Team-BHP - Snakes!

Quote:

Originally Posted by beejay (Post 1592257)

Pramod, where are these wolf snakes found? Are they poisonous?

@ DRC the driver running away abandoning the Jeep is kinda funny.

Wolf snakes are its mostly found in human houses lol:. Jokes apart its true. They prefer staying in homes where they get abundant supply of lizards and other small creatures. Their habitat spans over the Indian subcontinent and its one of the most commonest snake. It does bite when provoked but its so mild as a wasp sting and perfectly harmless.

The BIG 4 which causes 90% causalities in ascending order

The Indian Cobra

Russell's Viper

The Common Krait

Saw scaled Viper

Others are not very common.

These are the worlds most deadly snakes.

* Fierce Snake / Inland Taipan / Oxyuranus microlepidotus
* Australian Brown Snake / Pseudonaja textilis
* Malayan Krait / Bungarus candidus
* Taipan / Oxyuranus scutellatus
* Tiger Snake / Notechis scutatus
* Beaked Sea Snake / Enhydrina schistosa
* Saw Scaled Viper / Echis carinatus
* Coral Snake / Micrurus fulvius
* Boomslang / Dispholidus typus
* Death Adder / Acanthopis antarcticus
* Black Mamba / Dendroaspis polylepis
* Green Mamba / Dendroaspis viridis
* Mojave Rattlesnake / Crotalus scutulatus

Quote:

Originally Posted by princezahed (Post 1589704)

Hey Pramod, got the clarification. Snake no 1 is not a rat snake but a banded racer while snake no 2 that was in the jeep is actually an olive keelback. So on my part I was wrong about the wolf snake and all others about the rat snake part.

Prince a branded Racer is much different than the dead snake(supreme balenos house) if that is what you mean. Yes the one in the jeep is a olive keelback.

Posting a branded racers pic for reference, please notice the tail.

Prince all the animals mimic each other to look more intimidating to the predator. There are many times when a rat snake loos like a cobra. when i went out for a rescue with Shyam once we found a cobra on the shack roof. i was very sure its a juvenile rat as the coloration and pattern looked similar, but shyam looked at it and he said its a cob.

My point is every jeeper needs to know some basics about the snakes he might encounter during OTRs and a situation can get from bad to worse if one snake is mistaken for another. I remember seeing a thread where a member is trying to pin the head down of a green bamboo pit viper in one of the OTR thread pics. Lets all ensure we post 100% legitimate info beacuse both human and snake lifes are important in one way or the other.

Pramod

Quote:

Originally Posted by beejay (Post 1593423)

Guys, Pramod and Prince, wish to clarify by "in the jeep" are you'll referring to my post.

The snake in the Red CJ340. Was it poisonous?

I thought it was a rat snake and not a olive keel back or racer. I am not too familiar with snakes.

Yes the snake in the jeep was the one you posted. As I had posted it is an olive keelback and is a non venomous snake. These snakes are harmless. The fact is most people who see a snake think it is more often than not a rat snake because it is the most common snake heard of. there are over 270 species of snakes in india and just a few of them are venomous. The major snakes that we need to be wary of have been posted by pramod above. You could also add the King Cobra to the list,but due to its shy and elusive nature, King Cobra related deaths are very few, and also because King's are not found all over the country.

Quote:

Originally Posted by pramodkumar (Post 1593499)

Yes we are referring to your pic, The snake is a Olive keel back and is non venomous.

The snakes found in your area

Pramod

I guess we can never be too sure about what snake that is. maybe had we seen it in real it would have been a lot easier to pin point it correctly. Fact is its a non venomous snake and I think you would agree with me on that point :)

Quote:

Originally Posted by pramodkumar (Post 1581845)

I understand that you have love for the animal but just to let you know, since you were already administered antivenin once you will show allergic reactions to antivenin, so the next bite can be dangerous. please learn to handle the snakes first, even the best handlers get bitten. Let me know if you are interested. i can have something arranged for you free of cost. PM me if you want to learn more about handling them.

Pramod

Hey thanks for that peice of info, i wasnt aware about the dangers of antivenom. I guess i ought to be more carefull now. Is it a course of some sorts? I had been to the snake park in near Cannanore as a kid.

An elder once told me, many moons ago, that many of the water snakes are venomous - while few of the ones living on land are (the latter has already been mentioned here of course, and concurred upon everywhere). He also had remarked that the water snakes that move with their heads held above water level, instead of slithering along, are sure-shot venomous. He was a learned man (high formal qualification acquired in the 1920s!!), widely travelled and a man of the wild - was a soldier and a planter before and after! I've dissected everything that he's ever told me, in life with him, subsequently, and have come to believe in more than not. Can someone share some conclusive information, if an empirical finding exists, about this aspect regarding water snakes?

Quote:

Originally Posted by heavy_foot (Post 1581824)

Wow, never knew this thread existed. Snakes and me go a long way, infact i was bitten on my hand by a russel's viper when i was trying to catch it when i was in the 11std stupid:. This was in a place called Mahad near Mumbai. Luckly i had killed the snake after it bit me and the first doctor whom i saw advised me to take the dead snake with me to a nearby Govt hospital so that the docters can identify the snake. Apparantly the antivenoms are only available in Govt hospitals. Later i came to know that it was was a russel's viper from the docters in the hospital. I remember that my hand had swelled like crazy within a couple of hours. However the antivenom worked very fast and i was discharged the next day. I remember how the doctors kept checking all my joints evey couple of hours to see if i have any swellings.

So if any of you get bitten, atleast have a good look at the snake so that you can decribe it to the doctor. Your best bet for the treatment would be a govt hospital ( the doctors can correct me if the times have changed now )

I remember as a kid i had hidden a baby snake a small glass bottle in my house and i even took it to school to show it to my friends :D. Over the years i have a caught a lot of them... rat snakes, vipers, cobras, some pythons and the green snake ( can't remember the name, its small and harmless ). Most of the times I let them off after having a good look. My last encounter was in my office parking lot in Whitefield, Bangalore couple of months back. It was a rat snake, which i handed over to the security guys in a bag and requested them to release it outside the premises in the bushes.

any scars or deformities on the bitten spot??
russels viper's venom is known to destroy tissue and even after you have taken the anti venom . there is a high chance that the place you were bitten in will have permanent scars or deformities.

Quote:

Originally Posted by vinaydas (Post 1593638)

No scars or deformities on the right hand ring finger on which i got bitten. It was more like a sting than a long bite and inject, if you know what i mean. But that enough for my hand to swell like a baloon in an hour or so. After that incident i have never tried to catch a snake without a stick in my hand ( to pin down the head ).

Rattle snakes are quite common where we live. Kids are taught how not to put their hands into bushes, and there are rattle snake training lessons for pets/dogs. Our dog needs one, he keeps chasing other reptiles in the back yard.

That said, I have had a rattle snake cooling off right below the driver's door in the parking lot. For what ever reason I looked down and saw the tail rattle. My heart may have skipped a few beats there. I stepped back slowly and the snake made its way towards a bush. Animal control does not usually answer calls about Rattle snakes here, unless they are stuck somewhere and needs to be rescued.

On another instance, I nailed a young rattle snake 1.5 feet long while riding my bike in the desert. The little guy timed it just right, and there was nothing I could do. I could see him wriggling in the middle of the road. My mom made me pray for Nagappa's sympathy. :thumbs up

Quote:

Originally Posted by heavy_foot (Post 1593554)

Most of the people who rescue snakes also teach enthusiasts how to handle snakes. There are many groups which conducts Demo handling classes in schools. I can provide you some peoples numbers if you are serious about learning.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Prabal (Post 1593616)

All snakes are excellent swimmers. And the ones who are not water snakes by nature are definitely the ones who swim on the surface with their heads out, he must have tried generalizing them. Indian Water snakes or checkereds are completely harmless, but myths do exist about them as well. There is a myth that if you are bitten by a checkered snake you are supposed to skip you dinner else its harmful :).

Quote:

Originally Posted by vinaydas (Post 1593638)

Not necessary, tissue damage is one of the effects, the major effect is the blood looses its property, The blood vessels are ruptured leading to internal bleeding. The first symptom is swelling of the effected area, followed by uncontrolled muscle twitching, convolutions, nausea etc...

Pramod

Quote:

Originally Posted by pramodkumar (Post 1593499)

Yes we are referring to your pic, The snake is a Olive keel back and is non venomous.

Quote:

Originally Posted by princezahed (Post 1593519)

Yes the snake in the jeep was the one you posted. As I had posted it is an olive keelback and is a non venomous snake.

Thank God for that. I still see it occasionally near my house and lurking around the Jeep. Its nice that its non venomous. I really wouldn't like to get bit while driving. :D

Your posts are reassuring. Thanks.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Prabal (Post 1593616)

Quote:

Originally Posted by Prabal (Post 1593914)

My mistake there, sorry. What I meant to say was sea snakes in particular and not water snakes in general. I recollect being told something about the venom in sea snakes being much more potent than that in land-based venomous snakes, although the latter has a stronger bite, or something like that. I also vaguely remember him telling me of some connection between sea snakes and cobras.

You answered your own question. Sea snakes are the most potent of them all. Fresh water snakes are harmless and the worst a bite would do is pain you some time. Any snake found in the water, atleast in india should not cause you any damage.

Quote:

Originally Posted by prasadee (Post 1593737)

Rattlers belong to the same family as viper's and have the same hemotoxic venom. As pit viper's are to india, rattlers are to the usa,both deadly enough to kill by internal bleeding and tissue damage.