Yellow-faced Whip Snake Info?

[gudang]

ive been bitten byt hem a few times. they are very common around here. an adult hurts a lot more than a brown tree snake whoever said that. mainly swelling and local pain that is uncomfortable for about a day.
the ones ive handled though are pretty quiet compared to the black whipsnakes we also get around here.

 

[Tommo]

i think that if anyone is bitten by a even slightly venomous snake they should get it checked out if it the first time. might have a alergic reaction.

 

[ackie]

LOL i think i'm the only LTG member left....
Maybe its time to join LTH...
Anyway YFWS aren't very common in captivity. If any are offered for sale i'll buy it pretty quickly..

LMAO...u might be the only 1 left but so am i (well startn one anyway). Parko, i am not sure if u were a member in the times of LTG and HTG (the good old days)

yeh i only saw YFWS for sale once and it was $80 so i bought it. At one time on the day 2001 Christams bushfires everywhere around my house got burnt (including our bird aviaries :cry: ). Our gardens survived a little bit and so did the lizards which live in it, which then meant that we had heaps of snakes living in our garden, particuly whipsnakes. Sometimes they would be sitting on our front porch and either try to escape into the garden or under the front door very quickly wen they saw us approach. All of the whipsnakes react differently, not just because of personality but also how warmed up they are and wat stress they hav recently been put under. I have been clipped a few times by them but nothing happened at all, i think i have only recieved dry bites so far. When i hav seen people get bittn by whips compared to BTS, the whips look like they hurt a hell of a lot more and i dont really find bts very painful. The only problem is that i hav to catch skinks for my whipsnake. I hav tried everything to get him onto pinkies but he isnt a stupid snake, he will make a charge at a scented pinkie only to stop and pick up the mouse scent at the last second.

 

[Alexahnder]

You still have to be careful with BTS

The following is copied from the forums at www.venomdoc.com. The posts are by Bryan Greig Fry who is the deputy director of the AVRU and Wolfgang Wuster

there have been some very severe bites in Guam though from Boiga irregularis. The venom is rich in the same sorts of neurotoxins as are typical of elapid venoms and it is actually very potent (we have a paper coming out on this). However, the venom delivery is not terribly efficient, more than enough to settle down a prey item but not enough to typically cause severe effects in humans. Bites to humans can result in mild neurotoxicity, I've had this and its best described as 'death adder-lite'. A little giddiness, loss of balance and some discomfort breathing. Not worries

We've been working extensively on the various 'colubrid' venoms. The most conspicuous find has been that the 3FTx (three-finger toxins), which are the classic cobra-style toxins, are actually widespread across the colubrids (we even isolated them from ratsnakes!). This includes the Boigas, which actually have very high concentrations of them and put out quite decent amounts of venom. We have one paper we just submitted on the relative neurotoxicity of some o the snakes and the Boigas were deep into elapid territory, a couple species actually approaching death adder level.

Boiga irregularis has caused life-threatening neurotoxic envenoming in small children on Guam. It has to be said that the circumstances of these bites were unusual, int hat they were predatory bites: the snakes were trying to swallow small babies at night, and because of that, they hung on for prolonged periods of time, thus getting a lot more venom in than might usually be the case.

Wolfgang has raised a good point. While the various 'colubrid' venoms are by and large just as complex as elapid venoms, and of comparative toxicity, the venom delivery is much less efficient (this is of course what drove the evolution of fangs after potent venom was evolved first). Thus,the relative bite danger is less. However, fatalaties or severe envenomations have occured from 'colubrids' that were thought to be harmless (e.g. Rhabdophis being sold in US pet stores in the late 70s/early 80s until a couple kids bled out of every orifice!). So, with new species of colubrid not previously widely kept, sensible caution should be used until some data is available (such as the rapid prey death from Thrasops jacksoni being a bit of an indication of potentially very toxic venom).

Alexahnder

 

[ackie]

i must have a super immune system then MWAHAHAHAHA MWHAHA HAHA hmmmmmm...