# TV snake expert in hospital after deadly king cobra bite



## Fuscus (Aug 22, 2012)

He who must not be named is really excited over this. I would hate to be the one who cleans his computer screen.

TV snake expert in hospital after deadly king cobra bite | The Sun |News

OH - and there is a photo of a "King Cobra" that looks suss


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## jeska84 (Aug 22, 2012)

fearsome looking!


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## Stuart (Aug 22, 2012)

Must be one of those new type of King Cobra from Antartica. I heard they are swimming across the oceans to the rest of the world.


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## GlennB (Aug 22, 2012)

Nice king cobra lol


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## Pythonlovers (Aug 22, 2012)

Oh my..


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## Tristan (Aug 22, 2012)

wow i might be a bit more careful with my pet at home now that i have seen what a King Cobra looks like it seems i was sold one unknowingly, guess I'm lucky shes never bitten me yet


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## Jande (Aug 22, 2012)

Rofl! :lol:


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## Tassie97 (Aug 22, 2012)

WOW, just WOW -.-


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## animal805 (Aug 22, 2012)

Looks like my big boy coastal, spittin image almost


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## Hazordous-Herps (Aug 22, 2012)

Boy, what a stuff up
*"Deadly... a fearsome King Cobra like the one that bit Mark"*
"Face palm" its not even a cobra


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## [email protected] (Aug 22, 2012)

he was feeding the king cobra when it bit him the snakes name was sleeping beauty

he was feeding the king cobra when it bit him the snakes name was sleeping beauty

- - - Updated - - -

they stuffed up lol though i heard he is recovering


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## borntobnude (Aug 22, 2012)

Shropshire , i thought that was a pretend county for a tv add!


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## Venomous_RBB (Aug 22, 2012)

LMAO, I nearly fell off the chair xD
That is hilarious.


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## katjase (Aug 22, 2012)

oh no holy crap better get them cobra's off the kids


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## Colin (Aug 22, 2012)

Speedy recovery to mark o'shea. Great herpetologist and a good bloke

Sent from my GT-S5830T using Tapatalk 2


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## KingSirloin (Aug 22, 2012)

.


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## killimike (Aug 22, 2012)

Was sorry to hear this this morning! Wishing him the best for a speedy recovery.

On the subject of venemoids, listen to the 10min clip on youtube of Urban Jungle Radio's interview with 'him'. I thought it was a spoof, it's that bad...


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## Hamalicious (Aug 22, 2012)

Damn, I have a house full of poisonous king cobras and I didn't even realize it!


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## Pauls_Pythons (Aug 22, 2012)

Guys,
If any one has actually met Mark he is a really nice guy with a passion for reptiles 2nd to none. This story is marred by some typically inadequate journalism and while I do see the funny side dont lose sight that a great herper could be fighting for his life.


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## Hazordous-Herps (Aug 22, 2012)

From what people are saying Mark sounds like a really passionate guy, its sad that he got bitten and I wish him a speedy recover.


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## Mulgaaustralis (Aug 22, 2012)

Mark is fine.


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## Wrightpython (Aug 22, 2012)

Why are they always poisonous and if he is such a great herp why has he been bitten so much. Would you normally splint a king cobra bite and do they get to 19 foot?


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## Elapidae1 (Aug 22, 2012)

The law of averages


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## spongebob (Aug 22, 2012)

Murdock media. What do you expect - honest reporting?


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## -Peter (Aug 22, 2012)

Wrightpython said:


> do they get to 19 foot?



Mate, its in the newspaper so obviously they do.


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## Skeptic (Aug 23, 2012)

To think, all this time I've had 3 king cobra's in my house!! I just took a shovel to them though. Thank god I found out in time!


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## Venomous_RBB (Aug 23, 2012)

I hope the best for him, I was laughing at the King cobra, Coastal picture.
Anyway, as you guys have said, hope makes a full and speedy recovery


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## Nighthawk (Aug 23, 2012)

Many thanks to 'The Sun' for the copious call-outs catchers are going to receive concerning 'king cobras' in backyards - now a subspecies of morelia don't you know. How many more are going to be thoughtlessly slaughtered because of that little stuff up?
Media. Gotta love 'em. But not really.


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## Snake Catcher Victoria (Aug 23, 2012)

some funny comments, so many idiots, so few bullets


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## longqi (Aug 23, 2012)

Wrightpython said:


> Why are they always poisonous and if he is such a great herp why has he been bitten so much. Would you normally splint a king cobra bite and do they get to 19 foot?



Lot of discussion about cobra bite treatment at the present time
IMO a pressure bandage will always be better than a splint in slowing the spread on the venom
Others say that localised tissue damage is far greater if pressure bandages are used

With Aussie elapids the actual rate of bites where venom was injected runs between 10 and 20% depending on who you talk to
Most cobras run at 80% or higher
Within 30 to 60 minutes of a cobra bite your cardio vascular system shuts down and CPR is critical with an intensive care unit ready on reaching hospital
So although a pressure bandage may result in more tissue damage near the bite it may also give you an extra few minutes imo

Size varies a lot with location
India seems to have the biggest kings
Aga uses 2 x 4.4metre kings in her show in Penang
They came from Thailand and are extremely impressive animals 
Indonesian kings I have seen have never exceeded 4metres [13ft]
We relocated a 3.6 metre female king in Bali
Very powerful slitherer and heart didnt slow down for about 24hrs afterwards although she was fairly easy to guide into a bag
19ft would be an absolute monster

Complacency is why even experts get bitten
Kings are really a very docile snake compared to tigers etc
Because they rarely strike and put up with a lot of handling etc without reaction most times; people forget just how deadly they can be if they do decide to bite instead of just bluff as per usual


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## Fuscus (Aug 23, 2012)

ssssnakeman said:


> some funny comments, so many idiots, so few bullets


Just remove warning stickers. The local IQ has increased dramatically since I started going out at night and removing any "Do not pee on electrical equipment" stickers


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## Skelhorn (Aug 23, 2012)

Dam, a few people in Australia have King Cobras!


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## Retic (Aug 23, 2012)

I first met Mark more than 30 years ago and really is one of the good guys in this hobby, he makes a living handling fully loaded venomous snakes not mutilated venomoids and because of this there is every chance that every now and then a tiny lapse of concentration will result in a close call. As it happens this turned out to be a dry bite but he was given antivenin purely as a precaution. 



Pauls_Pythons said:


> Guys,
> If any one has actually met Mark he is a really nice guy with a passion for reptiles 2nd to none. This story is marred by some typically inadequate journalism and while I do see the funny side dont lose sight that a great herper could be fighting for his life.


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