Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Do Indigos have the most painful snake bites?
excluding venemous what snake bite hurts more or just as bad?

For a colubrid, they pack a mean bite, often likened to the "pit bulls" of the snake world, as they harbor very powerful, almost "vice" like jaws and very sharp teeth. Bites are often described as getting the inflicted appendage caught in a vice with razor blades and such normally bleed profusely. The worst bite inflicted by a Dry, I can recall, occurred a few years back, when a friend of mine, name withheld to protect the innocent (Though most of us know who he is ;0)), ended up at the ER and required 26 sutures to his hand after a feeding mishap. Drys are generally quite docile and reluctant to bite defensively, though there are exceptions. However, feeding response bites are the worst and should be avoided at all costs.
Now, having described Dry bites, I would not go so far as to say they inflict the most painful bite of the colubrid family, as I would reserve that for an even larger member of the group, the Ptyas carinatus a colubrid reaching 4 meters and quite the O. Hannah mimic, as such can rise to face level with a 6’ man and will not hesitate to do so!
As for the absolute most painful bite by a non venomous, I would have to say the belt would go to one of the larger members of the Python or Eunectes clans, as I have seen some potentially mortal wounds inflicted by such. One such case occurred to a friend of mine last year, as he was bitten by a very large Python reticulates and lost a good portion of the flesh and muscle from his thigh and required multiple surgeries to repair the damage and almost a year of rehabilitation…

Best regards,

Jeff
-----
Jeff Snodgres
University of Arkansas
snodgresjeffreys@uams.edu
501.603.1947

.

I have been corrected, as my friend who was bitten by a very large Dry (name still withheld to protect the innocent) has promptly pointed out the number of sutures required to repair his hand, after a feeding accident, was 103 sutures, not 26. I was thinking of another friend (again, name withheld to protect the innocent), who was bitten by another large Dry, though not so large as the 103 suture incident and was also the result of a feeding response bite, which required 26 sutures to repair the damage I indicated earlier. Both victims have since healed and their enthusiasm for Drys was not diminished in the least bit, even after suffering from their painful and traumatic experiences..

Best regards,

Jeff
-----
Jeff Snodgres
University of Arkansas
snodgresjeffreys@uams.edu
501.603.1947

i know a couple of years ago, here in miami a 14 foot retic broke the arm of a pre teen boy who managed to open its enclosure without permission or knowing what the retic would do.

In short,...no. I have been tagged by an adult indigo during feeding. Yes it did cause serious lacerations, and yes it did bleed and ooze for several days. But it was not all that painful. A cut from a sharp knife hurts less than a dull one. And indigo's teeth are very sharp.

The most painful {non-venomous} snake bite I have recieved to date was from a black phase white lipped python, about 8 ft. long. She would bite me, hang on, and throw coils around her own head, then squeeze her own jaws down tight. Driving her long sharp teeth to the bone. Ouch! Sometimes she would shoot up my arm and bite my head repeatedly, which was also quite painful. The longer the teeth, the greater the pain, and indigo teeth, while quite sharp, are not very long. My adult amazon tree boa is next in line. Tree boas have huge teeth!

My advice,...don't let any snake bite you if you can help it! E.R. visits, stitches, antibiotics, tetnus shots, etc., do get quite expensive.

I second the large teeth bit, and yes ATB´s have massive ones. I guess that´s what comes of not wanting to drop the bird you just got from 20m lol.
I´m a pretty lucky guy and have avoided many more bites (wild ATBs, spilotes, whipsnakes) than ive taken, but the worst Ive had was a wild juvenile anaconda even at 6 feet that anaconda could chomp. Although I would also agree that a large anaconda or P. retic would definately be the nastiest if it got hold of you.

let´s all try and keep our hands from looking like rats and rabbits ay? (knock on wood)
-----
lost in the jungle somewhere
Z