. . . well for me anyway. Just a bit ago, my dog discovered a creature that I've always wanted to find in the wild. I was watching him from the deck and saw him jump back. Then I see an unidentified snake moving away from him. I yelled at him to stop him from pursuing and then ran down into the yard to get a look for myself. As I got closer I saw something that caused my breath to catch in my throat. Red. Yellow. Black Bands. Texas Coral Snake. The most venomous snake in North America. I whipped out my camera and snapped some shots. I got within a couple of feet of the snake. He was about 18 inches long and was trying very hard to stay still and not be seen. I apologize for the quality of the pics, but my phone is old and shitty. Here ya go.
So, what do you do when you get bit, and there is no immediate medical help nearby? Cool pictures, BTW....snakes fascinate me.
Sadly, I think you die if you get bitten by one of these and there is no medical help nearby. Ash, I'm glad that your dog didn't get bitten.
Nice pictures. FYI I did some googling and found this: Don't know if that's accurate, but if the snakes are in your yard I figured you might like to check it out.
Well getting bit and getting envenomated are not always the same thing with this snake. The coral snake has a very small mouth and it is rear-fanged. The fangs themselves are small and they lack the hypodermic, high pressure injection ability of, say, a rattlesnake. In order for the coral to get a good bite on a human, it would have to chew on a small piece of skin and work the venom in. So basically, although the coral's venom is extremely deadly, the snake itself is not very dangerous at all. They are also very non-aggressive and they will almost never stand and fight. Getting that close to the snake took all the stealth ability I possessed. Even the smallest misstep would cause it to slither away a few feet.
Well, I'm asking a general question in a way. What do you do if a snake bites you(any snake)....and there is no medical help nearby?
Well most snakes aren't venomous, so if one of them bites you just wash the area and go about your day. If it's venomous, then it depends on which species bit you. A copperhead isn't all that serious and you will almost certainly survive without treatment (I do not recommend this). A rattlesnake bite is pretty serious. People can certainly survive it without treatment, but the venom destroys cells and tissue. This can leave you scarred or maimed. The venom can also kill. If you get bit by a snake like that then you really need to find medical attention. Some emergency techniques involve bleeding out the bite in an attempt to get rid of the bulk of the venom. You can also try to cut the blood flow off to keep the venom from spreading throughout your body. You're probably screwed though.
Wow. I love snakes, but living in a country where only one is venomous, and that rarely seen, I don't have any reason to fear them... That, however...
So, how do you go about bleeding it out? Cut an 'x' into where the fangs went in, and suck the blood out? Thats what we were taught in our survival class a few years ago.
If it's that critical, then you gotta do what you gotta do. However, slashing into your own flesh can create it's own problems. I guess you gotta do something though.
If you found it out in the woods, then I would completely understand leaving it alone. But if you have a deadly snake in your yard, then I say kill it.
Because it's not a threat. Their brilliant colors make them pretty easy to spot. Even the dog knows better than to get too close to that animal. They are shy and reclusive by nature and they will avoid people when they can. As I explained earlier, they are poor biters. I will probably never see another again unless I spend my weekends searching high and low. But mostly it's because I'm a snake enthusiast and I would never kill one unless I felt it was absolutely necessary.
In my opinion, that would be an overreaction. I've never heard of a dog being killed by a coral snake. Your dog has a better chance of being killed by you leaving a half eaten chocolate bar in the trash or some anit-freeze on the garage floor. The snake is mostly harmless. Venomous? Yes. Dangerous? Not really.
That's pretty wierd. I guess the snake itself doesn't realize how dealy it is.....obviously.....but you would think it would be more agressive. On the other hand, what's the max size on that thing? If it's a generally small one, I guess I could understand.
The adder. It's not very deadly, unless you're very unlucky or neglect to get treatment, it won't kill you...
Corals are small, relative to the other venomous snakes found here. I don't think they get much over 2 feet and they have a thin, frail appearance relative to a viper. They rely on their brilliant and distinct color pattern to warn off predators. This one just wanted to get away. I had my hand within a foot and a half of it while I was snapping the pics. I never would have done that with a rattlesnake.
Yeah I kind of figured that's what you'd say, but I meant seriously, what should someone do if they encounter a rattler, or some other poisonous snake.
Leave it alone, in So Cal there are plenty of rattlesnakes, I've gotten close many times but rattlesnakes will give you warning before you get too close. They don't want to bite you, you're much too large to be considered prey. Given a chance they'll retreat and if you retreat they aren't likely to pursue.
