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HERALD SUN (Melbourne, Australia) 13 June 08 Snake breeder left paralysed after bite (Anthony Dowsley, Rachel Hewitt)
A snake breeder has been re-united with his deadly pet whose venomous bite sent to the hospital for a night.
But John Deutscher, 29, says he is to blame for his pet snake, a deadly death adder affectionately known as Muffin, striking him as he tried to rush cleaning out its enclosure.
Mr Deutscher, who keeps more than 100 snakes at his house, said if any deadly snake was going to bite him, the venom of a death adder would be among his first choices.
``As deadly snake bites go, a death adder's is pleasant,'' he said.
`My girlfriend was with me. I guess I probably could have gone down hill (without medical attention).
``I'll be very, very careful from now on.
``I've been back with the snake and bear it no ill will. He will be a beloved pet for the rest of his life.
`I've been playing with her all day. She's a lot of fun.
``If it had have been an adult death adder it would have been far more dangerous.''
The death adder is generally rated within the top five most deadly snakes in the world.
Mr Deutscher, who became hooked on snakes aged 16, said a death adder's venom disables nerves rather than the venom of other snakes which attacks cells.
And it's not the first time the avid snake collector has been bitten.
He said he had suffered a serious bite once before, but had dealt with nips on more than a dozen occasions.
Mr Deutscher collapsed soon after paramedics arrived as he went into anaphylactic shock on Thursday night.
He became nauseas and had irregular breathing from the anaphylactic shock.
Metropolitan Ambulance Service spokesman James Howe said he was in a bad state when paramedics arrived.
``He began feeling disoriented and was short of breath," Mr Howe said.
``He was in a critical condition, but staff at the hospital administered some anti-venom and he began stabilising quickly."
But despite his most recent potentially fatal experience, Mr Deutscher has has no plans to give the snakes away.
``They're beautiful things and very sweet natured,'' he said.
He said from now on he would have an epipen ready to handle any allergic reactions to bites in the future.
Mr Deutscher said he had a licence to keep his snakes, all of which are Australian natives.
Among his snake collection is Felicity the tiger snake, Ophelia, a red belly black snake, and numerous death adders and pythons, including three of his favourite girls named Sarah, Nancy and Heidi.
Dr Bryan Grieg Fry, a research fellow in the biochemistry department at Melbourne University, said death adders were extremely toxic but the anti-venom worked very well.
"There's a very low chance of permanent side effects," he said.
Dr Fry said death adders were calm snakes, and didn't strike as often as other species, like brown snakes.
Snake breeder left paralysed after bite