There's been some talk that my bite could have been an allergic reaction instead of a reaction from venom. This is actually a good and relevant question, so I will hopefully try to help those that don't know me or what I've experienced during my life to help them understand why I don't think this was an allergic reaction.

For those that don't know me, I've been keeping colubrids for over 20 years, mainly rat snakes, kingsnakes and hognose.

From the rat snakes and kings, I've been bitten dozens of times usually with the same result, multiple puncture wounds from all of the teeth, bleeding and a very generalized redness localized to just the surrounding tissue of the bite site that lasted no more than an hour or so. From these types of colubrids, I've never once experienced anything remotely close like I did from this last hognose bite.

Like I stated in my original post, I've been severely bitten about 6 times from Western Hognose, I say severely merely to indicate that the bites were ones that resulted in deep puncture wounds from the fangs. Of those 6 bites, I've only had 2 reactions, both I mentioned in my original post. If I were allergic to Nasicus saliva, I would assume that all 6 bites would have resulted in reactions, not just 2 and not from the bite of the smallest hognose that also happened to cause the most severe reaction, I doubt he had more saliva enter me than any of the other ones.

I would also like to clearly state that during my lifetime, I have been stung over a hundred times from bees, wasps and hornets. I used to clean swimming pools in Southern California, getting stung often was just part of the job. Not once did I ever have an allergic reaction nor any type of reaction that resulted in the need for medical care/treatment. One time when I was 10, I sat on an underground hornets nest and got stung over 30 times on my head alone, yes, my head hurt like hell, but I didn't need medical attention then and I never needed for all of the other times I've been stung all the decades later.

Now, there might be a valid point stating that allergies can be different between bees and snakes, or even between the different species of colubrids, or even the fact that people can develop allergies over a period of time. And those are all valid and debatable points! Being that I did not seek medical attention for this last bite, it does leave a lot to be assumed, so that is not lost on me.

However, the facts remain that Western Hognose (Heterodon Nasicus Nasicus) are in fact rear-fanged and venomous based on several links I gave in this post.

Could I have developed an allergic reaction over the years from all of the bites and stings I've endured? Possibly. Could I just be allergic to the saliva or venom of just the Western Hognose species? Perhaps. Could my bite reaction have been the cause of being envenomated? Definitely! The truth is, we don't know what the actual cause of my reaction was, but the facts surrounding hognose having rear-fangs and venom point more in the direction of envenomation than anything else with the facts that we do know.

If this were something to be addressed in court, I think that the opinion would lean more towards envenomation rather than an allergic reaction based on the evidence of my medical history of showing no allergic reactions to envenomations from bees nor bites from other colubrids and the fact that hognose are known to biologically be rear-fanged and venomous however weak and non-lethal that venom might be.

Anyways, at the end of the day, all I can state are the facts as I know them, that I got bit and had a severe reaction that lasted for 4 days from a species of snake that is known to be rear-fanged and mildly venomous. After that, all I can presume is, based on the aforementioned facts, that my reaction was the cause of envenomation.
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Troy Rexroth
Rextiles

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