Posted by:
WK
at Sun May 25 08:11:06 2008 [ Email Message ] [ Show All Posts by WK ]
Yes, I saw that it looked like the snake crawled through poison ivy. Even though I'm not particularly sensitive to urushiol, I waited before the snake cleared the ivy before picking it up, and washed my hands immediately after handling it.
The worse case of poison ivy / oak rash I have seen was in a teen who came into contact with the plant oil by cleaning a wild hog he had killed. The rash was severe enough that he was hospitalized to receive intravenous steroids.
I've wondered why herpers sensitive to urushiol do not break out in rash when grabbing things like wild snakes that crawl through poison ivy or oak. The toxic oil is stable for years, so I don't see why it would not be present on the surface of snakes that frequently crawl through it.
Interesting stuff...
WK
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