Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I know he always said he had never been bitten by a venomous snake, but I've heard somewhere that he had. Anybody know? It's hard to believe he had never been tagged with the way he handled snakes.

RP

There was one of his blooper shows that showed him getting tagged on the lip by a baby taipan. I guess he wasn't envenomated.

That wasn't a baby taipan that bit him on the lip, it was a Keelback snake...non-venomous

Hmmm. I guess when he said "Oh, it's a taipan", he must have been wrong.

Just before he got bit, he was explaining how the Keelbacks are great because it is the one snake in Australia that can tolerate cane toad poison, then it bit his lip.

He said in a very sarcastic expression "Oh no...its a Taipan" if you watched a bit more you would see his wife joking about how the swelling (there wasn't any) really messed up his face.

what the rest of the story, you might learn something. See how something can be taken out of context when the whole picture isn't seen.

Nope, it was a taipan. A baby one at that, bit em squa on the lip.

I remember the show you're talking about. Yep, it was a keelback, and bit him on the bottom lip. Then he joked about it being a Taipan, and pretended to fall out of camera view and die.
If TJP is talking about another show, I never saw it.
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Tom

"The more people I meet, the more I like my snakes"

This one bit him on the top lip. I don't remember seeing the other one.

It did bite him on the top lip, right under the nose, but I still maintain it was not anything venomous.
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Tom

"The more people I meet, the more I like my snakes"

Irwin seemed invincible but thats one of the worst places to get bit by one of the worst snakes to get bit by at the worst age of the animal.

Worst age of animal? Why is this? An adult taipan is going to have more venom to deliver than a baby.

Snakes and Stuff: You must have missed one of the posts in this thread. Go back & read the post from SalS.

To answer the original question...If Steve had been tagged by a venomous snake, it would have been known world-wide immediately.

Some think his handling techniques were unsafe. He obviously was either lucky or good. With the amount of handling he did, I would lean toward the former.

~~Greg~~

On one show he made the statement he's "never been envenomated" which leads me to believe he most likely got a couple of dry bites in his lifetime.

He would almost had to have been bitten at least once by something venomous. He handled the world's deadliest snakes for nearly all of his 44 years. He was good, no doubt about it. I think he understood animal behavior like few in the world, which made his handling techniques safer than they appear. Stil though, the likelihood of at least one accident was pretty high. Freak things happen — I mean, whoever thought a stingray would end his life?

I only got nervous two times watching him. I kind of got freaked out when he chased down the black mamba and snatched it up by the tail. I knew he wouldn't get bitten — they wouldn't show it if he had — but it still took my breath away. The episode with the forest cobra, the one where the cobra climbed the tree, made me nervous as well.

RP

Watching Steve run into the dark hut after the black mamba was thrilling and terrifying. It was weird to see him handle a >6 foot mamba with no hook whatsoever.

Steve had a few run-in's with big cobras. The hysterical cobra that went up a tree was an Egyptian I think. The cobra that bit his backpack was a huge spitter.

I was always a little surprised to see Steve handle the blue and black sea kraits so casually. I know their docile disposition is legendary, but didn't "Survivor" or one of those reality shows have a sea krait striking at the camera on commercials before? (I know they had lots of mangrove footage, but I thought I remembered a sea krait too.) Jeff Corwin always handled these in full hot mode.

I would have loved to see Irwin handle a Gold's tree cobra, that would have been amazing.

To my way of thinking, dry bites don't count any more than bites from non-venomous snakes do.

~~Greg~~

Don't you KNOW a baby poisonous snake is more poisonous than an adult? I mean, every redneck around here knows THAT! lol
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Chance Duncan
www.rivervalleyexotics.com

Exactly my point I was kind of disappointed to read the parent post suggesting neonates being more toxic than adults on this forum.

ive been told... that babies and hatchlings almost always inject venom and almost always inject all they got because they havent learned how to use it efficiently yet.

I would also think that an adult would deliver a whole lot more but i believe the person that told me this

some are allowed many serious mistakes some very few his one big mistake killed him.i never understood how he could get away with so many close calls i have not been so lucky but yet i live when its our time its over i will and so will all the world miss steve happy herpin gday mate