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Jumbo, Great pics 3 encounters soon to call each other by first names

His name is “Meester”
It’s territory is around the Rentmeester Guest House

There, I fixed it.

@BunnyHugger-

Nothing is too quick for my Grandmother's dog. He has even bitten a cape cobra and not been bitten himself. When he still had another dog to be brave with he killed every snake and any snake without getting bitten. Luckily he has now given this hobby up.

@ EE heard of cats having nine lives but dogs , what dog was it

He was a German Sheppard. Absolutely the fiercest thing on four legs when there were strangers about, but a big teddy otherwise.

Jumbo:

Great photos of that banded phase Snouted Cobra In 1999, I saw a Black mamba in a tree in Letaba and a few years later I saw a Boomslang in a tree above my tent in Lower Sabie camp (old camping area). Wonderful !!!

Eagle Eyes

Yes you are right, the Rinkhals and the Snouted Cobra both have a neurotoxic venom - primarily, but all venomous snakes have a cocktail of venom with one of the types(cyto, neuro, heamo) most of the time more dominant. The cytotoxic effects of the Rinkhals and Snouted Cobra bites I saw with people that have been bitten and where the snakes were positively identified by someone with over 15 years of experience with snakes / be a hobby for over 15 years.

Jumbo stunning picture.

One thing that I would like to mention is the snake/reptile brain.

My biggest horror of reptiles was the thought that there was malevolent intent, in other words, they were out to get me. I might mention at this point that I had a snake phobia. It was so bad when I was a child that I could not sleep at night.

Once I realised that the reptile brain was as intelligent as my hand reaction on a stove, I could relax.

It has made me more relaxed, but also more respectful of reptiles.

It fascinates me that the root of my own DNA is a snake. It is pure, pure instinct.

Great photos jumbo

And an interesting thread everyone My past trip to kruger was filled with snake sightings many more than i can ever remember in a single holiday 1 very young puffadder and three adults as well as a massive mfezi and unfortunately a dead boomslang .But of all the animals snakes still give me shivers

Interesting post MM, never thought about it like that

Lovely thread, seeing that I am always lookout for sssssnakes when in the KNP.

MY son has loved snakes, since he was 5 years old, he is now 15, has had numerous snakes over the years, and still has two. Well, having a son who loves snakes, means that as a dad you have to know a lot about snakes-which ones are venomous and which are not, especially when he goes "hunting" for snakes.

Visits to snake parks was a must, and we often visited the Snake park at Haartebeestpoort Dam, well worth a visit. There they will tell you that a bite from a Puff Adder is like putting your hand in boiling hot oil. So I doubt very much that you will not know if you have had a "dry" bite from a Puffie. You would know for sure. And as a matter of interest, as far I know, Puffies do not give "dry" bites-they apparently do not have that control over their venom glands and has something to do with the muscular action involved in opening and closing the fangs for a strike. Then the venom inevitably flows. Do not wish it on my worst enemy. More bites from a puffie results in amputation than not.

And as far as I know its venom is only cytotoxic but of left untreated will result in heamotoxic and neurotoxic trouble.

Have not seen one in the KNP yet, but have seen them in other reserves. Seen Moz Spitter twice, boomslang once, and my favourite-Rock Python once. A few non venomous ones in between.

Have a great weekend snake lovers and other interested parties.

Noel

Great info, thanks Noel!

[quote="noel"

And as far as I know its venom is only cytotoxic but of left untreated will result in heamotoxic and neurotoxic trouble.

[/quote]

I will have to slightly disagree with you.

Puff adder venom is indeed Highly Cytotoxic which is a slow acting cytotoxic or "cell destroying" venom. A bite will cause severe local and systemic symptoms which lead to extensive tissue damage which is incredible painfull as the cells are basically being "destroyed or broken down" failing successful treatment necrosis in the tissue will which can lead to gangrene and secondary infections thus causing the lose of digits or arms/legs.

A Puff Adder invenomation



The puff adder a long with the Mozambique Spitting Cobra or Mfezi is responsible for most of the bites here in Southern Africa.

Eagle eyes, I think the name you were looking for is compartment syndrome - where the limb swells so much that the blood supply to the area is cut off. This is a medical emergency and needs to be operated on immediately.

I treated two stiletto snake bites in the park and the overwhelming symptom seemed to be the intense pain not relieved by either morphine or anti- inflammatories like Voltaren. Sloughing occurred at the bite area.

I am reading this post with great interest as my son is an avid snake collecter. We were taught at med school that although the puffie is mainly cytotoxic, a large dose of venom into the bloodstream has neurotoxic properties

Luckily for us the boomslang is also a very docile snake since the anti-venom is only available from gauteng. However, one has 48 hours to obtain the anti venom before the blood starts to break down.

You are right about the panic reaction, and in fact the recommendation is that one should first administer a anti-histamine for several reasons

1) it calms people down
2) it prevents an allergic reaction to the bite
3) if anti-serum is required, the chances of a reaction to it will be less

In the picture submitted by fooble, it is possible to see how the arm has been slit to enable circulation to be restored

[url][URL=http://s811.photobucket.com/albums/zz31/Mfezi_2010/?action=view&current=Stiletto1.jpg][/url][/url]

[url]URL=http://s811.photobucket.com/albums/zz31/Mfezi_2010/?action=view&current=KwalataSnakesPentaxK10-26March2008069elm.jpg][/url][/url]

Hi

Eagle Eyes, I while ago I promised to post some photos of a Stiletto. Here they are.

Mfezi