deadliest snake in South carolina - Experts Forum at VenomousReptiles.org

deadliest snake in South carolina	Reply
by friendlyhippie on March 23, 2006	Mail this to a friend!
I was wondering the deadliest snake for South Carolina & the deadliest snake in the world?

RE: deadliest snake in South carolina	Reply
by MoccasinMan on March 23, 2006	Mail this to a friend!
In SC the most toxic venom is the E. Coral snake, but the most potentially deadly is the E. Diamondback because of it's huge hemotoxic venom yield. The most deadly on the planet is the Inland Taipan... extremely neurotoxic with a large venom yield. Andrew

RE: deadliest snake in South carolina	Reply
by earthguy on March 24, 2006	Mail this to a friend!
You might want to fill out your profile a little more thoroughly. You might get a more considered response. But, not knowing your experience level or region here goes: It depends on what you mean by the most deadly. I think that you have to take several factors into account: Venom potency, species temperament (if such a thing even truly exists), and abundance of the snake. EDBs are (as mentioned above) quite potent. They are also, however, slow to bite (in my experience) and not very common. Cottonmouths can also get quite large and are capable of delivering bad bites. But their rage, too, is limited (they generally stay East of the fall line here in SC). Copperheads, on the other hand, have arguably the mildest venom (NOTE: MILD VENOM CAN STILL KILL YOU), but can be found EVERYWHERE here in the prettiest little state inthe southeast. My assertion would be that for all factors considered (especially range) the deadlist snake in SC would be Crotalus horridus, the canebrake/timber rattlesnake. The most dangerous by far, though (leading to more permanent human damage than any other snake in the state) would be the copperhead. Mostly because of their expansive range and their reputation for mild venom (guys showing off to their girlfriends are not as careful with a little copperhead as they would be a 6.5 ft EDB!)Well, that's my $.02 worth. Anyone else want to pipe in?

RE: deadliest snake in South carolina	Reply
by bush_viper17 on March 24, 2006	Mail this to a friend!
I would say the canebrake rattlesnake(Crotalus horridus atricaudatus) because I have heard that in some parts of S.C.(Jasper?) they have up to 27% neurotoxic venom.

RE: deadliest snake in South carolina	Reply
by Chris_Harper on March 24, 2006	Mail this to a friend!
If I had to pick the ones I would LEAST like to be bitten by in order, they are: Eastern diamondback Timber/Canebrake Cottonmouth Pigmy Copperhead Coral snake The relevant decision factors for this list are: 1. How quickly can you get into a hospital and get supportive care and antivenom? Usually pretty quick. 2. How likely are you to have permanent damage after the bite? They are basically listed in order above. 3. How likely are you to die. [Even with C.horridus, you have an excellent chance of surviving. Way more people live than die.] The order would change if there was no medical care available. The coral snake would be near the top, if not at the top. [Respiratory arrest is hard to manage without medical care!] That Eastern diamondback's a rough one though [if it's a severe envenomation.] That's a toss up between agonizing death or respiratory arrest. You decide. ~CH~

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