Snake Bites

[Mai Krap]

Recently a lady who feeds dogs was severely bitten by a snake out in a field near a friends home. I understand she later died but has anyone known of anyone being bitten who actually lived. It is a fact that in many cases large cobras bite but do not inject venom as they reserve it for something a size they can eat. While that it is not always true its a least something to hope for if one is bitten.

Ive came very close to being bitten 2 times here, Within inches of a strike. When I lived on Ko Chang they were set up for snakebites but I'm not sure about Isan or even Bangkok. Do any of the forum members have any ideas on this subject? While there have been many snake related postings I cannot remember a Snake Bite topic.

I have been down to the Red Cross by Lumpini and checked out their snake collection but I could not find any statistics available like how many people are bitten, how many survive bites, which provinces have more snake bites, and similar things. I recently came across this snake bite website about a rattlesnake and they are not even deadly and the damage from the bite was horrific. The pictures are quite graphic of the recovery but damm interesting, it sure got me to thinking. Now I don't walk anywhere without a long piece of bamboo for support and snake charming.

Very Detailed Snakebite Recovery Photos, "Warning don't view while eating!"

[londonthai]

some 1000 snake bites and some 45 deaths a year - law in comparison to the other south east asian countries.

fast medical care (anti-venom) and general awareness of the danger are the most important - and that improved over the years.

worth to bring the dead snake or it's picture (or a detailed description) to the hospital

[Ijustwannateach]

An acquaintance was bitten on the hand outside her home by one of those small green red-tailed snakes- which are apparently very aggressive but not so deadly- however, she still had to stay in hospital for 3-4 days and the entire arm was swollen and painful.

[Farma]

Here are a few incidents I’ve personally witnessed. All survived.

A nephew swimming in a flooded creek placed his hand in an underwater hole. He felt a bite and had fang marks on his arm. He rode his motorbike to the village nurse. She monitored him for half an hour and he showed no signs of ill health. The nurse sent him home saying it was probably a fish snake that bit him.

A traveling snake catcher was showing off the snakes he’d caught that day. As he pulled one out of the bag it bit him multiple times. Luckily it was a rat snake and no harm was done apart from damaged pride.

A farang friend rather stupidly thought a coiled up snake was a large worm. It bit him on the finger as he tried to pick it up. One of the fangs broke off in his finger. He walked to a shed and sat down thinking it would pass.

Without knowing better he held his arm above his head. This just helped the poison spread through his body. Within 15 minute he started vomiting and feeling dizzy. Hearing about the incident I organized friends to rush him to hospital while I caught and killed the snake for hospital identification.

I caught up with him at the hospital about 20 minutes later. By this stage he was receiving emergency medical attention, on oxygen and about to be admitted into ICU. He was constantly vomiting with very distinct red lines around his eyelashes.

He spent 4 days in ICU and received an unknown number of antivenin injections. The snake as identified as a cobra. It took months for the problems with his finger to ease. His finger is now a useless piece of skin and bone.

[sukanyacondo]

Its also worth bearing in mind with this sort of topic more than 13000 die every year on motorbike accidents which could easily be prevented having just taught my wife to drive properly, use of mirrors etc etc . The pics are gruesome but very interesting incredible what can be done I wonder what the costs involved with repairing this sort of damage would have been?

[sleepyjohn]

Natural poisons are intensely effective. I once stood on a sting ray (I guess) in Senegal. I thought a fish had bit me on the heel. Over the next hour or two it intensified drastically and I started breaking out in sweat at dinner. I ended up lying on my bed rolling from side to side in simply unbearable pain. My girlfriend got the doctor. He said the only thing you can do is anaesthetise the foot which he did. I was lucky when the anaesthetic wore off so did the pain. That little hole must have itched for a year and i mean an itch beyond all itches while it refused to heal.

I used to go on snake hunts when I was a nipper. They may be waiting to get me back. They can be a whole lot nastier.

[Sanpatong]

Friendly advice: Kill all snakes on sight; ask questions later. Especially those venturing near your house. Some big poles/sticks of various sizes work wonders.

[snowflake]

Friendly advice: Kill all snakes on sight; ask questions later. Especially those venturing near your house. Some big poles/sticks of various sizes work wonders.

Poor snakes, I was sitting at my friends house a few days ago when a Thai woman came running up the road... She yelled something it Thai to her BF/husband and ran back to him. A few minutes later she came up the road looking for someone, this is at 9pm so everyone here is asleep... I asked her in Thai if she had a problem and if we could help (thinking domestic things) and then she said snake... Can we kill it?

My friend and I walked over and this little cute snake about 60 cm... (kill me if I am wrong) laid coiled up with her BF using a flashlight to show it to me... I grabbed the stick she had and a mop,,,

Smacked the head of the snake and repeated about 10 times... My friend was telling me how mean it was to kill a snake... I was a bad boy...

Two days later playing golf I stepped on a green snake, about 1 meter long... It didn't bite me, guess it was more scared than I was... I let that one live...

Some snakes have to be killed (the ones in my yard or in my MOOBAAN) other can live...

[elkangorito]

Killing something just because you think it is bad is exactly the policy of the incredibly stupid U.S. administration.

Most snakes are afraid of us humans, primarily because we are much bigger & noisier. Also & as another poster pointed out, we are far too big for them too eat. If you give a snake a bit of space, it will usually leave without a fuss. Killing snakes will add to the amount of vermin in any given location. Who was that poster who said to kill all snakes? I hope your balls turn square & fester at the edges!

First aid is incredibly simple & incredibly effective. As in snake infested Australia, households in Thailand could be instructed upon the first aid requirements for poisonous creatures. The equipment required is about 6 x 3" (3 inches wide) crepe roller bandages. If bitten by snakes or spiders, the bitten limb can be firmly bandaged. This is called a constrictive bandage. The complete limb should be bandaged double & quite firmly. If this is done within 10 minutes of being bitten (& also providing you have been not moving about), the poison will not travel through the body. As a matter of fact, most people can expect between 6 to 8 hours before any affects of the poison are experienced. This has been life saving treatment for poisonous bites in Australia for many years.

This treatment should not be used to treat marine stings/bites.

[sleepyjohn]

Tip

I guess I was told it when I was a kid and still do it to this day.....

If ever I am walking in snake type grass or undergrowth I stamp a foot every few paces.

[percy2]

First aid is incredibly simple & incredibly effective. As in snake infested Australia, households in Thailand could be instructed upon the first aid requirements for poisonous creatures. The equipment required is about 6 x 3" (3 inches wide) crepe roller bandages. If bitten by snakes or spiders, the bitten limb can be firmly bandaged. This is called a constrictive bandage. The complete limb should be bandaged double & quite firmly. If this is done within 10 minutes of being bitten (& also providing you have been not moving about), the poison will not travel through the body. As a matter of fact, most people can expect between 6 to 8 hours before any affects of the poison are experienced. This has been life saving treatment for poisonous bites in Australia for many years.

This treatment should not be used to treat marine stings/bites.

Thanks for that.

Cheers

[jackmuu]

Thank god I live in the city

A Thai friend once told me they wouldn't kill snakes because they believe they will come back and eat your babies.....

This from an "educated" Bangkok family too.....scary, I would favour the lump of wood myself, blody horrible creatures, ugh!

[Filer]

A can of aerosol insecticide spray may be a useful additional weapon against snakes.

For a while I worked in the insecticide business (large international insecticides group with tropical involvement). We were very strong on natural-based insecticides (from the pyrethrum flower) and synthetic derivatives of them. These are still the predominant active ingredient in most contact sprays for flying insects today, because they are essentially harmless to humans and mammals (as opposed to other more toxic sprays, with a long residual effect - for crawling insects, which may contain all sorts of harmful chemicals).

While harmless to warm-blooded animals, these flying-insect sprays are quite harmful to cold-blooded things, reptiles and fish, because of the way that the active ingredient works on their nervous systems. (You should always cover up your fish tank if you use them in the house.)

These sprays have been used successfully to deter and kill snakes when nothing else was available - a piece of info not much known outside the insecticides industry.

Check your insecticde cans and look for ingredients which mention pyrethrum/pyrethrins or the synthetic bioallethrin, permethrin, tetramethrin etc (things which contain the letters '..ethrin..'). Most big cans of fly/mosquito spray which I have seen in Thailand are made this way. I always check them when I buy, to make sure that I'll not be spraying something toxic in my air (although I think that most manufacturers have in fact now stopped putting really toxic stuff stuff in fly/mosquito sprays).

So keep a can of fly/mosquito spray handy and spray it hard towards the snake if you've no other weapon. The snake will almost certainly go away.

I've often wondered whether frequent spraying of these insecticides on the ground and vegetation around the house (not with aerosol sprays but with bulk insecticide and industrial sprayers) would create a discomfort zone for snakes. The problem of course is that these insecticides are short lived (aimed at catching insects on the wing) and you would have to repeat it frequently. Mosquito coils usually contain a pure, basic form of pyrethrum and ought in theory to deter snakes. if you have them alight close to your house.

[LPCustom69]

Those pictures are pretty intense. I'm glad that the victim recovered.

Recently a lady who feeds dogs was severely bitten by a snake out in a field near a friends home. I understand she later died but has anyone known of anyone being bitten who actually lived. It is a fact that in many cases large cobras bite but do not inject venom as they reserve it for something a size they can eat. While that it is not always true its a least something to hope for if one is bitten.

Ive came very close to being bitten 2 times here, Within inches of a strike. When I lived on Ko Chang they were set up for snakebites but I'm not sure about Isan or even Bangkok. Do any of the forum members have any ideas on this subject? While there have been many snake related postings I cannot remember a Snake Bite topic.

I have been down to the Red Cross by Lumpini and checked out their snake collection but I could not find any statistics available like how many people are bitten, how many survive bites, which provinces have more snake bites, and similar things. I recently came across this snake bite website about a rattlesnake and they are not even deadly and the damage from the bite was horrific. The pictures are quite graphic of the recovery but damm interesting, it sure got me to thinking. Now I don't walk anywhere without a long piece of bamboo for support and snake charming.

Very Detailed Snakebite Recovery Photos, "Warning don't view while eating!"

[elkangorito]

Other info;

From NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service

http://www.nationalparks.nsw.gov.au/npws.n...ake+season_here

If you are unlucky enough to be bitten by a snake try and identify it but if this is not possible there are kits available to doctors that use a blood or venom sample left on the skin to do this. Most important thing to do is to apply a broad firm bandage over the affected area and immobilise the limb and the person totally. This bandage needs to be not to tight so that it can be left on the victim. A doctor is the only person who should remove it. Since many snakes inject venom into the lymphatic system a constrictive bandage may stop the movement of venom totally. Do not use a tourniquet and do not try to excise the wound and suck the venom out.

I emphasise the advice against the use of a tourniquet, as indicated on some Thai snake websites. Unless you know what you are doing, tourniquets are dangerous & may cause great & permanent damage to the victim, &/or kill them.

My grandfather, who was a well versed bushman, gave me some very simple & life saving advice;

a] avoid going into the bush in summer because you'll have to carry large quantities of water, bushfires are very possible & there are many things 'active' that can bite & kill you.

b] if you must go into bush/scrub land, wear strong long pants & tough leather boots. Also carry a hat. The hat is for 2 reasons;

i] to protect you from the sun and

ii] if you are confronted by a snake that may attack you, simply throw the hat at the snake. It will attack the hat & you will have ample time to escape.

I have seen my grandfather use his hat to kill many a pregnant snake (female Red-belly Black snakes & female Brown snakes are particularly aggressive when pregnant). He threw his hat at the snake, grabbed its' tale, whirled it around above his head & then cracked it like a whip. The snakes head was immediately snapped off.

Aside from his occassional killing of a snake, he always told me to avoid killing snakes wherever possible as they are very beneficial for our society.

[Pink Mist]

Killing something just because you think it is bad is exactly the policy of the incredibly stupid U.S. administration.

Most snakes are afraid of us humans, primarily because we are much bigger & noisier. Also & as another poster pointed out, we are far too big for them too eat. If you give a snake a bit of space, it will usually leave without a fuss. Killing snakes will add to the amount of vermin in any given location. Who was that poster who said to kill all snakes? I hope your balls turn square & fester at the edges!

First aid is incredibly simple & incredibly effective. As in snake infested Australia, households in Thailand could be instructed upon the first aid requirements for poisonous creatures. The equipment required is about 6 x 3" (3 inches wide) crepe roller bandages. If bitten by snakes or spiders, the bitten limb can be firmly bandaged. This is called a constrictive bandage. The complete limb should be bandaged double & quite firmly. If this is done within 10 minutes of being bitten (& also providing you have been not moving about), the poison will not travel through the body. As a matter of fact, most people can expect between 6 to 8 hours before any affects of the poison are experienced. This has been life saving treatment for poisonous bites in Australia for many years.

This treatment should not be used to treat marine stings/bites.

can't agree more, the toxin travels up the extremities, so firm bandaging reduces this, staying still is just as important, keep the heart rate down.

[draggons]

I would think any of us living out in the country are use to the presance of snakes, they're certainly common out with us, think we've still got one living under the house. As someone mentioned I stamp my feet when out with the mutt last thing at night.

[pop_corn]

Wow, I never saw something like that before, how good was the recovery of that person!!

at least a good end. I dislike snakes, but also disagree with killing them, c'mon they r not enemies, just animals, i rather preffer to put them in a safe place for them, and for us. (if i ever caugh one) (hope not!)

lol!!

[Tony Clifton]

A can of aerosol insecticide spray may be a useful additional weapon against snakes.

For a while I worked in the insecticide business (large international insecticides group with tropical involvement). We were very strong on natural-based insecticides (from the pyrethrum flower) and synthetic derivatives of them. These are still the predominant active ingredient in most contact sprays for flying insects today, because they are essentially harmless to humans and mammals (as opposed to other more toxic sprays, with a long residual effect - for crawling insects, which may contain all sorts of harmful chemicals).

While harmless to warm-blooded animals, these flying-insect sprays are quite harmful to cold-blooded things, reptiles and fish, because of the way that the active ingredient works on their nervous systems. (You should always cover up your fish tank if you use them in the house.)

These sprays have been used successfully to deter and kill snakes when nothing else was available - a piece of info not much known outside the insecticides industry.

Check your insecticde cans and look for ingredients which mention pyrethrum/pyrethrins or the synthetic bioallethrin, permethrin, tetramethrin etc (things which contain the letters '..ethrin..'). Most big cans of fly/mosquito spray which I have seen in Thailand are made this way. I always check them when I buy, to make sure that I'll not be spraying something toxic in my air (although I think that most manufacturers have in fact now stopped putting really toxic stuff stuff in fly/mosquito sprays).

So keep a can of fly/mosquito spray handy and spray it hard towards the snake if you've no other weapon. The snake will almost certainly go away.

I've often wondered whether frequent spraying of these insecticides on the ground and vegetation around the house (not with aerosol sprays but with bulk insecticide and industrial sprayers) would create a discomfort zone for snakes. The problem of course is that these insecticides are short lived (aimed at catching insects on the wing) and you would have to repeat it frequently. Mosquito coils usually contain a pure, basic form of pyrethrum and ought in theory to deter snakes. if you have them alight close to your house.

I always buy the cans with the 30 cml extension nozzle. The insecticide somehow smells a lot like Sonax/WD-40 (petrol based). I`ve used a lighter to set the spray on fire and it works wonders as a flame-thrower to get critters to move on.

Careful!

[uptou]

I hope your balls turn square & fester at the edges!

these were the exact symptoms i had after being bitten.

i do find snakes interesting though,& i think its widely known that they can pick up on your body heat,& will keep away from people.