Hi there
I've not been very active on the forum much of late, but thought I would share my experience with you.
On Thursday evening I was feeding my snakes, and because I've been sporting a back injury I cannot bend or sit for too long without my back acting up. Hence I was trying to "quickly" feed. HUGE mistake! My first Coral snake tub I got too, instead of taking out the tub like I usually do, I just decided to scan where the snake was and pop open one side of the lid and then throw the food item inside.
I made the mistake of assumption, and the snake had turned towards the corner where I was opening instead of to the back of the tub as I thought she was and bit me on my finger. I got a HUGE fright! Manage to secure the snake back in her tub and pushed it back into the rack. I waited a few miliseconds, staring at the blood forming on my finger, and then started getting a burning sensation on the one puncture wound. I knew she got some venom in me. Luckily I know that these snakes are not lethal, but not knowing how I would react to the venom was the scariest.
I rushed inside, squeezing my finger, hoping that most of the venom would get out (don't know if it helped) and ran my finger under some luke warm water. Now I just had to wait & see what happens further.
I had a slight tingle in my mouth, but my throat was not closing up or anything insane like that. Besides some swelling, and pain up to my wrist, the only serious symptom I experienced was a stabbing pain in the chest everytime I was walking or standing. When I was sitting or lying down I was perfectly fine. Has anyone ever experienced anything like that before? My finger was throbbing like crazy, but other than that I seemed okay. I took an anti-histamine in anycase.
By Friday I didn't have the stabbing pains anymore, and my hand was not sore anymore. My finger tip was a bit swollen and red. It is still a bit swollen and a little less red today.
Moral of the story is there in no such thing as quickly feeding and I should take more time with the semi-venomous snakes.