Info About Colubrids?

[cris]

So if I got bitten, no medical attention would be needed? (Exept bandaids )

A simple answer is no, but there would be an extremely small chance of a bad reaction. That said even python bites can cause infections that are potentially harmful. I guess you could say its much safer getting bitten by one than driving a car or living outside a heavily fortified bunker. Although if you are hypersensitive to other snake venoms i would avoid letting them chew on you. A defensive bite would be unlikely to cause any venom to enter your system(although that is a guess).

Would you seek medical attention for a green ant bite?

 

[snakeluvver]

Would you seek medical attention for a green ant bite?

Well I'm a bit of a wuss :lol: so maybe :lol: Kidding

 

[NicG]

With regards to CTS bites, check out this thread ...

http://www.aussiepythons.com/forum/australian-snakes-37/common-tree-snakes-venomous-tag-143636/

For the record, I can accept that they do have some venom producing capability, but to categorize them as a 'venomous snake' is misleading.

 

[Snakeluvver2]

Hmm I disagree, people just have to release that venomous dosent typically mean dangerously life threatening (disregarding allergic reactions). I mean look at brown tree snakes, they're venomous but a bite isnt going to send you to hospital (again disregarding allergic reactions)
I tell my friends that they're venomous, but are harmless unless your a frog.

 

[snakeluvver]

So I guess a GTS bite is just like a bee sting (actually I've never been stung by a bee, lets say wasp sting). So it doesn't have fangs, but its saliva may be mildly venomous?

 

[-Peter]

You may disagree but Nicg has qualifiedh is comment and I agree. The statement that they are venomous is misleading. As is that oxygen is poisonous. Both are true but need to be qualified, not repeated as some reactionary mantra.
No it is not like a bee sting.

Hmm I disagree, people just have to release that venomous dosent typically mean dangerously life threatening (disregarding allergic reactions). I mean look at brown tree snakes, they're venomous but a bite isnt going to send you to hospital (again disregarding allergic reactions)
I tell my friends that they're venomous, but are harmless unless your a frog.

With regards to CTS bites, check out this thread ...

http://www.aussiepythons.com/forum/australian-snakes-37/common-tree-snakes-venomous-tag-143636/

For the record, I can accept that they do have some venom producing capability, but to categorize them as a 'venomous snake' is misleading.

 

[cris]

IMO calling them venomous is only misleading if you dont know what venomous means, in which case the person is already mislead anyway. I have been bitten twice with feeding bites and to me the experience supported them being venomous, much like getting bitten by a small monitor the minor injury is sublty differant to a simple laceration or puncture wound.

I know not all academics are right, but i believe Dr Brain Fry on this issue over someone without any relevant scientific experience.

 

[eipper]

All colubrids in Australia at least are venomous by definition...the venom itself may not be toxic enough to illicit a systemic reaction but it is what it is.

A number of harmless colubrids have proved otherwise... Boomslangs, "Boiga" blandingi, Twig snakes, Asian Keelbacks and 2 genera in South and Central America....

Allergic reactions and other complications can turn a bite from a usually harmless species into something that is life threatening.....Parasuta were once regarded as harmless.

Boiga's can produce some lovely necrotic type wounds near the bite site....I like my fingers

People underestimate their potential to sustain serious injury or worse from the snakes they keep...I would rather be cautious and live, than be a cowboy and wish that I had re thought my position.

There is also a death from Demansia recorded...but that's only a whip snake....

Cheers,
Scott Eipper

 

[cris]

Thanks for clearing that up Eipper. Would you be able to share any info on husbandry or point us in the direction of where to find stuff you or others have written?

I meant to say Bryan Fry instead of Brain Fry too :lol:

 

[eipper]

I have almost finished my paper/article on keeping and Breeding Dendrelaphis....just got get around to tidying it up

Mind you there is small amount of info about in Mike Swans new Book

 

[NicG]

Hi Scott,

Great to hear that somebody is finally going to publish something on this largely unknown (despite their name) species in captivity! Hopefully it will be in time to be of use to my next clutch of CTS eggs, which is being deposited as we speak. Where and when is your paper/article likely to be published?

What is the title of the Mike Swan book that includes Dendrelaphis/Colubrids?

Cheers,
Nic

 

[NicG]

With regards to venomous / non-venomous, the point I'm trying to make is that there is a stigma associated with the phrase "venomous snake" and rightly or wrongly, people see us keepers as experts. If we start saying that these common-in-backyard snakes are venomous - regardless of the qualification, people are increasingly alarmist and hear what they want to hear - then it could mean that many of these fascinating and beautiful snakes meet with an untimely death.

In this case, being 'right' may come with a cost.

Furthermore, I know of people who have had bad reactions to Boiga bites. I have never heard of a single person who has suffered a similar fate after a bite from a CTS.

 

[snakeluvver]

So basically a GTS / CTS bite shouldn't be given any more attention than a bite from a small python

 

[cris]

With regards to venomous / non-venomous, the point I'm trying to make is that there is a stigma associated with the phrase "venomous snake" and rightly or wrongly, people see us keepers as experts. If we start saying that these common-in-backyard snakes are venomous - regardless of the qualification, people are increasingly alarmist and hear what they want to hear - then it could mean that many of these fascinating and beautiful snakes meet with an untimely death.

In this case, being 'right' may come with a cost.

Furthermore, I know of people who have had bad reactions to Boiga bites. I have never heard of a single person who has suffered a similar fate after a bite from a CTS.

I agree with this thinking and that why i always ramble on about the general harmlessness of most venomous animals.

Snakelover pythons arnt venomous, green ants are though and IMO less harmful than python bites. The key issue is that people think venomous means death but if you want to actuallly understand stuff properly you realise that venomous doesnt automatically mean it kills humans. At the same time i think im pretty hardcore surviving the envomation of various harmless species as idiots think they gain credit from being bitten from potentially deadly stuff, which actually will cause significant long term damage in most cases.

 

[snakeluvver]

I agree with this thinking and that why i always ramble on about the general harmlessness of most venomous animals.

Snakelover pythons arnt venomous, green ants are though and IMO less harmful than python bites. The key issue is that people think venomous means death but if you want to actuallly understand stuff properly you realise that venomous doesnt automatically mean it kills humans. At the same time i think im pretty hardcore surviving the envomation of various harmless species as idiots think they gain credit from being bitten from potentially deadly stuff, which actually will cause significant long term damage in most cases.

I know pythons aren't venomous I'm just saying a bite from a GTS is no worse than a python bite in terms sf dangerousness

 

[Snakeluvver2]

If the answer is so blatantly obvious to you, dont ask the question.
LOL

 

[NicG]

It occurs to me that we've been limiting this conversation to Common Tree Snakes. What about Northern Tree Snakes, Keelbacks and Slatey-Greys - are they considered to be 'technically venomous' as well?

 

[snakeluvver]

It occurs to me that we've been limiting this conversation to Common Tree Snakes. What about Northern Tree Snakes, Keelbacks and Slatey-Greys - are they considered to be 'technically venomous' as well?

Oh. Well lets continue with that then

 

[eipper]

Nick,

An introduction to Keeping and Breeding Australian Reptiles by Mike Swan and Damien Goodall

Cheers,
Scott

 

[Snakeluvver2]

I think VenomDoc said slaty's are.