Snake sightings, encounters and reminders.

[Davent]

Snake venom enters the Lymphatic system(fluid in the body)not the bloodstream.
Thats why compression bandages work so well....they restrict the flow of fluid under the skin,restricting the flow of venom.

Elapids, that is the genre of Venomous Australians snakes.
If anyone from the US or Asia is reading this, do NOT treat VIPER bites like this.
Reason being, elapids, like Australian venomous snakes and the mamma's, cobras, coral snakes ,Kraits etc have strong nurotoxic venoms that work very quickly to shut down major organs. These kind of snakes have small fangs and the venom is injected fairly shallow and travels through the lymph system. The pressure immobisation method is a life saver if the bitten person stays still until help arrives.

Vipers, have long fangs, and inject deep into the tissue. It's the venom that is different. Vioers mainly have necrotic venom and either blood thinning or clotting agents. Swelling is extreme in most cases. By stopping the venom from moving, you are concentrating it in one area, this can result in the only treatment being amputation of the limb. Also when the bandage is removed, clots can also move. If the venom can move freely, the patient still has a much longer time to get treatment compared to elapid bites, and will likely survive without loss of limb.
The misconception about how dangerous Aussie snakes are compared to others is really misleading.
You have a very high chance of making a full recovery from snake bite here in Australia, not so from other vipers of the America's, Asia and Africa.
This photo is after 8 surgery in central America from a snake that wouldn't make the top 20 list.

 

[uttu kaos]

What's happening in that last pic? Is it snake on snake action, or has something else been caught?

it was an Eastern Brown i was to catch and as i got there he got hold of a bloody cane toad so i had to get that away from him before he ate it..luckilly for him i got there as it would have killed him, the owner of the property took the photo just before i got hold of him and bagged him..

 

[uttu kaos]

Elapids, that is the genre of Venomous Australians snakes.
If anyone from the US or Asia is reading this, do NOT treat VIPER bites like this.
Reason being, elapids, like Australian venomous snakes and the mamma's, cobras, coral snakes ,Kraits etc have strong nurotoxic venoms that work very quickly to shut down major organs. These kind of snakes have small fangs and the venom is injected fairly shallow and travels through the lymph system. The pressure immobisation method is a life saver if the bitten person stays still until help arrives.

Vipers, have long fangs, and inject deep into the tissue. It's the venom that is different. Vioers mainly have necrotic venom and either blood thinning or clotting agents. Swelling is extreme in most cases. By stopping the venom from moving, you are concentrating it in one area, this can result in the only treatment being amputation of the limb. Also when the bandage is removed, clots can also move. If the venom can move freely, the patient still has a much longer time to get treatment compared to elapid bites, and will likely survive without loss of limb.
The misconception about how dangerous Aussie snakes are compared to others is really misleading.
You have a very high chance of making a full recovery from snake bite here in Australia, not so from other vipers of the America's, Asia and Africa.
This photo is after 8 surgery in central America from a snake that wouldn't make the top 20 list.

pleas,e if you are bitten treat ALL snake bites the same, compression bandage. imobilise the area if you can, get to hospital..

 

[uttu kaos]

Some images I used in a different post. There is much talk about identify snakes just by looking at them. By way of example, attached are photos taken from the Snakes of the Pilbara publication, showing the variations in colour of a single snake type, the Gwardar or Western Brown Snake.

Its very hard sometimes to identify what snake it is, some of them to be identified you have to do what i do and hold them and thats not a good idea.. The eastern brown i have seen in over 20 colours alone, the green tree snake comes in brown, green, black and the most beautiful blue youve ever seen but all have blue skin... And in QLD we have the Keelback Snake and the Rough Scale Snake, they look very similar and 1 wont hurt you and 1 will kill you and then theres the Red Bellied Black And the Small Eyed Snake,, they look similar and the venom is a whole heap worse in the small eyed snake so to be safe just leave them alone.. I always tell people "youre dead for a long time so treat every snake as a venomous snake".. i always said that as soon as i slow down ill give it up and that will be soon as ive noticed age is catching up nowadays.. And like alot of people, you dont want to admit it but if i slip up once and get it wrong.. well...you know the drill..

 

[Davent]

pleas,e if you are bitten treat ALL snake bites the same, compression bandage. imobilise the area if you can, get to hospital..

In Australia, always treat all snake bites with a compression, immobilisation bandage 100%.
I was pointing out that is NOT the correct treatment for some other international species, and people from all over the world read these forums.

 

[EVIE/BEE]

A red bellied black is not as passive as a lot of you think.
If you get between him and his girlfriend in mating season he will flatten his neck like an cobra and stand upright ready to strike.

 

[uttu kaos]

A red bellied black is not as passive as a lot of you think.
If you get between him and his girlfriend in mating season he will flatten his neck like an cobra and stand upright ready to strike.

Trust me , if you do that to any snake hes probably going to do that..alot of that is bluff too..

 

[OnlyPans]

Mogo. NSW just today. Death Adder
While investigating a target I got down on my knees to have a closer look. After about 20seconds I went to grab something from the pocket on my cargo pants. Looking past my pants I saw a big fat bunch of scales just under my shin. Heart exploded as I jumped back. Turns out this guy had been underneath me the whole time! Im not sure if he was sick or just really cold but he wasn’t moving much.
I don’t think he even tried to bight me, although I did take my pants off and have a good look for a bite. Lucky no one was around…
This guy was so thick. The photos don’t do it justice.
Stay safe out there.

P.S. target wasn’t gold.

 

[Moneybox]

Mogo. NSW just today. Death Adder
While investigating a target I got down on my knees to have a closer look. After about 20seconds I went to grab something from the pocket on my cargo pants. Looking past my pants I saw a big fat bunch of scales just under my shin. Heart exploded as I jumped back. Turns out this guy had been underneath me the whole time! Im not sure if he was sick or just really cold but he wasn’t moving much.
I don’t think he even tried to bight me, although I did take my pants off and have a good look for a bite. Lucky no one was around…
This guy was so thick. The photos don’t do it justice.
Stay safe out there.

P.S. target wasn’t gold.

That's a bit close for comfort

 

[Beaky]

Too cold for old mate to strike. If it were summer time you likely would not be with us, he was probably trying to grab what little bit of early winter sun that he could. I currently have a east australian brown comes out of a drain culvert any time the sun is out. But it is so easy not to see something when your attention is focused elsewhere eh.

 

[OnlyPans]

Too cold for old mate to strike. If it were summer time you likely would not be with us, he was probably trying to grab what little bit of early winter sun that he could. I currently have an east australian brown comes out of a drain culvert any time the sun is out. But it is so easy not to see something when your attention is focused elsewhere eh.

agreed. I got very lucky.
Just goes to show what can happen when you get complacent. Only a week before I saw a video that someone posted about Adders in Mogo. Didn’t even cross my mind while I was there.
After my encounter I was mucchhhhh more careful

 

[Beaky]

you are one crazy dude. You looking for angels ?

 

[uttu kaos]

Mogo. NSW just today. Death Adder
While investigating a target I got down on my knees to have a closer look. After about 20seconds I went to grab something from the pocket on my cargo pants. Looking past my pants I saw a big fat bunch of scales just under my shin. Heart exploded as I jumped back. Turns out this guy had been underneath me the whole time! Im not sure if he was sick or just really cold but he wasn’t moving much.
I don’t think he even tried to bight me, although I did take my pants off and have a good look for a bite. Lucky no one was around…
This guy was so thick. The photos don’t do it justice.
Stay safe out there.

P.S. target wasn’t gold.

you are bloody lucky but in saying that you found a snake that is well known to be a very reluctant biter...a lot of people never get to see a death adder as they are brilliant at hiding as it showed..its one of the snakes that when i handle they hardley ever strike out and are quite placid..

 

[Capertee gold]

Yeah what gives with the snakes lately,was up at the farm on the june long weekend, Hunter valley .
All 3 mornings were around zero to one degree, Sat morning walking up to the front gate to unlock it for the rest of the clan coming up ,stumbled across a easily 5 ft brown ,then Sunday at lunch another on the patio 3ft and on the Monday another baby one around 2ft with the dog trying to bite it in half stupid mutt ,thank god for extra long BBQ tongs and a relocation job .
I guess no ones told them it's winter yet

 

[Moneybox]

Merv just got home today from our trip to the Pilbara.



He sent me these photos of a Black Headed Python.



That's a big snake

 

[uttu kaos]

Yeah what gives with the snakes lately,was up at the farm on the june long weekend, Hunter valley .
All 3 mornings were around zero to one degree, Sat morning walking up to the front gate to unlock it for the rest of the clan coming up ,stumbled across a easily 5 ft brown ,then Sunday at lunch another on the patio 3ft and on the Monday another baby one around 2ft with the dog trying to bite it in half stupid mutt ,thank god for extra long BBQ tongs and a relocation job .
I guess no ones told them it's winter yet

agreed its strange, Atm im still getting Red bellies, thru winter i always get pythons or tree snakes, thats normal for me but never venomous..its a strange season alright..

 

[JTich]

Some images I used in a different post. There is much talk about identify snakes just by looking at them. By way of example, attached are photos taken from the Snakes of the Pilbara publication, showing the variations in colour of a single snake type, the Gwardar or Western Brown Snake.

Yep, so much easier to just call it a snake, and keep well away. When I'm out detecting I don't need the added hassle of fitting my snakebite kit and driving to a hospital.

 

[uttu kaos]

Yep, so much easier to just call it a snake, and keep well away. When I'm out detecting I don't need the added hassle of fitting my snakebite kit and driving to a hospital.

when i go to someones house to get a snake they always ask me how they can tell which is which and i always tell them treat every snake you see as venomous, if you do that youll always be safe....

 

[Eng888]

agreed its strange, Atm im still getting Red bellies, thru winter i always get pythons or tree snakes, thats normal for me but never venomous..its a strange season alright..

We were having that same discussion today , not much of a winter , bushfire fuel loads as high as hell after all the rains in the last 3 years , Northern Hemisphere have record high temperatures ........

What kind of a summer are we in for ?

 

[uttu kaos]

We were having that same discussion today , not much of a winter , bushfire fuel loads as high as hell after all the rains in the last 3 years , Northern Hemisphere have record high temperatures ........

What kind of a summer are we in for ?

im in the sub tropics so its going to be hot anyway....just how i like it..