Reptile & Amphibian Forums

if one where going to be handling a snake for a venomous animal show for instance.would it be wise to first,before the show,milk the animals venom glands?i have read somewhere that in 25 percent of snake bites in the wild,no venom is injected due to the snake recently eating/biting and using up his available venom.if this is true,would it then be a good idea to milk your snake on a regular basis before handling? im sure this is not fool proof but would it lessen the blow if i bite where to happen? and if so,exactly how long would it take for a given snake to regenerate its venom load to premilking levels .

No disrespect intended here, but something just seems real odd about this idea. Let's say for a moment that milking your snake does drastically reduce the chance of an envenomation while handling it afterward.

Which situation presents the greatest likelihood of being bitten?

a. Properly handling the snake using all safety precautions and available tools, without never actually touching the animal or

b. Properly removing the snake, but then attempting to pin and extract venom using one's hand.

So in order to keep yourself safe, you want to place yourself in a far more dangerous situation, with a greater likelihood of being bitten, before you have even finished the precaution intended to protect yourself. Aside from all the other issues here, does this logic seem like a good idea?

To answer you question though, I would NEVER let a snake bite me just after it finished a meal. All it takes is one little drop...

Jason

1) I completely agree with Jason. Milking a snake is the most dangerous thing that any sane handler will ever be asked to do. You would be much more likely to be bitten doing that than during proper handling for a show, unless you mean some death defying free-handling spectacle in which case it might be better for the rest of us if you died before rather than during the show.

2) Many of those dry bites in the wild are certainly because the snake simply chose not to envenomate.

3) I haven't seen any authoritative info on how long it takes for a snake to regenerate used venom, but I have read of a spitting cobra being induced to spit dozens of times (40ish I think) in a span of a few minutes. That sounds like more venom than the glands could possibly hold and makes me suspect that at least some snakes can generate venom almost continuously. Of course it could be mostly water after a while...I don't know.

It would be neat to know, perhaps BGF will pipe in on this one.
I wonder if it may be the other way around- the venom may become more concentrated because the toxins are readily available but the hydration of the animal may become a factor. I'm sure there is a trend which includes both scenerios to a point.

since a drop is all that is needed for alot of species to be deadly, milking will not help you in the least bit.

The best way to avoid a deady bite is to not get bitten at all, but if your prepared to deal with it, it is a very interesting procedure (the way the venom works). I'm not ashamed of being bitten twice, and feel it has given me a whole new respect of the damage these awsome/beautiful animals can inflict.

Be careful, everyones reaction is different from the next person, so don't consider any species "not that bad" .
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Chad Bachman

Nice people suck!!!!!!!