Rattlesnake bite and my intro.

[Bazza]

Hi,

Firstly I would like to say that SAreptiles is an amazing site,
so thank you to the people behind it for your hard work and dedication as well as the members for sharing their knowledge.

A little about me, I've being in the background for a while.
I have always liked being around animals in general and my fascination for reptiles started in gr8('99) when I used to catch brown water snakes and my gran had bought me my 1st legal snake,(BHS).
My interest and collection grew from then.
In 2001 I started helping Cape Nature with catch and release, those were good days, I didn't own a car nor could I drive so it was in and out of buses and taxis with my "special" cargo.
In 2006 I unfortunately had to sell off my collection due not being able to give enough time to my animals but still helped Cape Nature where possible.
In 2012 I started up again and couldn't be happier with these amazing creatures.

Back to the Headline, no I didn't get bitten but unfortunately my female WDR bit my male on his right "cheek",(23:28 17/11/13).
Directly after the bite he did a skew nose dive into the floor of the enclosure and shot to the opposite side.
Once the female had seemed to be settled I removed her and watched the male for a while.
The bite was just behind his 2nd eye stripe, both fangs penetrated and there was some blood droplets coming from the puncture wound,
after about 5min there was a few drops of clear-ish liquid with a slight pink hue, (as if you put a few drops of blood into water, sort of).
I'm not sure what the "clear" liquid is but it stopped after 10min to 15min.
His cheek swelled up slightly, he yawned a few times and there was no blood in his mouth.

I've been watching him for the past 2½ hours and his breathing is unchanged and apart from rubbing the side of his face on his body, he seems to be acting normal.

I'll give an update later today and try post some pics of this unfortunate incident.

Cheers

[pytoxic]

Mmmm that's odd. Maybe they are immune to each others venom?
Welcome to forum
Nic

[Jamster]

I have seen puff adders, gaboons and WDB nail eachother both on the body and the face, every snake survived except for one puff adder that had its lung punctured. I believe they do have a certain level of immunity. If he survives the day following the bite then he should be fine. Put off feeding him for a little while until the swelling and odd behaviour have gone

[wadekilian]

I agree, Jamster. My male Cascabel tagged one of my little females on the back (he was still small, so I'm pretty sure he injected venom) and she had no ill-effects. At Ndlondlo Reptile Park in Ballito, their Snouted Cobras seem to get agitated at any sign of movement and bite each other repeatedly. I even saw one bite the other's head and hold on for about a second. But then you hear of others that roll over and die instantly after being tagged which is where the debate starts haha.

I agree with snakes being partially resistant to their own species' venom. I personally think its because they produce similar venom and their body recognises it and can produce antibodies for it (like the theory behind mithridatism?). Kinda like how our bodies can take another person's blood as we produce something similar, but we would get an infection when injected with another animal's blood that is too different from our own.

If you look at cobra bites, they have small fangs so its unlikely that they will puncture any organs, and from what I've seen a normal bite with a normal amount of venom injected has little / no effect. The only time it has an effect is when the snake holds on and pumps excess amounts of venom. I think for a snake to die from a bite from another one of it's species, it would have to be due to the penetration of vital organs or because its been pumped with more venom than it can break down.

This is all my opinion based of what I've seen though, would be interesting to read any scientific evidence on this topic

[Bazza]

My WDR looks normal and doesn't seem bothered about the bite.
Here is the aftermath of last nights incident.
Any guesses on what the the "other" liquid is?

[pytoxic]

I at first thought it was brain fluid? But could it be the venom from the bite?
This is just what I would think not sure what it really is.
Regards
Nic

[wadekilian]

Any guesses on what the the "other" liquid is?

That would be blood plasma.

[Bazza]

Hi guys, just a little update to say thanks for the replies and also WDR is doing fine after the bite.
Cheers