Reptile & Amphibian Forums

first off,i thought it was 'venomous' not 'poisonous'.. and certainly not deadly, right? -k

http://channels.netscape.com/ns/news/story.jsp?floc=FF-RTO-PLS&idq=/ff/story/0002/20030709/093450029.htm

Still potentially deadly, and certainly a threat to health... and yeah, it IS venomous, oh well... You'd think a lawyer would think of a better way to kill someone though
'Ha! I have a small chance of maiming the target! It's an excellent plan!'

Several healthy adults have died from copperheads- just not that many in recent years due to more effective treatment methods. Still, you don't want to be the first!

Van

I'm not volunteering to be bitten at any rate! I'm just saying it's a real long shot to try and kill someone by mailing them a copperhead... pretty dumb idea. Especially considering how easily they caught him.

I was under the impression that there were no recorded deaths from copperhead bites in the last fifty years. Where I live they don't even give antivenin for one . . . still I wouldn't want to get tagged by one.
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n/p

My undergrad advisor told me about a few people he heard of dying from copperhead bites. I think they involved multiple bites (perhaps alcohol) and occured in the early 1900s, before av was developed. Don't know the names unfortunately.

I'd might buy that story . . . I was bit as a kid though and they didn't even keep me in the hospital. They just gave us anti-inflammatories and pain killer and sent me home. Go figure.

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