the bite locale is the central focus. Various presentations deliver this shock in different manners. The theory seems to rest in the basis of a very high voltage thrust at a very low amperage. Now, it is evident that whenever the application of electricity to live tissue is involved, there are some strong considerations to keep in mind. Just how much voltage is high enough? What is low amperage? Where and how often is this applied? These are serious questions and all need to be played out to establish some base line formulas for treatment. Research is still underway seeking to outline these parameters.

Some people foolishly assume that since electricity is so widely utilized in the medical field for a very wide range of treatment and testing purposes, it surely cannot be that complicated to apply the principles to snake bite first aid. Anytime that high voltage, poor field conditions, a dose of frantic panic, severe pain, and the like are a part of the situation, great care should be placed upon decision making to use this technique. Yet, as a method of first aid it has much to offer and cannot be discounted due to the downside characteristics. The same principles applied to the other methods must be applied here as well.

Generally, it is accepted that DC current is more suitable for the method. This means stay away from electric plug in receptacles in a wall somewhere! (the preceding confuses me because all of the sources mentioned next are AC! - JR) The proper current can be obtained from older coil based gasoline engine ignition systems. Things such as outboard motors, lawn mowers, car or jeep engines, and the like have been pressed into service. There are currently small modified versions of the stun gun which are touted as being effective portable units sufficient to deliver the necessary shock.

The idea is to hit the area with enough voltage to damage the cellular molecules of the venom. This must be accomplished at the same time that low enough amps are used to prevent tissue burning, organ damage, convulsions, and a host of other possibilities being experienced from uncontrolled voltage. This is definitely a precision approach with seeing to it that proper safeguards are being maintained. Past successes have reported that voltage in the 100K level coupled with amps at the 1 or 2 level seem to be workable.

The bite area is tapped quickly in one second bursts of six or seven spots in a circular fashion around the wound. Earlier taps are closer in an effort to logically reach venom before it spreads farther out. As time in minutes progresses and swelling or other symptoms move outward, the electric taps move outward also. It has been reported that beginning immediately with the bite itself in time, a series of taps every 10 to 15 minutes for the first hour may work to reduce the impact of the venom.

It should be obvious that having ready access to such a shock source is a central feature of this approach. To expend hours seeking out or building a power source is not practical. The idea in all treatments is to respond to the presence of the poison very rapidly! The sooner some can be removed, or in the case of this latter treatment, be damaged in some way, the less likely the onset or the lower the peak of some of the more negative symptoms.

It is widely held that the shock properly accomplished has the direct effect of changing the shape of the venom cell such that the adhering quality to whole blood cells is reduced, thereby rendering at least a portion of the venom less able to produce the designed results. As a first aid tool, this approach also must be coupled with safe transport to competent medical service. Additionally, antiseptic procedures should be applied throughout as practical. The history of this approach is more limited but it certainly makes up for late ground by holding the most dramatic claims for rapid success in treatment with minimal resulting damage levels.

This method requires a deeper investigative effort and such a continuing study is supported with great hope by those who have experienced the pain of a bite with all of the negatives associated with other treatment courses.



-- Hardliner (searcher@internet.com), March 22, 2000.


Thanks Hardliner!

Last summer we got home at dusk and stepped into a group of five copperheads a few feet from our house. At least, we killed five copperheads all at once...who knows how many more were there? I'll keep the stun gun handy.

-- helen (handbasket_helena@hotmail.com), March 22, 2000.


Good information, Hardliner. My cousin's wife devotes her life to "snake education." He has a website with pretty cool pictures of the snakes they've rescued from the desert, and his wife volunteers both at their local zoo [in the educational program] and in rescue efforts when folks find snakes and don't know what to do.

Snakes [even the innocuous type] have been feared for too long. We had a male and female garter snake [garden snake?] when my kids were young. They're very relaxing to watch and are viviparous. We missed the birthing while on vacation, and the snake-sitter only kept about 6 of the young, which soon escaped into unknown areas of the house. My neighbor [who also cleaned my house at that time] was visiting one evening and I said "Just sit still a minute." and got up from my chair. The next thing I knew she was standing on the table. We fed the snakes things like night-crawlers, crickets, and goldfish, and one of the crickets had escaped from the cage. I asked if she was afraid of crickets when I saw her standing on the table. She said, "No. I thought you saw one of the missing snakes."

-- Anita (notgiving@anymore.thingee), March 22, 2000.


Now I am going to have nightmares.

-- Lilly (homesteader145@yahoo.com), March 24, 2000.

And, yes, as you might expect from me, I'm gonna bring up the food aspects of the subject.

Having eaten rattlesnake on several ocassions, I can attest to the fact that they ARE good to eat. Pan fried is my favorite.

It is advised NOT to treat them like GAK and attempt to eat them alive. It is much less troublesome to kill them first.

-Got Salt ?

--Greybear (what did you expect?)

-- Greybear (greybear@home.com), April 02, 2000.



I happen to like snakes. Spiders on the other hand...

At a visit to a snake zoo, they had an informational talk about snakes that one could attend, so this one did. The most common location of a snake bite is not on the leg or foot (as one would expect) but on the hand or arm. Apparently most bites happen because dweebs see the snake disappearing down its hole and grab it to get a better look!

It amazes me that the Darwin Awards don't have many, many more nominees.

-- Tricia the Canuck, shaking her head in disbelief (jayles@telusplanet.net), April 02, 2000.


I'm not sure of the question...but about HVDC treatment for snakebite. If it doesn't work, why did the U.S.ARMY distribute a "stun gun" type device to so many(I don't know how many) of it's troups to use instead of EXPENSIVE and DANGEROUS pharmaceuticals? Then, why did the pharmaceutical companies pay politicians a lot of money to have it declared a medical device instead of first aid? Then the drug companies threatened to sue the army, and to sue anyone else who treated snakebite, even effectively! with HVDC(electric shock).

-- jeff mclaughlin (jj2h@hotmail.com), June 17, 2002.

i'm doing a school project and i need a picture of a thread snake. i live in an area that is rich with copperheads, rattlers and h2o moccs. i have tased them but have never used a stun gun as first aid. please send me a pic.would appreciate them.

-- tobius brady (p.brady3@verizon.net), October 11, 2002.

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