Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I just talked to Albert Killian, He's doing fine. He is just going to stay another day or two to make sure he doesn't have a major reaction to the antivenon. He has been having minor effects from the serum but he said, that is to be expected. I told him about you well wishers and he said to thank you all for your support.He really appreciates it. He's a very good friend of mine and started me on hots 25 years ago and I want to thank you guys also. Brian

Forgot to mention that he received 30 vials of serum.

Who pays for all those vials of serum?? I hope Albert recovers fully but surely after watching those You Tube videos below....... that is not really a good way to "educate" the public.

has anyone ever died from a King bite inside of the united states?
chuck hurd serpentology

If memory serves me correctly (and indeed, it may not), a woman during the earlier part of the century (1940's??) who used to freehandle her large, female king was eventually bitten by it, and died. I KNOW this woman existed, and I know she had a king which she freehandled (seen numerous "vintage" photos of her with it draped around her neck), however I am NOT 100% sure she died of it's bite, but am somewhat certain that's what went down. I can't for the life of me remember he name, and Google wasn't much help (though she is well documented on the net, I just don't know her name). I think she was an actress.

Additionally, I seem to remember hearing of a zookeeper here in NM who was bitten by a king, but I'm not sure if he died or not. A member here was apparently responsible for sending that king to the zoo here, and had mentioned it some time back, but I can't remember who or when this was.
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Abhishek Prasad

Grace Wiley. Famous for her pet, “Ferdinand the gentle”, a big king cobra that was pretty docile. She was killed by an Indian cobra, a fresh import, in under two hours. This after handling, and claiming to be able to tame, many many venomous snakes.

Check out this Wikipedia page-
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grace_Olive_Wiley

I will call that a lady with balls for brains.

That looks like a docile king, though.
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We are the best GALATASARAY

There are many old pics of Grace Olive Wiley if one wants to search them out. I saw an interesting one years ago with her sitting in a chair with a HUGE W. Diamondback Rattlesnake in a happy tight resting coil they use in her lap. A writer named Daniel P. Mannix was writing a story about her for TRUE MAGAZINE when she was bitten by a newly aquired Monacle Cobra with a G on its hood instead of a circle. She was bitten fataly by this snake. By all accounts she was a remarkable albiet careless snake handler way before her time. Every pic I've seen of her captives looked like remarkably healthy and happy herps. By the way her and Raymond Ditmars were close friends. Even I'm too young to have met her but I would have liked to....TC....So you modern day snake daredevils have done nothing that hasn't been done before....TC

Story goes that you hung out with Raymond all the time. Obviously kidding, but I remember that photo you are speaking of showing Wiley with the large Eastern in her lap. I also remember a photo of her with a very large cottonmouth in her lap as well. You are correct in that the venomous snakes in all the photos with her always looked unstressed to say the least. Remarkable woman, but she definitely tempted fate. That "G" on the hood of that cobra was about as sadly ironic as it gets.

Kelly