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Front fanged vs. Rear fanged
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by reptileman on April 15, 2002
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In the last couple of articles that I have read about the Eastern coral snake, the main focus was about a bite that had unfortunately happened. However, while reading, I noticed that the person who had sustained the bite was supposedly (not meaning to use that word in any form of disrespect) a reptile enthusiast, yet they kept insisting that the reason that the bite wasn't as bad as it could be was due to the fact that the snake didnt "chew" on the bite location, so as not introducing as much venom to the victim as it could have. Now, it is my understanding that the coral snake is a member of the elapid family, meaning front fanged, not rear like a colubrid, so not needing to "chew" to introduce their venom to the unfortunate recipiant. So I suppose my question is....am I right or not?
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RE: Front fanged vs. Rear fanged
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by BGF on April 15, 2002
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The corals are definately elapids, as for the chewing they don't have the biggest fangs in the world. That said, I keep having people insist that they are rear-fanged. Not sure where this got started but it seems to be pretty ingrained.
Cheers
BGF
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RE: Front fanged vs. Rear fanged
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by TAIPAN78 on April 15, 2002
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Hello,
You are right in that Coral snakes are elapids and that they have front fangs but in alot of instances, they need to chew in order to get a decent ammount of venom injected(not counting large specimens whao are more then capable of injecting venom with a quick snap and release bite). They are very small snakes and the fangs are also rather dinky. They dont need to chew all of the time but a pissed off, wishing you were dead coral snake would be much more likely to chew and unload his venom then to strike once.
Basicly, one has to put them selfs in the mind of the snake. Why would it bite in such a way? If a coral is grasped by a predator its going to latch on and chew, unloading as much venom as posible in order to deter aka kill the bugger who was trying to do it to him. If only slighlty annoyed and pesterd with , it may just strike out as if saying, Hey, leave me alone. Im not in the mood" instead of chewing and wasteing all of it venom on something that it can not eat.
Basicly, my bro York got the latter reaction from the coral he encoutered and ended up being quite lucky.
Well, I hope that helped clear some things up.
Peace,
Jeremy
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Chewing behavior
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by scottquint on April 17, 2002
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They do not have to "chew". Many elapids display this chewing behavior, especially the ones that feed on other reptiles. WHY? Because most elapids are weak and have short fangs and because thier prey has thick scales and is often fairly strong. The "chewing" is in effect multiple biting which ensures that the fangs get between the thick scales. More bites, better chance of getting a good one in. Each bit is a separate bite, each with a full dose of venom. When snakes such as Coralsnakes, which would normally "chew" to secure prey, doesn't chew it means that the bite was likely defensive and therefore likely to have a reduced venom yeild, thus, a more mild bite.
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