SUNDAY TERRITORIAN (Darwin, Australia) 15 May 05 Snake man in fight for life (Paul Jackson)
A world-renowned NT reptile expert told last night how he thought he was going to die after being bitten by a deadly snake.
Graeme Gow was bitten on his left index finger by a 75cm death adder while removing some of the snake's skin.
A few hours later he had trouble breathing, his face became paralysed and he couldn't speak or see. ``I thought this is it, I'm going to die,'' he said.
``I started stumbling around the lounge room. Luckily, I was able to wake my partner and she raced me to hospital.''
But the drama didn't stop there.
``I was given some antivenom but nothing happened,'' Mr Gow said. ``I was given a second shot and nothing happened. It took a third dose before I came good.''
The 64-year-old herpetologist has been bitten more than 200 times in the past 40 years. But he said it was only the fifth time he had to be given antivenom after being bitten.
He said the highly venomous death adder had a skin-shedding problem. He was holding it to remove the skin.
``He's the nastiest among the nine death adders I have and I should have known better,'' Mr Gow said.
``I have had it for six years. I'm not angry at what it did. It's a lesson to be learnt.
``The snake had become stressed by the water treatment I had been using on it to remove the baked-on dry skin and it really didn't like being head held.
``I relaxed my hold and that's an absolute no-no when handling death adders.''
Snake man in fight for life