Wires regurge!

[Hooglabah]

im sorry you cant be immune to somthing that doesnt get effected by the immune system.
venoms and poisions are broken down by your metabolic system so haveing a very high metabolisum will reduce the effect of a snake bite, however seeing as how most venoms greatly effect the efficency of your metabolic system the only way to go is down hill the more bites you get the worse off you will be.

what can happen however is you get bitten say three or 4 times and on the last on or two for whatever reason you dont become envenomated (either a dry bite or the venom collects on your clothes and doesnt enter the wound) and people believe that they have become "ïmmune".

sorry people you can only become immune to diseases, bactieria and in some very rare and special cases viruses.

 

[Hooglabah]

just to clarify after many years of searching i have found no evidence of a tolerence to a animals venom ever being recorded, however to certain poisions you can bevelope an immunity a classic example of this is drugs and booze, as you drink/ take more you require stronger or greater quantaties to become intoxicated ect.

venom however works differantly to poisions as it directly effects:
metabolisum
immune system
muscles
nevervous system
tissues
blood vessils ect

where as poision just floats around and doesnt agree with you
or eats away at whatever it touches.

 

[Hemiaspis]

just to clarify after many years of searching i have found no evidence of a tolerence to a animals venom ever being recorded, however to certain poisions you can bevelope an immunity a classic example of this is drugs and booze, as you drink/ take more you require stronger or greater quantaties to become intoxicated ect.

venom however works differantly to poisions as it directly effects:
metabolisum
immune system
muscles
nevervous system
tissues
blood vessils ect

where as poision just floats around and doesnt agree with you
or eats away at whatever it touches.

In actual fact, venom has a lot to do with the immune system. Antivenom is manufactured from exposing an animal (horse, sheep, rabbit etc) to increasing doses of a particular venom, to which the animal's immune system responds by producing antibodies. When antivenom is administered the antibodies bind to the venom molecules, thus altering their structure, and they can no longer carry out their function. Once the animal has sufficient antibodies, blood is taken and the plasma (containing antibodies) is extracted to be used as an antivenom.

The problems associated with human immunisation against any venomous creature, is that if exposure is ceased, the level of active antibodies drops, and any immune response is lost. Another problem is snake venoms from species to species varies considerably and we have found that geographic variation in a venom within a single species, so basically although it is possible, it's just not practical.

 

[aussie.snakes]

sorry people you can only become immune to diseases, bactieria and in some very rare and special cases viruses.

Umm, your body produces antibodies that have to soul purpose of neutralising antigens whether they be live organisms or toxins. If what you are saying was true there is no point having people immunised against tetanus using the tetanus toxiod and we would also not have antivenoms for any of our venomous animals.

However, also there could be some truth in people developing immunity to venom, I think it would just be much easier just to ensure you don't get bitten. I would also think that in most cases, the more you became exposed to it the worse your reaction would become.

Shame about the blue tongues being wasted. What was the reason for him needing the injections? Hope he is okay.

Asprin in milk to sedate a snake :shock:

Edit: I would class being able to take more of a drug to get the same effect as tolerance. Completely different thing to immunity.

 

[jack]

does anyone else get a thrill when someone with a big post count identifies themselves as ignorant in a post that implies others are?

what was the bandage for iv, was there a spade wound?

 

[-Matt-]

does anyone else get a thrill when someone with a big post count identifies themselves as ignorant in a post that implies others are?

what was the bandage for iv, was there a spade wound?

I find it even more of a thrill when that person (who has claimed in the past to have spent the majority of the last 5 years of their life studying reptiles) continues to hand out completely false and unjustified information over and over again.

Good luck with him IV, hope he heals up just fine.

 

[Hooglabah]

nice response jack its nice to know that people even take notice of post counts, the information i presented here while clearly inccorectly in no way has anything to do with my post count. (i stand by haveing never found any evidence of people becomeing immune to venom btw)

especially considering most of my posts are in the chit chat section. so hows about rather than jumping to conclusions you hold your toung next time.

thanks for the correction aussie snakes.

jack i feel you owe me an apology.

 

[Hooglabah]

im sorry mat have you never gotten incorrect information befor. must be nice to be perfect

 

[Hooglabah]

btw at least i can admit when i have been corrected and proven wrong and will often thank the person for the correction. unlike many many people not just here but anywhere.

 

[imported_Varanus]

What an interesting thread this has become, in more ways than one! Thanks for all the interest and well wishers, much appreciated.

Here's some updated pics from today, hopefully these will go some way to answering a few of the above questions; if anyone has any more (or I fail to answer any), please ask. Also, please excuse the picture quality, the person taking the pics was very brave, but VERY nervous ( she did a good job IMO)!!

BTW, for those that asked, the wound was done by a "wooden snake thingy"(?), may require another course of antibiotics, will take a months recovery (at least) and I may have to keep the animal over Winter and release next Spring.....all because some F...ing redneck decided to be a hero!! ( I HATE EM'....flame away Reddies!!!!).

I decided (after consultation with our local vet) to remove the bandage (which was sticky on the skin side) as it was hindering movement and on the back rather than the belly. (does anyone believe stitches/ sutures may help with healing?, and "Snakey" won't take thawed, dead mice, so what does everyone think of scenting a live mouse with one of the regurged Bluies to get a feeding response?? ( I'm trying a "Stinky" Jack!!).

 

[imported_Varanus]

And a few more.

 

[Mudimans]

You probably won't have to worry about feeding it for a while yet. Its probably too stressed to eat no matter what it smells like. Good work on the rescue too, next time try the wooden snake thingy in the redneck.

 

[Mudimans]

That wound looks pretty shallow too so it should heal on its own, just ask the vet. I bet your nervous sticking that needle in

 

[imported_Varanus]

Ha, Ha, Ha..... I like it! Funny how under "Tags", I've just noticed "redneck"!!

Yeah, the vet reckons she's seen animals before with bones showing, so this one's not so bad, trouble is , reptiles take twice as long as mammals to heal. That's not me sticking the needle in, but my capable assistant ( but I don't think it'd spare the venom if it could get hold of either of us at this stage).

 

[Jumala]

nice looking animal that's for sure. It looks like it is in good condition so if it takes a bit of trial and error to get it to eat, it shouldn't be too much of a problem for it.
Love the photos, nice record to keep
The last photo is such an unimpressed face :lol: I'll so have you if you let me go!!!!!

 

[imported_Varanus]

We were trying to get a good close up of the inside of it's mouth, as it had it's mouth open most of the time while it was held, but the photographer nearly dropped the camera everytime it did so!

 

[imported_Varanus]

Hi All,

Just a quick update and a question,

We've decided to inject "snakey" with saline solution, as he's not eating or drinking (not suprising) and looking rather dehydrated ("baggy" skin)! Any ideas on the amout to inject at a time (in ml)? I figured once a day (when were also injecting the Baytril for his wound at a rate of 0.1ml).

Any help much appreciated.

Cheers,

I.V.

 

[waruikazi]

I would be more inclined to either soak him or use a squeezey bottle to spray a jet of water on his mouth to get him drinking rather than another injection. I've never tried the squeezey bottle personally but have seen it done with good success but i have soaked alot of dehydrated snakes with good success. Never an EB, have done death adders, gwardars, whips and lots of colubrids and it worked for all of them so it should work for an EB.

 

[cris]

You can become immune or at least highly resistant to snake venom from repeated exposure, however repeated exposure is likely to increase other potentially lethal side effects like anaphylaxis. Simple solution is dont get bitten.

Your lucky the guy used the milk and asprin to calm down the snake :lol:

 

[imported_Varanus]

Cheers mate, thanks for the input,

What exactly does "soaking" involve ( deep or shallow) and how long for- roughly? The vet (not a reptile specialist) suggested 10ml "for dogs" (???), so we gave him 1ml, injected very slowly (and painfully- my knees are still red from knealing on the cement floor!).