Nth NSW Snake Bite.

Thought to share.
Just bumped into Bloke i`ve known for 20yrs.
Experienced snake handler.
He just spent 6 weeks in hospital from being bitten on the tip of his finger by a 6ft Brown Snake doing a removal job for some client.
Nth N.S.W.
The Doctors wanted to use Tiger Snake vaccine he said ``are you serious i know what type of snake it was.``
Tiger snakes and Brown snakes have different types of venom and two different types of vaccines i believe.
Apparently there is a multi vaccine that covers a lot but the exact one is far better.
Seems like your at the mercy and judgement of Medical Staff unless you know what you are talking about.
I`m surprised he survived to be honest i doubt he would have if those practitioners initially have had their ways.
Not to shore why they assumed it was a Tiger bite location maybe. At least he was still conscious to alter their opinion.

The only other person i personally knew that has ever been bitten died from a Stephens Banded Snake bitten on the end of the finger simular to the above as he to tried to grab it.

I find it very hard to believe Doctors wanted to give him Tiger Snake Antivenom?
If they believed that the snake was unidentified they would have used Polyvalent snake venom & it contains both brown snake + tiger snake antivenom.
If they only had monovalent antivenoms available they would have used a snake venom detection kit https://biomedicalsciences.unimelb....ces/for-clinicians/snake-venom-detection-kits

"Polyvalent Snake Antivenom contains the active ingredients brown snake antivenom, tiger snake antivenom, death adder antivenom, taipan antivenom and black snake antivenom. Polyvalent Snake Antivenom is given to people who have become ill from venom after being bitten by an unidentified snake in Papua New Guinea or in all Australian states except Victoria and Tasmania."

Also in areas (outside of Vic & Tas) with small populations or very few envenomation cases Polyvalent Snake Antivenom can be the only antivenom kept. It's not practical to stock every singular different type in these circumstances.
In Victoria & Tasmania, where the snake is unknown, they use a combination of the relevant to area monovalent snake antivenoms.
Where the snake has been positively identified (usually via a snake venom detection kit) they will give the single specific antivenom (monovalent) as there are fewer possible side effects. For the most part though many people can mistake Browns with Tigers, Browns with Blacks, Browns with Taipans etc. so Doctors would likely usually lean towards the Polyvalent unless they can be convinced of your knowledge in visually identifying a snake which obviously your mate was able to do, although IMO most would still use a snake venom detection kit as well.

Montage of different colours & banding of WA Brown Snakes:

Kane Anderson FB Byron Bay.`i` didn`t see him mentioning it there but he might be trying to protect his Portfolio.
https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100063039080891
As you can tell i know little on the subject but i would not mind him being my snake detection kit up front when out there prospecting.
The eye condition of Long Sightedness is developing for me now. I`d most likely trip over and get bitten before i knew a snake was even there.
Thankz for the above Mbasco i`ll try and take that all in.

I`ll add to this to if anyone ever read the Write on the History of Georges Gold Mine there is a small section there where a bloke got bitten by a Tiger Snake. He laied down in the shallow creek water for some time a few days from memory & recovered.
I`m not shore if that is an Aboriginal remedy or where the idea came from but certainly worth noting if you were stuck out some where alone.
Survival rate alone i guess Unknown.

Georges Gold Mine Link.
https://www.rmwebed.com.au/ggm_third_edition.pdf
Got it wrong the 2nd time around Snake section it was a Death Adder.
Think i`ll go back to the old game plan.
Half of what you see & nothing of what hear.

Bush said:

Kane Anderson FB Byron Bay.`i` didn`t see him mentioning it there but he might be trying to protect his Portfolio.
https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100063039080891
As you can tell i know little on the subject but i would not mind him being my snake detection kit up front when out there prospecting.
The eye condition of Long Sightedness is developing for me now. I`d most likely trip over and get bitten before i knew a snake was even there.
Thankz for the above Mbasco i`ll try and take that all in.

Click to expand...

Maybe that's reason to invest in a pair of snake gaiters. The more protection the better I say. Cheers.

I saw a bloke putting putting some on once.
They didn`t seems that secure but i really don`t know.
I started making a set by cutting the legs off some old jeans and was/am going to stitch a couple of layers of that silver roof insulation sarking into them.
What is not often mentioned is that some or all snakes also use infrared heat sensing.
The fella that died with the Stevens Bandit bite used gloves to try and pick the snake`s up.
Two of them entered his home after an extended rain episode but normally their tree dwellers.
The snake bite got him through a small hole on the end of the glove finger.
So yeh he did take precaution just his lack of knowledge on that species and equipment let him down.

Bush, I looked at cheaper snake gaiters on ebay that could be used for detecting ( no metal) then settled on a Double D set. I would hate to be in the position of being bitten by a snake and regret not spending an additional $60 for DD gaiters.

I use rigger gloves as well but mainly for ant/spider protection, they are great but probably not thick enough for snake protection.

Bush said:

I`ll add to this to if anyone ever read the Write on the History of Georges Gold Mine there is a small section there where a bloke got bitten by a Tiger Snake. He laied down in the shallow creek water for some time a few days from memory & recovered.
I`m not shore if that is an Aboriginal remedy or where the idea came from but certainly worth noting if you were stuck out some where alone.
Survival rate alone i guess Unknown.

Click to expand...

Snake king of adelong i read it also i think he got double bitten and lied down in a tub of ice water and survived as when cold the venon did not crystalise and and lived, he first donevit with joey kangeroos or ra bitts the one in ice coldcwater servived and the other did not survive