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How toxic is ptyas carinatus? and can they send you to the hospitol?

>>How toxic is ptyas carinatus? and can they send you to the hospitol?

They cannot send you to the hospital or even produce notable symptoms in a human. What they can do, however, is give you a mighty chomp with their very large, strong jaws that are packed full of large teeth. Quite capable of leaving some real scar tissue.

With 'colubrid' snakes, the key to remember is that venom composition is but one part of the equation. Venom yield, whether or not there is a lumen present (a hollow space in the gland where liquid venom is stored for ready delivery) and how efficient the delivery is (with relative enlargement of teeth being a key factor within this variable). There are countless variations within each variable, all resulting in a different degree of relative danger. Exactly what you'd expect for something that has been shaping the evolution of the advanced snakes for the last 60-80 million years.

So in the case of Ptyas carinatus (and other Ptyas):
- venom: rich in neurotoxic 3FTx (three finger toxins); very potent
- quantity: very small (only a couple milligrams for a two meter snake)
- lumen present: no, venom is secreted 'as needed'
- relative delivery efficiency: poor

Below is a link to one of our papers that included this venom in it.

Cheers
Bryan
Colubroidea snake venom evolution

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Dr. Bryan Grieg Fry
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Australian Venom Research Unit,
University of Melbourne
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Population and Evolutionary Genetics Unit,
Museum Victoria
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http://www.venomdoc.com

I had a friend many years ago, go to the hospital from a bite. But it wasn't from envenomation, it was from the bite. He had four sutures in his thumb!
A big one could put a nasty bite on you indeed!
Randal Berry

Thanks i'll be careful not to get bit