VenomousReptiles.org Survey

Survey Question	Current Survey Question Should hobbyists ever free handle venomous reptiles with their hands? Recent Surveys Most venomous/toxic Naja species in the world? I have read that the Philippine cobra is the most venomous (mice, 0.2 mg/kg SC with the lowest reported value being 0.14 mg/kg SC) (Brown, 1973). I have recently, come across something in the Indian Journal of Experimental Biology (Vol. 30, (issue 12), pages: 1158-1162, 1992) which stated that the LD50 for Naja oxiana was the most toxic/venomous (mice, 0.18 mg/kg SC and lowest reported value was 0.10 mg/kg). Along with that, the mortality rate for untreated Naja oxiana bites are the highest among all Naja species (70-80%). N.oxiana also produced the lowest known lethal dose (LCLo) of 0.005 mg/kg, the lowest among all cobra species ever recorded, derived from an individual case of poisoning by intracerebroventricular injection. Following N. oxiana and N. philippinensis are N. melanoleuca at 0.225 mg/kg SC and then N. samarensis at 0.23 mg/kg. The water cobras (N. annulata and N. christyi also have very toxic venoms, but no SC values are listed. Only intraperitoneal (IP) values of 0.143 mg/kg for N. annulata and 0.12 mg/kg for N. christyi. IP values tend to be generally lower (more toxic than subcutaneous values, so it would be unfair to compare their IP results to the subcutaneous (SC) results of other Naja species. Then I have heard that (without solid evidence) that Naja nivea is the most venomous, although their murine SC LD50 range anywhere from 0.4 mg/kg (Toxicon, Vol. 5, issue 1, page 47, 1967) to 0.72 mg/kg (Australian venoms and toxins Databse). So which is the most venomous? To me it seems obvious that it is the Caspian or Oxus cobra (Naja oxiana), followed by the Philippine cobra (Naja philippinensis). What do you think or know? I've noticed that the Australian venom and toxin Database seems to have higher LD50 values for all snakes across the board. For example, for the black mamba IP value of 0.01 mg/kg is listed (http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/004101018890219X) and Ernst and Zug et al 1996, list a SC value of 0.05 mg/kg for the black mamba. While the Australian venom and toxin Database listed much less toxic LD50's. So there seems to be a lot of variation. 2014-01-23 What's Your Favorite Venomous Snake? 2013-11-13 Deadliest Bite? 2013-09-16 IF the science of self-immunization for a snake envenomation was proven/perfected what is the least benefit(percentage) you would accept before practicing it on yourself? 2013-06-06 how did you learn to keep venomous reptiles? 2013-03-02 View All Survey Questions Have a good idea for a VenomousReptiles.org Survey question? Enter your idea!
Thanks for voting! Your vote has been included in the results below. What's the least amount of money you would take to allow a 6 foot Eastern Diamondback to bite you? [Bite must be on either the forearm or calf. All medical expenses paid. Can't be a venomoid, or freshly milked specimen. Venom glands are full and the snake is very agitated!]   Posted: Jan 27, 2003   (622 votes, 30 comments) by Chris_Harper
Survey Results
$10,000 7% (43) $50,000 6% (36) $100,000 6% (40) $500,000 9% (58) $1,000,000 9% (57) $10,000,000 20% (125) There isn' enough money!!! 42% (263)
Survey Comments
Diamondback bite $$ I don't know...$10 million would clear up an awful lot of debts!! Posted by curiousherp on June 11, 2003 uhmmm... no. the first and only bite hurt quite enough thank you kindly. that was only one fang and very very mild envenomation. excruciating. ouch. hopefully never again. no sain person would ever let that happen to another human being. yeeesh. Posted by AzrothTenebros on April 8, 2003 snakebite for money? Not any price. Bad enough a person might get bit one day anyways. Save your immune system for that day. Posted by ol3toes on March 12, 2003 not about the question i'm getting a snake hook and a snake tong once i clean my room ! Posted by snakekid on March 2, 2003 Tom's sanity... LOL...I always thought you were sane...lol.. Sierra Ps. if you dont pull through would I get my money back? Maybe we culd take out a life insurance policy first..... Posted by sierra on February 8, 2003 I'd take the 50,000$ Call me a cheap whore, but having been dead it brings on a slightly different perspective for me.... if you'd said I had to let the snake bite me on the hand, I probably wouldn't have been willing to do it for so little money, but the arm or calf wouldn't be as bad to me and there's always the chance he's going to dry bite me.... If you had said I was trying to FEED the snake and it missed a rodent and bites me instead, I'd have said no amount of money because I'm going to get a lethal dose.... but I figure I've got a 50/50 chance of no venom or very little, and being bitten doesn't scare me as much as it used to.... Like one of the other responders, I'm allergic to bee venom and cobra venom, but I don't have any cross allergy to rattlesnake venoms (that we know of) yet.... I am allergic to equuine antivenin and ovine antivenin, so if I ever need crofab, they'll have to deal with an allergic reaction just the same if I get wyeth.... Pain is relative.... once the pain is over, we remember that it hurt, but we don't REALLY remember the pain, else no woman in her right mind would ever had more than one baby.... so, to me it was a simple matter of trying to remember how much it hurt to get bit.... how much trouble it was to rehab after the bite (and that's still going on to this day), and how much I was willing to put up with..... I can do a lot of good around here with 50K$, so that was my bottom line figure.... and NO... I'm NOT joking.... I'm as serious as a heart attack. Tom Townsend... P.S. cute question..... anyone got a pissed off diamondback and $50,000 (plus medical expenses) they want to spend? Give me a call..... Posted by TomT on February 8, 2003 I have to tell you that I was in Waycross Georgia, back in 1992 herping behind an old condemmed house, when I picked up an old piece of roofing tin. As I picked up the tin I felt the thunderous jolt on my hand. The 4 ft EASTERN Diamond must have felt me coming and was ready and waiting, because he hit me soon as I slid my hand under the tin. If I wouldn't have had a friend with me, I would have surely died, because I was unable to walk within 10 minutes after the bite. I was in the hospital for 3 weeks and lost 2 of my fingers and still have major unexplained pain in my whole arm and shoulder, all the way up my neck, so there is no way I would ever go through that again, because I am still going through it now. P.S Waycross Ga, has an awesome medical facility to be such a small town. Evan Poates Posted by spiderman on February 7, 2003 Never It is just stupid to let a venomous snake bite you, not for any amount of money. There is no telling what could go wrong. What if you happened to be alergic to the snake venom and then when you are injected with anti venom the complications would become wores. Posted by WDB_999 on February 7, 2003 Dead is DEAD!!! There is no guarantee that any one individual will survive the initial bite to try to survive the complications of antivenin. And if you do survive, how much damage to yourself through necrosis or debilitation are you willing to say is acceptable? Need to read Brett's article (and follow-up) again! Willingly take a bite? Never! That is why I actively seek out every reasonable precaution and safety measure to avoid fangs meeting flesh. You can never be too careful as far as safety is concerned. You may not get a second chance to be too careful. Karl H. Betz Buzztail1@hotmail.com PS To say that the bite of an Eastern Diamondback is less dangerous than some other snake, is like saying that a .45 slug is smaller and leaves a smaller hole than a 9mm. Either one can and will kill you DEAD! KHB Posted by Buzztail1 on February 4, 2003 Not enough money I look at it this way. Even though the odds have been stacked to some degree in my favor with all the medical help and I could really use that kind of money it could be fatal. Heck that is why I don't jump from perfectly good airplanes or bungee jump. I figure that if an error could happen, it would happen with me. No sense to tempt fate. For those of you who say "Hell yes" good luck. In the back of my mind I have always wondered what a venomous bite would feel like, but then I have also wondered what getting hit by a train would feel like and I have never had the urge to go stand in front of one. Posted by vettesherps on February 2, 2003 dun that already not fun How much is it worth to witness or film a black mamba bite with no trip to the hospital at all and no stinkin antivenom let me know. But a diamond back would hurt a lot more than the black bite I garrrontee! bud Posted by Bud on February 1, 2003 Bite Me For 10 million dollars I could buy a whole bunch of snakes that were dangerous enough to kill me! Plus I wouldn't have to work for the rest of my life (however short that may be). Any amount less and I probably wouldn't take it. How much are they paying for copperhead bites these days? Posted by snakeking on January 31, 2003 GETTING NAILED MY EX-WIFE NAILS ME EVERY MONTH AND I HAVE TO PAY HER SO BEING PAID TO GET NAILED BY A EDB WOULD BE A SINCH! Posted by VIPERABERUS on January 31, 2003 Oops! Sorry. I deleted someone's post by accident when I was trying to delete a double post. Try it again! I promise I won't delete it. CH Posted by Chris_Harper on January 31, 2003 EDB Bite Not only no, but hell no! Posted by Marty1st on January 30, 2003 snake bite I have never been biten by a venomous snake and I would rather get bit in a controlled experiment than out in the field. I could get a suzuki gsxr 750 with 10,000 or could quit my job for a year with 50,000. I would do it for money. Rattlesnakeremover Posted by rattlesnakeremover on January 30, 2003 not even close... A few years ago one of the handlers at Silver Springs in Fl. was tagged by C.adamanteus while doing one of the "educational" shows. He died before he even got to the ER,....it had hit one of the veins in the back of his hand, instant IV venom injection... supposedly it knocked him down almost immediately...So for me, the risks would be too high for any price, just because there is treatment ready doesnt ensure you'll make it, even if the odds are with you, not worth "the price of poker"...lol Posted by sierra on January 30, 2003 not even close For me, ten million isn't enough. As I am highly alergic to bee and wasp venoms, I really don't want to find out what rattlesnake venom can do to me. I suspect it would have me on a slab at the morgue. That's why I take photographs and don't handle venomous snakes Posted by notsnakebityet on January 30, 2003 I should rephrase my statement, the bigsnake fellow was not the one I was refering to about be bitten 14 times at the young age of 25, but the fellow baeneath his comment. Sorry Croc Dude. Grey Posted by chewwy on January 29, 2003 snake bite providing the bite happened in the er with everything ready to go, i would take it for 10 million and quit my job to hunt/study/photograph snakes full time, taxes or not! Posted by jdrumz on January 29, 2003 $100,000 EDB bite... Who pays the taxes? Posted by sniper on January 28, 2003 the big bite Is this a power pluging bite? Is the critter allowed "crawl" while biting? Am I allowed to cry? Can I bite back? Is this cash or I.O.U.? Posted by ZX11 on January 28, 2003 Bite If 10 grand was the most you were offering I'd go with it. But the ten 1000 grand would go a lot further, thank you very much ! And Pethidine must be made available on demand ! Posted by Snakebitelove on January 28, 2003 Retirement I was going to go for "There ain't enough money in the world". But then I shut my eyes and thought of giving my f*ckwit boss the finger and retiring with more money than he will ever have, and be able do all the things that I want to do, so heck, I'd do it for US$ 10 million. Let's face it, without the constant sh*t I get at work, I'd probably live 10 years longer thanks to that bite... ;-) Posted by CAISSACA on January 28, 2003 EDB After a little more sudying of the easterns bite maybe.!!!!! Thats a lot of money.Well $10,000 and I keep the snake. Posted by spanky on January 27, 2003 EDB bite $10,000 and pay for hospital bills. Posted by Cruber on January 27, 2003 Rattler bite 10,000 would be handy but to make it worthwhile I’d want 50,000. The question I would be asking is what Antivenom would you be Offering? That W**th stuff is awful! I took a bite from a 8 week old Crotalus atrox (Sep 2002) and it was by far the most painful bite I have had. Worse than my 2 Crotalus durissus (sub-adult) bites. I required 20 amps of Wyeth antivenom and then a week later came down with serum sickness, it became so bad that the doctors wanted to re-admit me to hospital…… blurred vision rash, numb face and loss of voice. Anyway after more than 500,000 handlings I can still count on one hand the number of times that I have been hospitalised….(not good) but still not too bad. Paul D. Rowley Posted by Hotherps on January 27, 2003 I would take the 500 grand and hope that I could enjoy my retirement. Hey Bigsnake, my boys and family LOVE Alligator Adventure and If I had been bitten 14 times by the age of 25, I think that I would find a new hobby. Posted by chewwy on January 27, 2003 EDB Bite I have been bitten 14 time by different venimous snake the first being when I was nine by a cotten mouth. So if you are picking up all the bills $10,000 is fine. It is only a rattler. Posted by Wiccandrk on January 27, 2003 EDB Bite!!!! OK Chris: I just love this question fraught with peril and traps. The obvious answer is none. Not so fast my friend! I'll take the 10 million! Agitated or not there is a chance (albeit small) of a dry bite/contact envenomation (slim/none). There is however a good chance of an excruciatingly painful yet non-lethal bite as well. That noted: With the knowledge and experience of a few capable paramedics (CH) and picking an experienced physician or two (my choice) ample supply of antivenom on hand, event to take place at primary medical treatment facility of my choice and considering the number of bites reported annually and proportionate bite survival/fatality rate vs treatment provided or not; You have to ask yourself one question "Do you feel lucky today punk? Well do ya?) Being 10 foot tall and bullet proof I believe I'd take my chances. Fear factor atmosphere and sensationalism aside! Just this once playing the devil's advocate I say BRING IT ON!!!! Bigsnakedaddy!!!!!!!! Posted by bigsnakedaddy on January 27, 2003 To post a comment, you must be logged in. If you are not a member, become one now!