Night Adder Bite

[rolandslf]

At 20h48 last night, one of the residents on the Estate was bitten by a Night Adder of approximately 30 cm in length.
What had happened was that the resident had seen the snake swimming in his pool and decided to catch it.
The snake bit him on the index finger, I presume of the right hand.
At 1 hour after the bite had occurred the only symptoms were a swollen and throbbing finger.
At 2 hours after the bite had occurred the symptoms were a lot of pain and swelling spreading into the rest of the hand.
I advised the patient to take some pain pills and see his GP in the morning to get anti - biotics. At this stage the patient was very calm and did not seem to be experiencing any signs of shock. I did advise the patients wife, that if he experienced an allergic reaction to the bite and showed symptoms like shortness of breath, nausea, blurred vision etc. she must immediately get patient to hospital, which is literally 3 minutes from where they stay.
At 12 hours after the bite occurred I re-contacted the patient to see how he is doing. His response was "About three quarters of my hand is swollen and it is **###** sore, he also stated that the glands in his armpit were swollen and painfull.
I advised that he goes to his GP to get anti -biotics and something stronger for the pain.

He has promised to send me pictures of the bite when it occurred and at 12 hours after it occurred, as soon as I get them I will post them.

As a cautionary measure I contacted Byron Zimmerman to back up my diagnosis and advice given to the patient. Byron, Thanks A Million for fielding my call at 10 'o clock at night.

[Fooble]

A snake moving around that late in this cold that's strange!
They gotta leave the catching to the guy who knows how in that Estate hey Roland.

Look forward to pics.

[Westley Price]

I'm not too clued up on Night Adder bites, but why take antibiotics? Surely it won't have any effect onthe venom?

Good on you for playing the good Samiritan in this case. And good on the victim for not killing the snake on the spot, even if id did cost him a truckload of pain and discomfort.

I look forward to the pics.

[Psychogav]

My buddy got bit a year ago by a night adder, same symptoms, swollen thumb and hand, The painful glands under the arms can last about two weeeks. Not serious. Not fun though either. Tell him " Don't grab venomous snakes!!" What if it was a spitter or something the like.

[rolandslf]

I have an ongoing program of teaching the residents who live on the Estate about the snakes found on the Estate.
This includes pics and what to expect from a bite. The most dangerous one we have on the Estate is the Night Adder. I can qualify this statement after three years of catching snakes here. The patient knew exactly what he was dealing with, he made the mistake of necking it and his finger somehow slipped and the snake took advantage of the situation. I can assure you he has been thoruoghly admonished by me, because part of my teaching is that they must not try to catch the snakes they find, but call out the people who know what they are doing.

Oh, the anti-biotics are to combat any possible secondary infection, you do not know what those fangs or the mouth have been in contact with prior to the bite taking place.

As for the cold, this snake was taking a dip in the swimming pool. I find that a lot of my snakes will when it is cold, actually lay inside their the water bowls. Water must be warmer than the outside temperature then, and this is what this Night Adder was doing, trying to get a bit warmer than it was outside. I am only guessing regarding this theory however.