Snake Venom

Last year I purchased a set of “Snake Guardz” (American manufacture) from Miners Den, here in Adelaide.
I have only used them a couple of times in hot weather and found them to be reasonably comfortable to wear and not overly hot. A good investment!

So far, fortunately, I have not had any practical experience with them in regards to encounters of the ‘slithering’ kind.

The question arises, in the event of a strike (hopefully on the Snake Guardz) what precautions should you take regarding venom residue?

My understanding of snake venom is that it does not need an open cut; it can be absorbed into the blood stream through contact with your skin.

Maybe someone with experience in this can confirm or refute this!

If it can be absorbed through the skin, presumably precautions should be taken handling any object which has venom residue on it.

The Snake Guardz have a very hard inner core covered with fabric. In the event of a strike the fangs would not penetrate the inner core but the venom would be sprayed over the fabric.

It is logical that your pants and underwear would require a quick trip to the laundry, but what about the Gaurdz? Would a wash in hot water with detergent suffice or would more potent cleaning methods be required.

Ideas anyone?

Scrat

PS: I can vividly remember as an eight year my mother hanging washing on the line, I was standing alongside her. She stood on or nudged a rake handle on the ground. No rake handle! This snake stood on its tail raising its head at least 18 feet off the ground (ha ha) , eyeballing us before retreating to the long grass.

Ignoring the traumatic memories of an eight year old and bring the height estimate back into reality, the head would have been well above the height of my adult size ‘Snake Guardz”!

Just have to hope any encounters I have are with lazy snakes.

Hi Scrat,
don't worry too much. Venom has to be introduced dirrectly into either the blood stream or body tissue, unlike poison which can be absorbed through skin or by drinking etc.. You could actually drink venom with no ill affect aslong as you had no lacerations in your mouth or stomach etc.
I have come into physical contact with more venom than I care to remember with no problems. However, I was bitten by a Tiger Snake a number of years ago which still affects me to this day.

Hiya Scrat,
A few years ago in the Pilbara I was struck on the boot by a King Brown. I was wearing boots with thick socks, and Jeans at the time. The venom residue was quite clearly on my jeans. Was quite simple to just wash the jeans as usual and left it at that. The thing that shocked me most was the power of the strike. It packed a far wollop.
No harm done just an adrenalin rush.
Shell

That's right... The venom can't be absorbed through the skin. Only a few snakes have hollow fangs (like a hypodermic syringe) but most venomous snakes have in Australia a groove on the inside of the tooth that acts as a channel for the venom to travel down to the puncture. Many of our snakes are rear-fanged and they tend to be the ones who feed on frogs and skinks etc. Others, like the Tiger Snakes and Death Adders are front-fanged. Most snakes need to latch on to their prey for a short time so that the venom can run down the fang and enter the wound. This is why so many Australian snakes chew and latch on when they bite.

As MadTuna pointed out, the effects of a snake bite can cause serious debilitation in future years. I know a snake handler who has lost a few fingers as a result of brown snakes and tiger snakes. A chap at the Gosford Reptile Park lost his ability to see colors as a result of a Red-Bellied Black Snake bite. The reason they don't recommend the sucking of poison from a bite these days is because the venom can get down under the gumline and enter the bloodstream of the person - as MadTuna pointed out above.

You snake guards should protect your lower legs quite well. I think I have the same pair. They're rated for the US Rattlesnakes and those grow larger/heavier than anything we have here. Those guards are also supposed to withstand a 12 Guage blast from about 15 feet. Keep them handy if you need to wade into long grass. I'm embarrassed to say that I haven't worn mine yet.

Cheers,

Marco

once out fishing, i found a king brown with a frog in its mouth, knowing that it couldnt bite me with the frog already in its mouth, i picked it up and held it and removed the frog to use as bait, but now what to do, with the snake ??? so i got some bundy and poured down its throat till it closed little eyelids a few times and its eyes lost their sheen, i then let the snke go.. a short time later i felt a nudge on my foot and here was the king brown with 2 frogs in its mouth

nero_design wrote:
Those guards are also supposed to withstand a 12 Guage blast from about 15 feet.

Cheers,

Marco

Ned Kelly should have been wearing these along with the rest of his armour, cos it was a shot gun blast to the legs apparently that brought him undone

cheers dave

spidertice wrote:once out fishing, i found a king brown with a frog in its mouth, knowing that it couldnt bite me with the frog already in its mouth, i picked it up and held it and removed the frog to use as bait, but now what to do, with the snake ??? so i got some bundy and poured down its throat till it closed little eyelids a few times and its eyes lost their sheen, i then let the snke go.. a short time later i felt a nudge on my foot and here was the king brown with 2 frogs in its mouth

If you would of used beam he would have caught the fish for ya

Good day All.
Snake venom cannot harm you if it has contact with the skin that is why they teach you at first aide not to wash bite areas as they use the venom on skin to identify the joe blake.
Cheers Greg.
PS. Spidertice,could you please stop giving snakes hard licquer as the bubbers are much to friendly now.

Thanks for the good advice guys!

Spidertice, the only alcohol a snake will get from me is after its been strained by my internal organs