Reptile & Amphibian Forums

On a thread much lower down, someone said that hognoses were venomous "as are all colubrids"...Could this be true? Are you saying that all colubrids are venomous, but lack a venom delivery system? If so, what purpose would this serve? Or are some colubrids mildly venomous and we're just now discovering that fact? Thanks for any answers...

SR

All the colubrids are in fact venomous and it turns out they have been using it for prey capture. While most are able to deliiver at least enough venom to help settle down a frog (which is the entire point of having venom) the majority are not able to cause notable clinical symptoms (although there are exceptions of course). Basically, the venoms are just as toxic (drop for drop) as a cobra's but the snakes produce less and don't deliver it as efficiency. Snakes with highly advanced fangs and intricate venom delivery systems evolved at least four times out of this. All variations on a theme.

Go to the publications section of my webpage to download some of the recent scientific journal papers we've published on the subject.

All the best
Bryan
Venomdoc Homepage

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Dr. Bryan Grieg Fry
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Australian Venom Research Unit,
University of Melbourne
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Population and Evolutionary Genetics Unit,
Museum Victoria
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http://www.venomdoc.com

I just wanted to point out that I have a publication about a teenager that was hospitalized from a garter snake bite.
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...the oldest task in human history: to live on a piece of land without spoiling it."
Aldo Leopold (1938)

"Sometimes I think the surest sign that intelligent life exists elsewhere in the universe is that none of it has tried to contact us."
Calvin and Hobbes (Scientific Progress Goes 'Boink', 1991)

Yikes! that's amazing...plus, your website is fascinating..This explains why the snakebites I've gotten from garter snakes and a yellow rat snake were initially a little swollen, a little red and a lot itchy...Thanks for the info.

SR

Hi...
I know this is a MONTH late, but I was really intrigued by the thread...Colchicine, you said that you have an article about a teenage boy being hospitalized by Thamnophis spp envenomation? Is this due to "protein allergy?" Like I said, I know that this is extremely late, but the story about the boy interests me.
Thanks
Josh