Reptile & Amphibian Forums

At march 17 a Naja Kaouthia escaped in an appartmentbuilding when the owner was moving to another adress. The building was evacuated and at march 19 the snake was captured. Last night a 31 years old male was bitten by his cobra an rusched to the hospital. The media's got all kinds of horrifying headlines. Sadly this might be a step in the direction of laws against venomous snakes in Sweden.

I hope you can read my crappy English.

Cheers, Ronny

what kind of snake is that? I'm not to good with snakes from other countries. it's awesome looking.
Wayne

The snake is one of the European vipers of the genus Vipera. Species is probably either berus or ammodytes, off the top of my head. I'm sure Ronny will clear that up. Ronny..your English is a far sight better than my Swedish.

~~Greg~~

THE INDEPENDENT (Johannesburg, S Africa) 18 March 05 Residents relieved that snake has been found
Stockholm (Sapa-dpa): An escaped cobra that forced tenants to evacuate their apartment building in a Swedish town was captured on Friday.
The runaway monocle cobra was found alive under the floorboards of owner Andreas Nordin's apartment in Sundsvall, 394km north of Stockholm.
Snake expert Kristian Saukkonen, who captured the snake, described it as "beautiful".
The snake was one of three monocle cobras Nordin kept. They escaped when he dropped the box in which he was moving them. He managed to catch two of the venomous snakes but the third escaped.
Experts earlier used special cameras to see if the snake was hiding in the ventilation shaft, but no trace was visible.
In addition to setting up several traps, Saukkonen also dusted the floor of the apartment with flour to track the snake.
The monocle cobra originates from South Asia and can reach a length of 1.3m. The escaped snake was half that length.
Nordin's neighbours told reporters they were relieved that the snake had been captured and that they could return to their apartments.
http://www.iol.co.za/index.php?set_id=1&click_id=24&art_id=qw1111146660570B235

KERALA NEXT (India) 18 March 05 Flats evacuated after pet cobra escapes
[Europe News] A deadly monocled cobra escaped during a move from an apartment in the central Swedish town of Sundsvall, forcing 18 families living in the building to flee to a hotel, media reported on Friday.
"I am scared to death of this snake and I don't want to move back as long as it is on the loose," 12-year-old Carol Villami, who lives in the building, told Swedish daily Expressen.
A 24-year-old snake-owner was on Thursday moving from his apartment in Sundsvall, about 400 kilometres to the north of Stockholm, when he tripped and dropped a box containing three monocled cobras, which are so poisonous that they can kill a person with a single bite.
The man managed to catch two of the snakes, but the third one remained at large in the apartment building on Friday morning, and all 18 families living there had to be moved to a hotel, according to Expressen.
Snake expert Kristian Saukkonen was called in, but has so far been unable to find the dangerous reptile.
"We are emptying all the apartments. We think (the snake) is still in there somewhere. They are happiest where it's warm," he told the paper, adding that he had spread flour across the floors of the building in an attempt to trail the snake.
http://www.keralanext.com/news/indexread.asp?id=154854

Side Note to Ronny;
Is there perhaps a URL-link to a swedish-language version of the same item? When possible, I like to have the original items in the language of the country where the event took place. Anyhow, if you know of an Expressen link (or any other paper) I could follow, it would be appreciated.
Cheers
Wes
Ottawa, Canada

Ronny; I have the 'cobra bite' item, but I am still looking for the 'evacuation of apartments' press item. Thank you.

For those few who don't read Swedish, there are two modest pics at the URL below ...

AFTONBLADET (Stockholm, Sweden) 20 March 05 Svårt biten av dödlig kobra (Joakim Andersson
& Olle Castelius)
Photo: Mannen lyckades själv fånga in ormen. (Joakim Eriksson)
Man attackerades i sitt hem – förd till sjukhus
Den röda spottkobran gick till attack mot sin ägare.
-Jag har blivit stungen av min orm, sa mannen när han ringde SOS Alarm.
Mannens tillstånd var vid 14-tiden på söndagseftermiddagen allvarligt men stabilt, enligt Sahlgrenska sjukhusets pressjour.
Mannen är hemmahörande i Björketorp i Marks kommun nära Borås. Enligt Göteborgspolisens presstjänst blev mannen, som är i 30-årsåldern, biten av sin orm i hemmet vid 23-tiden i går kväll. Han lyckades själv larma ambulans. Och fördes, mycket medtagen, snabbt i helikopter till Sahlgrenska sjukhuset i Göteborg.
Flera dödsfall varje år
Röda spottkobror orsakar flera dödsfall runt om i världen varje år. I sina tänder har kobrorna ett nervgift. Vanligtvis spottar de sitt gift, men när de jagar eller blir trängda kan de även bita och spruta in giftet i sitt offer. Symptomen av ett bett är brännande smärta, missfärgning, svullnad, huvudvärk, illamående, buksmärta, diarré, yrsel, kramper och medvetslöshet.
Lyckades själv fånga ormen
Efter att ambulanshelikoptern anlände till Sahlgrenska sjukhuset fördes mannen till intensivvårdsavdelningen för behandling.
Enligt polisen hade mannen själv lyckats få tag på ormen och stänga in den i terrariet igen innan ambulans och polis kom till platsen.
Svårt biten av dödlig kobra

Hey Ronny, you spelled crappy very well, a very important part of the dictionary

Very nice snake as well!

Hello.

I'll try to answer all in the same message so remind me if there is anything i forgot.

The snake in my picture is an Vipera ammodytes ammodytes male of mine, sadly he was eaten by one of the bigger females

Here is the link to the Swedish page on the snakebite

http://www.expressen.se/index.jsp?d=201&a=257564

and if you look to the right you see a text saynig

"Tidigare artiklar i samma ämne"

Under that headline there is four links the lowest one -
"Livsfarlig giftorm på rymmen i Sundsvall
17 mars 2005"

Is the first article of the escaping snake.

And yes... Crappy is a very nice and charming word :-P

Ronny;

'Tacka' for that, much appreciated.
You're right that both events are all over the Sedish national and local press ... I also found these in case you're collecting them.
Funny how small the World is sometimes, isn't it?

For those in the Venom forum that don't read Swedish ... I also have one of the articles in Norwegian ... see how helpful and useful I am?!

Cheers
Wes

METRO (Göteborg, Sweden) 20 March 05 Livsfarlig giftorm på rymmen i hyreshus
http://www.metro.se/content/acrobat/gothenburg/SEGOT_20050318_A_Metro.pdf

AFTONBLADET (Stockholm, Sweden) 20 March 05 Svårt biten av dödlig kobra (Joakim Andersson & Olle Castelius)
http://www.aftonbladet.se/vss/nyheter/story/0,2789,620094,00.html

GÖTEBORGS-POSTEN (Sweden) 20 March 05 Tillståndet allvarligt för ormbiten
http://www.gp.se/gp/jsp/Crosslink.jsp?d=361&a=207327

GÖTEBORGS-POSTEN (Sweden) 17 March 05 Livsfarlig orm spåras med mjöl
http://www.gp.se/gp/jsp/Crosslink.jsp?d=361&a=206955