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black rat snake bites
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by herp-master on October 25, 2006
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hey, just wondering, i was out herping with a friend, saw a black rat snake, and tryed to show him how to handle it. He was doing ok at first, but then he squized it. NOT the best thing do. There is a big mark on the side of his hand. Luckly, it didnt bleed, but he says it feels like it was burnt. He even says it burns now, about 3 days after.It is even puffing up like a burn. Never seen a real bite before, so i have no knowlege of helping this. What better place to ask this than here. Please, dont take this the wrong way, ive known him since the 3rd grade. He told his parents it was his fault, for all you critics out there.
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RE: black rat snake bites
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by Venomjunkie on October 25, 2006
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he is most likely just having a minor reaction to the bite. i have been bitten by black rats many times before and never had any type of a reaction but then again every person reacts differently to a bite, hot or not. i honestly wouldnt worry about it too much unless it persists for more than a week or so.
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RE: black rat snake bites
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by rickyduckworth on October 25, 2006
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tell him to WASH his hands occasionally.
it broke the skin and bacteria got in, plain and simple, just like any other cut.
hygiene is the answer to the world's questions
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RE: black rat snake bites
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by ssshane on October 25, 2006
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I also have had some type of reaction to a non-venemous snake bite. I was bitten by an eastern chain king on the finger. It tore the skin a little. I wasn't able to clean it for a few hours. I caught a slight fever and had some minor swelling.
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RE: black rat snake bites
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by snakeguy101 on October 25, 2006
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Black rats have a mild venom that is used to digest thier food, all nerodia have this too and some people get a rash like effect after a bite. it'll be gone by next week
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RE: black rat snake bites
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by rickyduckworth on October 25, 2006
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hasn't research shown that MOST colubrids have a mild venom? until people knew that, it wasn't a big deal but now people look for a "reaction"
i do construction and get cuts all the time...some heal quickly, some get puffy and sore, some don't heal for weeks. it's usually related to bacteria and where you're cut.
it's mostly in people's heads. i've been bitten by black and gray ratsnakes about 50x in the past 6 months and nothing. i also wash my hands right after and out of habit, wash my hands all the time anyway.
it's just related to hygiene and not ratsnake venom
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RE: black rat snake bites
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by Atrox788 on October 26, 2006
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Every animal with saliva is venomous. Have you ever been bitten by a person? You can get a slight reaction to it.
Saliva is designed to aid in digestion. In us and snakes. There for by definition all snakes are venomous.
Venomous snakes as we know them have evolved saliva glands and delivery systems. They also have a much more concentrated mix of protiens and ensymes (my spelling sucks, sorry ;;)evolved to also aid in imbolization. Ratsnakes use their coils to imobilize but being snakes and seeing the evolutionary track of venomous snakes it makes sense that their bite, i.e saliva may cause a reaction to a sensitive person.
If you throw poor hygeine into the mix (i.e they dont disenfect the bitten area) it can lead to what your freind is seeing now.
As a general rule you should always treat every snake bite with potential of a reaction even if you know the snake is indeed harmless.
Id be more worried about the bacterial infection personaly, much more dangerous then any saliva a rat snake posesses.
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RE: black rat snake bites
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by LarryDFishel on October 26, 2006
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Interesting inerpretation, Jeremy. I'm not sure if you're technically correct or not. Saliva helps with digestion, but is weak enough that it might have nearly zero effect on a LIVING animal, so I'm not sure if you could classify it that way. If you get a reaction from a human bite, I would bet it is either an infection from all the nasty bacteria in their mouth or an immune reaction to foreighn proteins (neither of which are venom).
What Ricky (and I think Chris) were referring to was the research done by Dr. Brian Greg Fry which indeed shows that many (maybe most) colubrids may be considered very mildly venomous. However...the genus Pantherophis (North American rat snakes) are one of the exceptions. Some of the confusion may have to do with the fact that he found "venom" in snakes of the genus Elaphe. But.... That was after the North American rat snakes were split off into a new genus... Thus my obnoxios comment...
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