Anyone had a snake bite?

[JeepHead]

Anyone on here ever been bitten by a snake and if so what was your experience.

My son was bit on the wrist by a copperhead, at the ER they washed it real good, gave him a BIG shot of adrenaline and said he will wait on giving him the antivenom since it can be worse than the snake bite.
The DR also said snake teeth are loaded with bad bacteria and gave him an antibiotic.

He did not need the antivenom, swelled up pretty good and had no long term effects.

Your son was treated by a doctor who obviously isn't educated about snakebites or the antivenin, which isn't uncommon. Crowfab is very well regarded as effective treatment for snake bites and doesn't cause any issues for most people. Antibiotics are typical not advised. Labs need to be ran and treatment varies by what the results show.

I have been bitten by a water moccasin and received treatment. I also am a member of a national snake bit group that have some of the best doctors in the country supervising it.

 

[JeepHead]

Probably not. Look at the last band at the rattle. I have read descriptions that if the last band is yellow, or mostly yellow, and the rest of the description matches, it is probably a Mohave.

Crotalus scutulatus - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

Note the text from above "...There is no single visual trait that reliably identifies C. scutulatus and the most reliable visual identifications result from careful consideration of multiple traits..."

Mohave rattlesnakes have a neurotoxic venom, for which there is no antivenin that I know of, as well as the typical haemotoxic venom of other rattlesnakes. Around here, the rattlesnakes have such a wide variation in traits, color, patterns, skin texture that I assume Mohave until proven otherwise. If they are away from buildings, I leave them alone. Between the barn and the house is a rattlesnake free zone here.

All the best,

Peter

crowfab antivenin works for all the US pit vipers including the Mojave.

 

[deserteagle71]

Is that a Mohave Rattlesnake? It doesn’t look like our prairie or diamondback rattlers.

Great Basin rattlesnake is what they are called. Very plentiful around here. This one was under my ATV:

 

[garry1p]

Your son was treated by a doctor who obviously isn't educated about snakebites or the antivenin, which isn't uncommon

You are correct, the DR had never treated a snake bite and had to reference a manual before treating

 

[JeepHead]

You are correct, the DR had never treated a snake bite and had to reference a manual before treating

This is what the general advice is by one of the leading snakebite doctors in the US.

 

[jyoutz]

Great Basin rattlesnake is what they are called. Very plentiful around here. This one was under my ATV:
View attachment 1528155

Those are fat and really mean looking. They make our prairie rattlers look docile.

 

[ponytug]

crowfab antivenin works for all the US pit vipers including the Mojave.

Thanks! I missed that.

BTW: the name of the drug is Crofab, and is a mix of antibodies from sheep to venoms from Mohave, copper mouth and two species of diamondback rattlesnakes.

All the best,

Peter

 

[jyoutz]

I knew a young man who picked up a Mojave green and got bitten on the finger. He lost that finger but otherwise survived.
We have mostly Southern Pacific rattlesnakes here which are less aggressive and human bites are rare. But my dog got bit on the nose last year. She got anti-venom and survived after a rough few days. I searched high and low for the critter, without any luck. Decided to let the dog show me. I let her out and she went almost straight back to it - where I killed it. My wife had some pretty mixed feelings about my method.

Every spring, I have the vet give the dogs their annual rattlesnake vaccinations. I’ve always wondered why they have these for dogs and not humans. The vet says, they really reduce the adverse reactions if a dog is snakebit.

 

[IndyIan]

View attachment 1520809

I got bit by a baby garter snake when I picked it up to show my kids. They screamed. I laughed. They petted it and we let it go.

Yep, that's the only snake bite I've gotten as well, but we have been hiking in Massasauga Rattler areas were more cautious there.

 

[Dftodd]

Anyone on here ever been bitten by a snake and if so what was your experience.

My son was bit on the wrist by a copperhead, at the ER they washed it real good, gave him a BIG shot of adrenaline and said he will wait on giving him the antivenom since it can be worse than the snake bite.
The DR also said snake teeth are loaded with bad bacteria and gave him an antibiotic.

He did not need the antivenom, swelled up pretty good and had no long term effects.

He must have been bitten by an adult copper head. They tend to be a dry bite.

The vet did similar for our Jack Russell Terrorist when he was bitten on the snout. They dosed with a broad spectrum antibiotic and steroids.

My grandson got bit on the heal by a baby copperhead when he was 6yo. His ankle swelled up to the size of my thigh

He spent 5 days down at the children's hospital in Little Rock and recieved 8 doses of antivrnom.