Bite Account #2

The Atheris cerataphora incident



During the summer of 1999, we began working with a few arboreal vipers, Atheris and Bothriechis. I had acquired a pair of cerataphora from a friend , both females about 20 inches in length. We housed them in our normal arboreal enclosures which was a vertically oriented rubbermaid with dowels for perching. In a typical routine that had been done nearly on a nightly basis however, I erred in judgement during a feeding of one of the female cerataphora.

I held a large hopper for the Atheris to feed upon, by way of 13" forceps. She struck with great enthusiasm and held her prey while perched on the dowel. As usual, as I closed the container she startled and dropped her meal. I gave her about 20 minutes to relocate the meal and consume it. The time had elapsed and she was still perched and not making any further attempt at retrieving her food. I reached in with the forceps to grasp the hopper and offer it a second time.. then disaster struck, in the form of a Usumbara bush viper launching across the tub and sinking its fangs into my thumb !

She left a mere 2 inches of her body length coiled around her perch while the remainder was sent flinging in the air at her new prey item.. ME ! One fang landed on the finger nail the other a mere 1 mm from the previous bite by the klauberi. Once again the pain began, its a horrible, non-stop, burning pain. My first reaction was to load up on benadryl to slow the affects of the histamines and tylenol for the intense pain in my hand. I made a phone call to my wife and my best friend Anthony to let them know what had just happened, Tony hung up the phone and was on his way over. I already knew there was no antivenin for this genus and almost felt it a waste of time to seek help at the emergency room. There had been very few fatalities regarding the Atheris group, in particular virtually none from victims in its home range (of course they probably have a limited resistance to the toxins). I sat on my living room sofa.. hoping for the best and praying I'd make it through ok without help. About fifty minutes go by and aside from the pain in my hand and arm, the only other thing I notice is blistering throughout my body. Small, red blisters began to appear on my arm, chest, stomach, legs.. virtually everywhere. It was about this time Anthony made his way into the house, he insisted I go to the ER and I resisted. He asked if I had seen myself in the mirror and how bad I looked.. I hadn't bothered to get up since I had first sat down after the bite. Tony grabbed my arm and lifted me up and forcefully guided me to the bathroom... then I saw what was frightening him. I was actually bleeding from my tear ducts and gums. That changed my mind, we made the drive to the ER to seek help. On the way we notified them of what bit me, and to be ready. Upon my arrival I was immediately taken to a room with everything already waiting to be administered. They gave me a lot of fluids (4 bags to be exact) and more pain medicine .. I had already had enough benadryl to probably last me the rest of the night! After four hours I felt great, mind you, I felt great... didn't mean the affects of the venom handn't subsided. Tony playfully informed me that I looked like "i'd been shot at and missed and at and hit !". He wouldn't even allow my wife to visit me because of my condition. My wife, Danielle was frantic worrying about what had happened but being assured by Anthony that I'd be ok. The doctor who treated this bite was the same physician who took care of me during my klauberi incident. His words to me "your next one may put you in the grave, perhaps you should find a new hobby!?" "I don't think so buddy.. this is what I love and who I have become. Its my passion, I'll never stop keeping herps.. venomous included." I made it through this bite, suffered some damage to my vision and tissue damage to my thumb but other than that all is well. I had to learn another lesson with the hots, never under estimate the striking distance. To this day I use the LONGEST hemostats and hooks I can use. There is nothing more embarrassing than getting nailed by a hot, although accidents do happen. I should have used more precaution in working with arboreals and given greater respect to the striking distance of them. Its been nearly 9 years since that bite with no further incidents happening, I plan to keep it that way too. Venomous snakes will always be a fascination for me, we plan to keep them around.. till I'm gone !



Happy Herping

BE CAREFUL

James D. Bear

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