Red Bellied Black Snake

[moosenoose]

Hi Dave the answer is yes. Baby ones can be particularly bad as they haven't the ability to regulate their dosage properly. And being a small snake they need things dead quicker anyway so you might be on the receiving end of a lot of venom. That's my understanding anyway

[da_donkey]

Originally Posted by MrBredli

1200+ views for a RBBS thread... i thought for sure i was walking into a free-handling debate. How disappointed i am, however the excellent photographs more than make up for that disappointment. Good stuff!

1600+ views and an extra inflamatory pic from me and still no argument are we the people at APS getting soft in our old age?? or are we just more understanding of different views other than our own??

[herpsrule]

b e a utiful! ive always wanted elapids... sadly class one is for beginners lol

[bredli84]

Originally Posted by da_donkey

1600+ views and an extra inflamatory pic from me and still no argument are we the people at APS getting soft in our old age?? or are we just more understanding of different views other than our own??

WHAT??? APS people understanding of differing views????

[Just_Joshin]

Originally Posted by David Evans

are baby ones just as venomous to adults? maybe not the best wording but would a bite from a baby have the same effact on an adult human as the bite from a baby snake?

Dave

Yes. The venom is no less lethal when they are young. Sure they MIGHT not inject as much but it will still have an effect upon you. As moose pointed out also, young ones often inject a lot of venom through inexperience and a need to protect themselves as they are more vulnerable.

[croc_hunter_penny]

Originally Posted by firefly_

Don't be a smart @$$!!!

We don't have things like that here...
ask me about a copperhead or a rattle snake, and I can tell you all.....

ahh those NC copperheads are so cute! especially the juvie one i found with its little green tail waggling


nice pics moose, punja and donk. i am yet to handle a RBBS but i sure am looking forward to it

-Penny

[m.punja]

Locality? Are you accusing me of something moose! Got no idea where they came from origianlly, but from what I've seen the further north you get the more red their face gets, if that is the case then they are probably from around here somewhere in the family tree. I think there needs to be pics of tai free handling or brown free handling now days for people to get worked up, there or the free handling stories that go wrong.

[m.punja]

Originally Posted by womanator

Yes. The venom is no less lethal when they are young. Sure they MIGHT not inject as much but it will still have an effect upon you. As moose pointed out also, young ones often inject a lot of venom through inexperience and a need to protect themselves as they are more vulnerable.

It can also have the oposite effect am I right? Being that the silly little buggers might give you a dry bite and think...am i forgetting something. Thats what happened to me when I was biten by a juvi Tiger. Also, using tigersnake as an example, you got to think of it this way. Average sized tiger bite can kill about 4 or more humans, juvi tiger, much smaller with smaller glands still probably capable of killing 1 or 2 humans which means, your still outnumbered.

[Just_Joshin]

Originally Posted by m.punja

It can also have the oposite effect am I right? Being that the silly little buggers might give you a dry bite and think...am i forgetting something. Thats what happened to me when I was biten by a juvi Tiger. Also, using tigersnake as an example, you got to think of it this way. Average sized tiger bite can kill about 4 or more humans, juvi tiger, much smaller with smaller glands still probably capable of killing 1 or 2 humans which means, your still outnumbered.

It's not just juvies that give dry bites, in fact i'd almost be inclined to say that juvie's WOULDN'T give dry bites, they'd unload the entire gland into you!!

Eastern Brown snakes and RBBS are notorius for dry bites. I believe the envenomation rate of an eastern brown is something like 30% across all cases, i.e. only 30% of people bitten by brown snakes suffered envenomation.

A snake knows that it cannot eat something the size of us so using venom on us is a little pointless unless it is the only option left. Venom is PRECIOUS for an elapid as it is it's means of hunting/eating so venom is only used when absolutely neccessary. For this reason, many elapids will only give you a dry bite if it is not cornered and you are not harrassing the snake. It is a way of saying "See i can bite you, piss off or your a dead man".

A guy on my snake handling course got tagged by a RBBS when trying to get it out of a tree. He grabbed it 2/3 down the body while it was in the fork of a tree and it spun round and tagged him. Luckily for him it was only a RBBS giving him a warning bite......"Leave me alone".

However, get tagged by something like a Mulga then LOOK OUT. It is going to Inject venom and a bucketload at that.

[hugsta]

I haven't heardof eastern browns giving dry bites before. Everyone I've ever met have always been ready to bite and inject venom. They have a bit of an attitude problem I think....

[m.punja]

yeh I know womonator, however I still believe that juvis give off a few dry bites. I've seen someone fishing out tiger juvis from his pits and whacked a number of times by the little guys only to swear and call them all sorts of names with no effect of any venom

[m.punja]

he wasn't careless, he had about 50 odd tiger juvis of diff speices and didn't have much room to play so a few snaped him

[Tatelina]

Originally Posted by da_donkey

So am i moooooooseyyyyy... lets get the Mas..debate going

I was wondering why no one had said anything actually..