Poisonous Snake Bite

[Bumpkin]

Thank you so much for all the great information in this thread I live in a swampy area of southern Louisiana and my property is absolutely infested with copperheads. I am afraid of my own shadow when I go outside. We bought this house two and a half years ago and it's so bad we're going to sell soon because I can't live like this. Every time I step out the door I make sure I have boots on - even when it's 115 degrees.

These snakes around here are not scared either. The whole they're-more-scared-of-us-than-we-are-of-them is out the window here. I am so happy to know that death from a bite is rare. I'm even happier to know about the dry bite thing. I never knew that before. I thought if you got bit by a poisonous snake there was always venom involved.

I'm still selling my house and getting the heck out of here, but this information will give me some peace of mind in the meantime.

[Newanderthal]

what part of southern louisiana?

[Bumpkin]

South of Lafayette near Erath. Flood zone territory. I've got coolies and crawfish ponds and cane fields all around me - I think that's why the snakes like my property so much. I swear, it feels like the movie Beetlejuice when they couldn't step off the front porch because the sandworms would get them, lol.

I love my house, but I just can't be stressed like this all the time. I worry constantly about the animals. And I have a one year old who is going to want to be running around the yard next year this time and that's just not happening.

[duck]

Originally Posted by Newanderthal

Dry bites are actually a common occurrence. Quite often people get dry bites but since it just feels like a regular bite, they assume the snake was non venomous.

Even with a dry bite, I'd call the doctor and see what he thought about Penicillin, and probably a Tetanus booster too if it'd been a couple of years since the last one. No telling what kind of grungy little critter those fangs got stuck into the day before.

[le Metis]

The best treatment for a snake bite is to stay calm, and proceed to an ER calling ahead if possible. More then likey, if bitten, it will be a dry strike which means a course of antibiotics. Snakebite kits, imho are worthless, having had to use a Sawyer extractor I found it unreliable, and nearly impossible to keep it attached to the bite site...for field treatment, I would flush the site to clean the area only, and cover with a sterile dressing while keeping the limb low..

[dinosaur]

Newanderthal and the bushape are pretty accurate for the Northern U.S. and southern Canada. I'm from Indiana but I've been all over the world and found some things I didn't want to find.

We have some Copperheads occasionally and Rattlers. They call them Timber Rattlers here. They get to a decent size but are very tasty when barbequed. Of course, I haven't had one since I was twelve and that was a very long time ago. I'm pretty sure they are a protected species now, but not on my land.

They tell us that rattlers provide a great service in the elimination of vermin so we shouldn't kill them. I'd rather import black snakes and king snakes to take care of the rats and mice. Blue racers are also quite adept at this task and aren't venemous.

I don't mind a big snake. I eat them. They taste like lobster. Yum. Yum.

[IndianaHiker]

Newanderthal was right on the money. Would only want to add DO NOT CUT AND REMOVE VENOM. This will only kill tissue and do furhter damage. These snake bit kits that are being refered to in this thead need to be thrown in the trash. They do not work, they often cause further proplems, and are a product of a company making money from peoples fear.