Baptists and Dangerous African Animals - experts Forum at VenomousReptiles.org

Baptists and Dangerous African Animals	Reply
by earthguy on February 16, 2006	Mail this to a friend!
Hey ya’ll. I have a coworker who is a summer Baptist missionary. I am not personally into proselytizing, but I am in to helping people. When this particular group heads to Mali every summer, they watch out for the “two stepper” snakes. They can’t tell me the name (or give me a description of ) these snakes. I was thinking possibly Gaboon Viper. Any ideas? And how would these people go about getting anti-venin? I think that I have them convinced that they can buy the anti-venin. If they need it they can use it. If they don’t need it, they can leave it for the villagers when they come back stateside. That could be very helpful. Also, they use cattle prods to treat scorpion stings. I know that they tried that for snake venom (and that it was ineffective) but does anybody know of effective treatments for scorpion stings (I don’t know what kind of scorpion, I just know that they’re in West Africa)

RE: Baptists and Dangerous African Animals	Reply
by rataretasty on February 16, 2006	Mail this to a friend!
They are talking about the white-lip pit viper I have heard guys that were in vietnam talk about them I think they also called them cigarette snakes or something cause before you could smoke a cig the venom would take effect. I hope this sheds some light I may be wrong but this is all the information I have for the two stepper.

RE: Baptists and Dangerous African Animals	Reply
by petra on February 16, 2006	Mail this to a friend!
I'm not an expert and never heard of the expression but, I did a little google search and it seems like people would call any snake "two stepper" based on the time it takes to collapse after the bite "because two steps is all you get before the venom takes you down". I have found 3 different species called this (I only searched for about 5 minutes so there may be more) The ones I have found were Krait, Bamboo viper and Fer de lance.

RE: Baptists and Dangerous African Animals	Reply
by LarryDFishel on February 16, 2006	Mail this to a friend!
It seems that every point on the globe has some snake (not always a specific or even real one) that they call something like "the two step snake" or the "100 pacer" or the "60 second snake". The last one I've heard used to descripe the U.S. coral snakes which in reality are well known for surprising people by not taking effect for up to 12 hours! They are all based on stories about stories about stories. The snake that would kill you fastest in Africa is probably the black mamba, and that normally takes half an hour to an hour... Most antivenom has to be refrigerated. On top of that, it's not something you give yourself in the field. You're as likely to die from an alergic reaction to the antivenom as from the bite (especially someone who knows very little about snakes and might use the antivenom for a minor bite or evn a bite from a harmless snake (most are). The most important things they can do are: 1) Watch where they're walking so they don't get bit. 2) Know where the nearest real hospital is. 3) Make sure they have a way to get there quickly. 4) Do some research and learn to identify the dangerous snakes in the area (not from the stories of the locals).

RE: Baptists and Dangerous African Animals	Reply
by Cro on February 16, 2006	Mail this to a friend!
Joshua: As far as the snakes in Mali that might be biting your Baptists and locals, here are your choices. Elapids: Egyptian Cobra, Black-necked Spitting Cobra, and the Black Deasert Snake. All of these are large and not that easy to step on. Probably not your ``Two Step Snake.`` Vipers: Mole Viper, Puff Adder, Rhombic Night Adder, Desert Horned Viper, and the Saw-scale Viper. Although the Puff is responsible for many bites in africa, and might be locally called a ``Two Step,``it is most likely the Desert Horned Viper if they are in North Mali, or the Saw-scaled Viper if they are in the Central and Southern part of the country. Hope this helps some. Best Regards JohnZ

RE: Baptists and Dangerous African Animals	Reply
by ssshane on February 16, 2006	Mail this to a friend!
Hi. They are right about the "two step" snake being the white-lipped viper. There maybe others with that nick name. But more times than not, its the white-lipped viper, or bamboo viper, that the term is associated with. I posted some pictures of my white-lipped's in the photo album. Its on the last page or two. Hope this helps.

RE: Baptists and Dangerous African Animals	Reply
by BREEZER on February 16, 2006	Mail this to a friend!
Hi all. Please correct me if i'm wrong. But dont Timerusurus species only occur in south east asia?? also known as the so called "two step snake". I've kept a couple of them before. I live in South africa and i must agree with Cro about the "culprits" that could be the "two step" snake! Keep well you all! Quintin (Breezer)

RE: Baptists and Dangerous African Animals	Reply
by earthguy on February 17, 2006	Mail this to a friend!
Thanks fellas! I understand the concept of "two-steppers", I was just curious as to which snakes the name could apply in that particular area. John, what about anti-venin for those snakes mentioned? Does each one have a different kind, or is there an anti-venin for elapids and one for vipers? Does anyone have any thoughts as to where they (those wacky Baptists)got the idea to "treat" a scorpion sting with an electric cattle prod?

RE: Baptists and Dangerous African Animals	Reply
by CAISSACA on February 17, 2006	Mail this to a friend!
The most likely "two-step snake" in Mali will be an Echis, most likely E. ocellatus. Bitis gabonica does not occur there (it's a forest species, Mali is mostly savanna and semi-desert), and there are no pitvipers in Africa, so it is definitely not some kind of Trimeresurus Antivenoms against E. ocellatus and other African venomous snakes can be obtained from http://www.savp.co.za/ However, they are in liquid form andneed to be refrigerated, and, as always, carry the risk of anaphylaxis - drugsto prevet this should be available as well, and are probably best taken out, since local hospitals may not have even basic drugs in stock. Hope this is ofsome use. Cheers, WW

RE: Baptists and Dangerous African Animals	Reply
by petra on February 17, 2006	Mail this to a friend!
To answer your question about the "the idea to treat a scorpion sting with an electric cattle prod" you can look to this topic: Herpwannabe's question for Chris Harper.

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