Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hello,

I've been bitten by my 11' burm twice now, once while taking video of us for friends and talking baby talk to her (I deserved it). It wasn't near a feeding time, just moved too fast with my hand and she grabbed and released. The last time was two weeks ago just after feeding her a thawed rabbit - my fault again, feed response, no biggie, although this time she didn't voluntarily release - a little unnerving.

I guess my only concern is what is the likelyhood of contracting a disease from a burm bite? The wound is totally healed now, and I saw a Dr just in case I would have needed antibiotics (didn't). I had a tetanus shot last summer the last time she snapped. Is there any way of getting rabies from the recently eaten rabbit? The pet store I buy them from raises them in captivity, so they claim they should be disease free, but you never know. Does freezing kill the rabies virus?

I guess the second question is this....she's a very docile creature, who loves to come out to be held and petted (IMO). But, the feedings are tricky. She has never held and constricted like this before. The only way I got her off my arm was with the help of a friend. While hollering "Get her off" I was also hollering "Don't hurt her." We did a gentle tail bend and mouthwash in the mouth, as recommended by Animal Planet. The last resort was warm/hot water from the faucet. She released immediately. Afterwards a vet recommended COLD water and holding her head under it until she released. My main concern (aside from getting free) is of course her well being. I don't want to hurt her. What is recommended for this situation?

Any feedback would be greatly appreciated! Haven't been on the site for a while.....I hope all is well with everyone!

Robert & Pandora Lee

First off, I have no cocrete info on disease except to say that in my experience snake bitesalmost seem antiseptic. The wounds seem to heal FASTER than say a cut from a clean razor and I've never had an infection from one that I can remember.

As far as anything passed from the rabbits, I would think you're more likely to have problems from handling the rabbits than from a bite (which is to say not likely).

What kind of mouthwash did you use? Does it have alcohol in it? I've never had a chance to try this (haven't had a bite and hold since I heard about it), but that's what I keep on hand, so I'm interested to hear examples of it working or not.

I don't know about the cold water though. One of my burms used to drag her prey into her pool and stay underwater until long after it was dead (usually it was prekilled) and another sometimes spent HOURS completely submerged (not sure why, wasn't mites).
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Larry D. Fishel
Side effects may include paralysis
and death but are generally mild.

Thanks for the reply. Rabies doesn't sound like much fun at all....maybe a precautionary vaccination is a good idea for those who are possibly exposed frequently? My bite healed quickly too.

Anyway, nothing worked for the release except for the hot tap water. The mouthwash did have alcohol in it, but didn't do a thing....neither did the tail bend, which I hated that my friend had to do. You want to get away but don't want to hurt the animal.

I'm designing a better feed box for her. The one I have now is just a huge rubbermaid storage box that I have to take the cover off from and then reach inwards to bring her out.

Not that Animal Planet is the definative answer here, but I keep remembering the sentance from the Big Squeeze, "Over 100 people die from constricting snakes in the US every year....or from infections caused by them." I called a DR to find out the answer.

Thanks!

I guess to clarify my question......

I understand that snakes don't carry rabies because they are cold blooded, and the virus needs a warm blooded mammal to survive. Rabbits are warm blooded. If you are bitten by a burm shortly after it has eaten, is there much of a chance of contracting something from the **blood** of the rabbit that may be in the burms mouth or on its teeth? The rabbits I buy are supposedly captive bred, so there isn't a risk, but you never know. Also, they have been frozen for who knows how long, and are thawed before feeding. Some are bloody around the snout - I don't know how they are killed (and don't want to know).

Thanks!

I don't know about that statistic... all the wild AND captive venomous snakes in the US only kill 5 or 10 people a year, max... If 100 people were dying a year from big pythons, you'd think you'd hear more about it. Those stories would reach the news outlets and we'd hear about them on kingsnake.
I also think the odds are very very very very low that a food-bred rabbit would have rabies. I mean... how would it catch it? The odds are so low it's not something I would worry about.

Boy, I ramble on....
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"The serpent crams itself with animal life that is often warm and vibrant, to prolong an existence in which we detect no joy and no emotion. It reveals the depth to which evolution can sink when it takes the downward path and strips animals to the irreducible minimum able to perpetuate a predatory life in its naked horror."
Alexander Skutch

>>Not that Animal Planet is the definative answer here, but I keep remembering the sentance from the Big Squeeze, "Over 100 people die from constricting snakes in the US every year....or from infections caused by them."

They must have said 100 worldwide or something. A few people die every year from complications from salmonella from (apparently) reptiles, but as far as I know those have nothing to with bites, and it's nowhere near 100. I'm pretty sure constricting deaths in the US average less than one per year.
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Larry D. Fishel
Side effects may include paralysis
and death but are generally mild.

Hopefully not, as that is not what most of the experts on this forum recommend. But that is sure what your post made me think. I don't have a burm, only smaller colubrids, but I do a lot of reading of this forum. I do use the feeding container for my cornsnakes and milksnake, but I definitely thought it was a big no-no for the giant snakes.
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sue

The possibility that a rabbit can carry rabies is very, very slim. So slim that it should be a consideration you shouldn't concern yourself with. There is a greater potential for infection from the bite than from contracting rabies from a recently eaten rabbit. To minimize chances of infection, wash thoroughly as soon as you can w/ antibacterial soap and cleanse the punctures with hydrogen peroxide or alchohol if you can stand it.
The importance I see is in prevention rather than methods to remove a bitehold. Using shields, taking common sense precautions especially when feeding, making slow and delibrate movements, and learning to read our snakes are all things we should do on a daily basis. In the case of a bite, when the Burmese won't let go, my advice (and what I have done when it happened to me)is to play dead. I had a constriction on my arm and I waited it out. They will let go when they think the prey is "dead." Moving around will only motivate them to chomp down harder. When they let go, quickly remove yourself. Of course this won't work in every situation, one has to remain calm. If the strangle hold is on your chest or other vulnerable area- it may work too well So many things can possibly go wrong when working with a large constrictor that it only makes sense to work on prevention. I know people use alchohol sprays and other things but I don't know the effects of such use.
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Marcia Pimentel
Tango River Reptiles (Off-line Temporarily)
GiantFeeders

I don't know about other diseases, but as far as rabies goes, I SEEM to remember reading that rabies is an easily-killed virus and soap and water can kill it(if the wound is washed soon enough after being bitten by a rabid animal). IF this is true(I'm still trying to track down that article) then freezing should be able to kill the virus as well, but diseases work in funny ways, and I'm obviously no expert. If anyone knows whether this is true and remembers an article with the same information, could youi please let me know?(I know the rabies discussion is off topic but the post made me curious)
Thanks

First, I'm no doctor. But, in 40 years of snake handling, I guess I've been bit couple hundred times (mostly from wild snakes). I've just done regular good sense cleaning (soap, alcohol, etc.). I've never had an infection or problem. I guess they're pretty "clean" bites.