No,...ironically they are NOT immune to their own venom. They can INGEST their own venom,which they certainly do every time they eat a meal they have killed, but the stomach acids tend to quickly neutralize it along in conjuntion with the lining of the stomach being impervious to it as well. A human can also ingest venom into the stomach, and nothing much will happen unless you have a stomach ulcer or cavity, or any other similar type of soar the venom can invade from, then you would indeed be in some serious trouble. Keep in mind, this all depends on the AMOUNT of venom that is delivered too. So if it grazes itself, it probably won't do a whole lot of harm, or if it was just caught by one fang and just a very small anmount was administered. But their venom would indeed cause necrosis because of the hemotoxic qualities of their venom (for vipers), and neurotoxic qualities from elapids(coral snakes, cobras, etc...).



If a venomous snake bites itself, or is bitten by another venomous snake and the venom is injected into the tissue itself, it will suffer the same consiquences of the invenomation just like any other animal would be that was bitten by it.



Kingsnakes on the other hand, show little if any effects of being bitten by any type of North American crotalid(vipers) which they frequently consume along with many other animals too. Which is why they are called "king"snake in the first place. Because they can overpower just about any other N.A. snake, with the possible exception of the very large and powerful Indigo snake.





best regards, ~Doug












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"Better to be silent and thought a fool, than to open mouth and remove any doubt!"

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