Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I was under the impression that the coral cobra (Aspidelaps lubricus lubricus) was venomous enough to send you to the hospital. I've found that no deaths have been recorded regarding these snakes. I'm wondering if this is because they are not commonly encountered in the wild and not because they have a mild venom.

Can anyone point me in right direction to find info on their toxicity?

Dave

By the way, I wanted to explain why I'm posting this. This kid I know was asking about getting a coral cobra with no venomous keeping experience because there are no known deaths from this snake. I was just hoping some further research has come out recently.

I did read on kingsnake that they are suspected in causing some deaths, but little was known about the venom at the time of writing. That was an old post though.

Just seeing if there is any updated info I can arm myself with.

Later,
Dave

Hi,
The ssp Aspidelaps lubricus infuscatus has been attributed with 2 death to its name. Both were small girls bitten by the same specimen. However, the smaller southern ssp Aspidelaps lubricus lubricus has never been implicated in a fatal envenoming. This is mainly because of the smaller size that this ssp attains. infuscatus are the largest and the specimen found at the time of the two girls death was discribed as a HUGE individual.

For a newbi I probally would not recomend Aspidelaps. Though they are easy keeps, there is no AV made for them and none of the exsisting AV works in reversiing the effects of their venom. Although it is doubtfull that one would ever get enough venom injected to cause death (their yeilds are small)theres always the chance that some sort of complication may arise and with no Av, THERES NO FALL BACK! Your basicly on your own.

Just my two pennies. I recomend he find an elapid keeper near him and ask if he could intern sorta speak.

Hope this helped.

All the best,
Jeremy

In a paper we have coming out soon, we looked at Aspidelaps lubricus venom. It was generic elapid. i.e. nothing different than what you'd expect for an African Naja relative. The toxins that have been isolated have been shown to be homologous to those from other elapids. Thus, you wouldn't really expect much difference in toxicity. And there isn't, the PLA2s for example were within the typical range for African elapids. The venom is just as complex as well. Same diversity of molecular weights and retention times as what you'd expect for Naja mossambica for example.

Cheers
BGF
Venom & Toxin Database

You mentioned retention times, so I'm assuming you are using chromatography for your studies. What type of chromatograph(s) do you use for venom analysis? Is there any other ways of finding venom composition without using chromatography.
Thanks,
Tom

This particular study used LC/MS (liquid chromatography, mass spectrometry). Not to say its the only way to compare venom composition but its certainly a bloody effective one. Gels are poor indicators of diversity since all of one protein class with similar molecular weights (e.g. three finger toxins) will form a single band and the MW of that band can only be estimated. Chromatography will give more information about diversity but by itself won't tell you anything about the molecular weights of each component or how many there are. LC/MS gives indications of diversity by providing information about a biochemical propery (hydrophobicity) as well as precise molecular weights. It is venom research's equivalent of the 'killer app'

Cheers
BGF