Elapid Handling (poll)

[NoOne]

Pressure bandages!

That is very common knowledge....and has been drummed into just about everyone for god knows how long.

 

[Alexahnder]

Do a google search..................................


































































........................and you should find the answer to be a pressure bandage.

 

[Guest]

YEah when i go out i ALWAYS take with me 2 pressure bandages, a knife, lighter, camera, mobile phone, and my trusty hook. well thanks for the imput guys, its made me rethink my "smartness". will give them a rest for a while (doesn't mean i can't take pics of wild ones).

 

[diamond_python]

ooooooooopppppppppssssssssssss..... I did mean pressure bandages.. Don't know why I used the word torniquet..... Hey we are all human and can make mistakes. I knew what I was saying but was using the wrong words.... lol

doesn't mean i can't take pics of wild ones).

I agree. I might start doing this soon just for the experience.. Make sure you post the pics...

 

[dobermanmick]

Just make sure you post the pics !! or if you dont make it have somone else do it for you :lol:

 

[Guest]

lol, well i'm going tomorrow morning so i'm hoping to c lots of stuff.

 

[Jas]

Hi all.
Craig made mention of allergic reaction to anti-venoms. In addition to this any foreign protein introduced into the body can cause life threatening allergic reactions in many people. Snake venoms are just that, a highly varied blend of proteins with very specific functions within an organism. Anaphylaxis, the most severe form of allergic reaction could quite possibly kill you long before the venom has managed to travel through the body to cause any serious damage at all. Death typically occurs very swiftly as a result of anaphylactic shock, your talking a matter of minutes. You probably wouldn't have finished applying your pressure bandage!! Personally In addition to my bandages I keep an Epipen (Auto-injecting adrenaline) on me whenever I'm handling any venomous snake. I'm talking both in the field removing snakes or at home dealing with my own animals. Nobody wants to receive a bite from a venomous snake but mistakes do happen even to the most experienced handlers so you need to be sufficiently prepared.
Cheers,
Jason.

 

[Guest]

How does Auto-injecting adrenaline help?

 

[Jas]

Hi Lib..
A person going into anaphylactic shock could exhibit symptoms such as difficulty in breathing, low blood pressure, nausea, vomiting etc. Adrenaline relaxes the lungs to ease breathing, helps to stregthen the heart beat to increase blood pressure. Its these two, breathing and blood pressure which are essentially the killers in a severe reaction. How long (hypothetically) can you hold your breath or your brain be starved of oxygen before you were to crash?
Does that answer your question?
Jason.

 

[ackie]

no one has really shown me how to handle elapids, but i never tried to handle rbbs first off. My first elapids i mucked around with were yellow faced whips wen i was in year 4. RBBS' may not be aggresive if approached buy try grabbing ones tail wen its been sitting in the sun for 2 hours. RBBS can come over their body fairly easily so probably not the best snakes to start off handling. Its been sed already, snakes r not toys, no room for mistakes, the main thing is to just have a level of respect for the snake u r handling and dont go grab the first elapid that shows up unless u know u can do so successfully. Saying this, dont get the impressing that i think i can handle any snake, an eastern brown still makes me extremely nervous. Just respect is all.

 

[ozherpconservation]

First of all you need to change your attitude, black snakes may be slower, less aggressive and have far less potent venom than browns, but they can still do damage. All elapids need to be treated with respect... they're not toys.
You need to learn how to identify certain elapid species and understand their venoms and the effects that you would be likely to experience from a bite of that species. You also need to understand the correct medical procedure in the event you are bitten.
Handling venomous snakes may be easy but that certainly does'nt mean you should go in gung-ho without any knowledge.

Very well said Springherp! Couldn't of put it better myself!

 

[PilbaraPythons]

Here's me and one of my favourites. Handling elapids is definately something you should be shown and then after watching it being done should be attempted only when you are confident enough to pull it off successfully.

P.S. Anyone know what species this is?

 

[Sdaji]

Most of the experienced herps I've spoken to started out as barefoot kids with no training of any form at all. Often it was despite orders by their parents not to do so, and so they either did it alone or with same aged friends. It's interesting to see the increasing popularity in being trained as a form of learning, I actually find it quite strange for some reason.

Everyone learns in their own way. I know that I wouldn't have been a trainable person when I was starting out; that is to say, I was a little **** who wouldn't listen to anyone who told me what to do, and also everyone's methods vary and what works for one person won't necessarily work for someone else. My first experience with elapids was in my mid teens with wild tigers, I first freehandled an elapid during a public reptile show, after asking the demonstrator nicely he let me freehandle several deadly snakes (talk about hideous irresponsibility!!! :shock: if I didn't have a personal policy of not bad mouthing individuals if I can help it I would love to tell you who this was). This, along with a lot of what he said, really warped me and the next time I was in the field I was freehandling a large tiger, I was in my mid teens, no bandage, just me, one non reptile oriented friend and my head full of stupidity and a nasty hangover from hitting the bottle too hard the night before. Ironically it was about 50 metres from that spot where several years and a few hundred snakes from all over the country later was finally envenomated in a serious way - by a large tiger, perhaps even the same one. I'd been handling that snake for about 10 minutes before it decided enough was enough.

I'd say the poll doesn't really apply to people evenly (which is why I didn't vote). Some people are idiots and go through adolesence with an attitude of trying anything because they know they're invincible. Of course, many of them die in car crashes or other accidents of their own production, but some somehow survive despite not really deserving to. These people can't be reasoned with until/unless they grow out of it. On the other hand, some people are sensible, deserve their lives and will probably either independantly learn very carefully and others will only learn under the tuition of someone with experience. Most people wouldn't be swayed one way or the other by anyone else's advice. Each to their own and good luck to all!

Before anyone yells at me, I'll add the typical disclaimer "this is all just my opinion based on nothing more than my own meandering experience, I could be wrong on some of it, yada yada etc etc".

 

[womas4me]

I reckon everyone has their own style they develop from a few common basics. I dont find any wrong or right way, but either you get bitten or you dont, regardless of how you do it.

OK plibaras, what is it? Were you overseas at the time?

 

[Greebo]

Most of the experienced herps I've spoken to started out as barefoot kids with no training of any form at all.

I guess it would be difficult to speak to the ones that weren't so lucky and died from being bitten.

 

[PilbaraPythons]

Now come on womas that would be telling. As for a wrong way of handling, I think I found one hence my manky thumb. Yes I was overseas at the time.

 

[PilbaraPythons]

I agree that lots of people started handling elapids as barefoot kids, myself included however times have changed and I couldn't imagine sending my young son or daughter (if I have some oneday) out to catch browns or taipans. Even though I did just that but at 18 years of age. I also purchased my first semi-auto .22 calibre rifle from the sports section at K-mart and 500 rounds of ammo all that was required was some form of ID stating you were 18. I first obtained a licence to keep elapids at the tender age of 14 years. Ah yes Queensland was a good place to grow up.

Adrian

 

[Sdaji]

Most of the experienced herps I've spoken to started out as barefoot kids with no training of any form at all.


I guess it would be difficult to speak to the ones that weren't so lucky and died from being bitten.

Absolutely, some probably did. I'm just telling it like it is, not saying it's good or bad. It's not so long ago that the only way to learn was to go out and grab a wild snake.

 

[Guest]

Hi Lib..
A person going into anaphylactic shock could exhibit symptoms such as difficulty in breathing, low blood pressure, nausea, vomiting etc. Adrenaline relaxes the lungs to ease breathing, helps to stregthen the heart beat to increase blood pressure. Its these two, breathing and blood pressure which are essentially the killers in a severe reaction. How long (hypothetically) can you hold your breath or your brain be starved of oxygen before you were to crash?
Does that answer your question?
Jason.

yeah mate that answers my qu well. where would u get this stuff from?

 

[keelow]

Here's me and one of my favourites. Handling elapids is definately something you should be shown and then after watching it being done should be attempted only when you are confident enough to pull it off successfully.

P.S. Anyone know what species this is?

Looks to me like either a Red Spitting Cobra...Naja pallida
But i've seen a Mozambique Spitting Cobra too that look like that, without so much black under the hood.

My guess is a Red....

Nez