Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Someone in Ohio suffer a Rhino bite during the night and had to get serum from the Cincy Zoo. I don't have other details but I will not be surprised if Hot's are banned in Ohio this year.

The formation of the NEAVB will help but people will have to raise their level of care when working with their animals.

Al Coritz
info@neavb.org

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Take nothing but pictures, leave nothing but footprints.

WLWT (Cinncinnati, Ohio) 07 February 05 Zoo's Anti-Venom Saves Snake-Bite Victim But Zoo Personnel Are In Danger Until It Can Be Replaced
Cincinnati: A Columbus man bitten by an often deadly snake is lucky to be alive, lucky the Cincinnati Zoo had some rare anti-venom.
Now zoo personnel are at dangerous risk until the venom can be replaced, News 5's Bina Roy reported.
After Phil Gallant was bitten by his pet rhino viper, doctors had two choices – fly him to Cincinnati or Toledo, the closest places where there was anti-venom.
And it had to be quick.
A Dayton man died from a rhino viper bite in 2003 after getting the venom too late.
Toledo was fogged out, so Gallant ended up at University Hospital.
He was in serious condition Sunday night.
The Cincinnati Zoo keeps anti-venom for every poisonous snake in its collection, reptile expert Winston Card said.
Workers there are still caring for a number of poisonous snakes found inside a North College Hill home last year, including a rhino viper that bit and killed the homeowner.
"But it puts our staff members at risk. Most anti-venoms are experimental drugs. There is a permitting process you've to go though to import that stuff," Card said. "We're going to have to borrow some until we can purchase more."
Gallant has 20 poisonous snakes, and this was not the first time one of them got the better of him.
Ohio and Kentucky do not have a statewide ban on exotic animals. They leave communities to make their own rules.
In Indiana, you do need special permits, and conservation officers can inspect your home.

{Wes note: I've placed the response with 'Phobos' rather than 'rwh' timely posting because it's anti-venom specific P: Is that your photo of one of your kids or a photo of the "offending" hot? If the latter, can I loot it for the archives? Hvala, Wes}
Zoo's Anti-Venom Saves Snake-Bite Victim ...

For those who wonder why someone is up messing with a Rhino Viper at 4:00 am like this fellow.

A Medical Director of one of the nations PCC (Poison Control Centers)has done an epidemological study on snakebite that was presented at the BOR symposium. Most of the "non-natural" bites occur between Midnight and 6 AM. Just at the right time "to piss off to the MAX" some poor zoo keeper that has to run to the zoo and get serum to save his ass. The MD's of these center can't wait and are in fact very supportive of the Antivenom Bank we are forming.

I know there are many keepers out there who have not filled out a questioneer yet. How about you guys? Do you want to be part of the solution or part of the same old problem?

Al Coritz
info@neavb.org
www.neavb.org

Wes: It's one of my animals, hopefully never an offender. If you wish I can send you the full files for you to use. Just email me off line to remind me.

Cheers!

Al
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Take nothing but pictures, leave nothing but footprints.

phobos that's an amazing rhino, just lovely! Do you keep them in shallow water like that? I think it was bachman (excuse me if I'm wrong) who I had a discussion with earlier on keeping rhino's this way. Is this a very common method? What are the pro's and con's of this method and how does this relate to their native habitat? If you were to create a zoo exhibit would you use this method? Just curious because that's the position I'll find myself in soon enough and rhinos are a must have for my collection.

Hi:

Thanks!

I actually think the picture is a bit off balance because of the water. I think this one is a better representative of her colors. I was just giving her a soak that I do on occassion but not on a regular basis. Her habitat has a dry side and a wet side. I let her call the shots. If they get too wet for too long you can have very difficult to treat scale problems. Just need to keep the humidity high but them not so wet unless they want to be. The same goes for heat. I have a HOT spot but I never see her near it, she likes the cool parts of the cage 68-75 degrees. One thing to really remember is Rhino's like peace & quite and easily stress out if they don't get it.

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Take nothing but pictures, leave nothing but footprints.

No, it never even crossed my mind why he was doing cage maintenance at 4am...maybe he just got off work??

it's sad that he was bitten and I hope he makes a full recovery...

Steve

Everyone is different, but where I did my work experience at a private herp zoo the owner was often there at all hours of the night. The zoo was as much of a hobby as a business. He did have one rule though. The hots were only to be worked on after the morning coffee break (to avoid sleepy mistakes) and prior to mid-afternoon (to avoid rushing for supper mistakes). Simple rules like this may mean the difference of making the mistakes that are bound to happen even with the most experienced.

Who can relate to the 4AM poop discovery and recall the temptation to just quitely reach in and change the water "just this one time".

Personally, I am a morning person...I am at my best that time of day, after I've been up a few minutes and had a coffee...

who's to say this wasn't the case with this fellow...

to try and make a jerk outta this guy (implied) because he was possibly doing cage maint. @ 4am is foolish, that's not the issue at all. Nor should it be!!

When I had snakes that is the time frame (4-6:30am) I did my cage maint., a dangerous time for me would have been 6-7pm in the evening...

so there is nothing wrong with doing stuff @ 4am, just don't get bit...period.

Steve

I don't think I was implying that this guy was a jerk, just that simple forethought for whatever works best for you can vastly improve your outcome. It's not just as to what time work is done (although this was my thought when the point of many bites occuring very early in the morning was brought up) but also things like having appropriate snake hooks/tongues ect withen reach of every cage so as again, the temptation of skipping there usage is not there.

In short, my point was that laziness affects us all at sometime or another and if we can anticipate this we can hopefully avoid mistakes.

couldn't agree more with you...and it wasn't you who implied this guy was a jerk...

thanks,
Steve

Phil is home, doing fine, & very lucky. Little swelling but nothing major.....except for the media frenzy.....yes, I know he should have been more prepared, etc, etc.