Reptile & Amphibian Forums

hey guys, please reply ASAP!! I just gotr bitten by my garter as a food response, and was unnable to get it to let go till it got to the middle of that finger. It is now really swollen and painful, anybody have any idea why? please help!
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-Emily: The snake gal

by the way, it is swollen up to the end of the finger now.
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-Emily: The snake gal

I'd say just ice it, seems like a common reaction..

Garter Snakes, like many colubrids, can produce a venomous bite through enlarged rear teeth (it would be a bit of a stretch to call them rear-fanged, however). The venom does not produce dangerous effects in humans, just the localized pain and swelling you experienced a couple days ago. The venom also has a mild anticoagulant effect (makes the wound bleed more freely).

I've got a pic of the bite now. The green line is where the swelling got to 30 mins after the bite, and the red line is where the swelling was at lunch the following day. In the picture it has swelled way past the red line and it is at the knuckle, but the pic dosen't do much justice for it.

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-Emily: The snake gal

It's still swelled up even three days later? Does it still hurt? I'm thinking now you might be allergic to the venom, in which case the effects of the bite will be worse than for most people. It is also possible you're not allergic and that you just got a crapload of venom (for a garter snake). Although the situation is not dangerous and the swelling should go away over the next few days, you might try calling up your doctor and seeing if there is anything you can do to ease the discomfort. Here is a good article on garter snakes as "warm" snakes: www.anapsid.org/duvernoygland.html

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- Natalie
(San Francisco Bay Area)

1.0 Banded California King
1.0 Mexican Black King
1.0 Goini Kingsnake
1.0 Bay of LA Rosy Boa
2.1 Kenyan Sand Boas
1.2 Rubber Boas

The swelling has gone down a bit. The veins in that hand are still "invisible" I also have terrible bruising on one of my hand. It is effecting my thumb movement and ring finger. I've never had a reaction like this to garter snakes in the past, and my garter chewed on my hand b4 and nothing happened.
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-Emily: The snake gal

Benadryl may help, I think its a slight alergic reaction. My hands will swell up randomly when I'm around something I'm alergic to (I haven't figured out what it is..)

My swelling has gone down completely. There is just a bruise, I guess that will go away soon.
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-Emily: The snake gal

Hello,

maybe I can use your foto from the bite.
I have a german website about garters. There are differnt cases with swellin and edema after thamnophis bites. And i sab differnt fotos.

If you have interess you can have some websites with informations, about some other bites. If anyone else have some fotos or notice about some bites,
please contact me

Sub-Zero