Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hi All,

Could anyone please tell me how venomous these beaked snakes are?

I received a phone call from a lady here in the UK that has been free handling a pair of these, for many years.

Her young daughters also take the snakes out on a regular basis.

One of the snakes had to go to the vets. The vet felt sure they are too dangerous for free handling.

Hope you can please help. Any information will be gratefully accepted.

Best wishes,
Maureen Collinson.

Hi,

There are no records of any bites from these resulting in problems. However, they do have venom glands, and some of their relatives (Montpellier snake, African sand snakes) pack quite a punch, with substantial quantities of neurotoxins in the venom.

Although they are presumably very quiet snakes and don't bite when picked up, I would recommend some caution with them. In particular, if they MUST be freehandled, I would recommend as absolute minimum precautions:
- don't handle these snakes after handling potential snake food.
- wash hands BEFORE as well as after handling, to remove any potential food smells
- if a bite occurs and the snakes latches on and starts to chew, pull the snake off IMMEDIATELY, and without worrying about deeper scratches or hurting the snakes' teeth.
- if any symptoms other than mild local pain and a bit of local swelling occur after a bite, seek medical help immediately, and insist on the bite being taken seriously by hospital staff.

The problem with a lot of colubrids is that, even in the more dangerous species, only a very small percetage of bites ever show any symptoms. As a result, it is very difficult to be 100% sure that a particular species is absolutely unable to cause harm in an extreme case. Consequently, caution is advisable with all colubrids, except the most widely kept species (e.g., corn snakes, garter snakes, etc.), in which we can be sure that we would know if they were capable of causing serious problems.

Hope this helps.

Cheers,

WW
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WW Home

Hello WW,

I really do appreciate the time and effort you have put into giving such a detailed answer.

I will pass all the information on to the lady, and her vet.

You have been a great help.
Many Thanks,
Maureen Collinson.

I have kept several and second Wolfgangs precautions. I do have to add that they really are for the most part mellow snakes. Even when trying to squirm free from your grip I have never seen one offer to bite.

Frank
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"The luxury of not getting involved departed with the last lifeboat Skipper..."

Many thanks for your imput, rearfang.

Best wishes,
Maureen.

PS. Have you or WW seen this site. It's very interesting.
When you have read the home page, then go to price list, and scroll down to the bottom.

http://www.venomsa.com/

One thing to keep in mind is that these snakes have some fairly impressively sized venom glands. They are in the Psammophiinae snake family, making them much more closely related to cobras than to corn snakes. Others in this family, such as Psammophis and Malpolon, have been responsible for quite severe bites. We've had a look at the Psammophis venom and found it to be very complex. The link for that study is below.

All of that said, the beaked snakes are very very cool. Enjoy

Cheers
Bryan
Colubroidea venom paper

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Dr. Bryan Grieg Fry
Deputy Director
Australian Venom Research Unit
University of Melbourne

www.venomdoc.com

Many thanks BGF, for taking the time to reply, and for all the infomation you have supplied.

Kind Regards,
Maureen.