Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Did anyone see this new program on discovery? I did not see it being discussed in here but I often times seem to be late in seeing programs so I would not be surprised. Sorry for posting if this is the case. I did look first and did not see anything posted this month on it.

From what I saw it seemed to have a rational angle at the dangers of some reptiles. But I have not seen the entire thing so I will not go promoting it yet. It had some good animal footage regardless.

I was a bit shocked at the guy who was bitten by a venomous snake 3 times in one year. After losing his job from having two hot bites on his record he took a bite from a gaboon (while assist feeding I believe). What a lucky guy to be alive.

First he gets get fired. Then he gets hooked by a gabby. Buy that guy a drink!
Haven't seen the program and Discovery is among the few we watch, so will look for it. Thanks for the heads-up

Well I just caught the end of the show and I put it on my DVR and found out it aired originally in 2002. I had never seen it.

I watched a bit of the beginning on the DVR and it had a documentation of the only Bithrops asper bite to occur at La Selva Bilogocal Reserve. I know someone who knows the lady who was bitten actually.

They really promoted the venom extraction kits. I have never seen such good spoken of these things before so I would like to hear more discussion on this. It looked to work well in helping in this case.

They labeled the snake Bothrops schlegelii so I am not sure how great the entire program is. The end seemed pretty good but after I watch the entire thing I will let you know how it is.

There is another snake program we put on our DVR which had a reading of an adult female green anaconda costricting a duck. They recorded it a 90 lbs per sq inch! Over 9000 lbs of pressure on this duck.

Ahh, I'll have the pressed duck with a spicy zinfandel please.

I watched them...they were interesting. I also enjoyed the latest "Dirty Jobs" show at the alligator farm. Interesting that they produced 8-20 albino gators per year randomly.
And the guy with the Gaboon was bitten while force feeding it. They confiscated his animals and only gave him limited visiting rights....which sounded like they were refering to children. His entire collection was 2 Gaboons and an anaconda!
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1.1 Blackheaded pythons
1.1 Woma (Juvie female)
2.1 Aussie Olives
1.1 Timors
1.0 Angolan Juvie
1.1 Savu
1.1 Juvie Bloods
1.1 Juvie Balls
1.1 IJ Carpets
1.1 Coastal Carpets
1.2 Macklotts
1.1 Papuan Olives
1.0 Jungle Carpet
2.2 Scrubs (on breeding loan)
0.1 Jungle/Diamond cross
0.1 child, CB
0.1 wife, WC

The scary part was he held a permit. I would hope the system assures folks know a gaboon should not be in a petco kritter cage.

MOST of the program was pretty good. I did watch it all.

I hate to poke any fun but... "mom, I just got bit by my gaboon" was a pretty good quote from the show. He really said that.

Please don't hesitate to poke fun. Had you in this case, most of us would have missed what is easily one the most memorable herpetological quotes of all time. lol

I didn't see all of the show, but most of it seemed pretty good as far as covering snake bite issues an showing some good professional keepers. However...

>>"mom, I just got bit by my gaboon"

Yeah, I thought that was pretty funny at first. But if you take the entire show together, the only private keeper they showed might have been the most pathetic permit holder ever. Not only does he get bit three times but then on this visit to his confiscated snakes HE'S TAILING HIS GABOON and obviosly doesn't have control of it! Combine that with two or three different professional herpers saying they don't think people should be able to keep hots at home and it doesn't seem very helpful...

No, I thought the same thing. I do not like when people in here just raise up for a bashing fest on people so I did not want to comment too much on how they had a terrible example of private hot keeping. While watching this program with another herp loving friend we did discuss how they could have shown a more responsible "hot" keeper as a foil.

I just could not resist but throw that quote in. I could only imagine how his mothers heart must have dropped when hearing those words. Had he not lived I would not have even been able to joke about that quote on here.

My mother's heart wouldn't have dropped, she would have after her heart stopped.

If you saw it did anyone catch the"professional" zookeeper talking to the camera with the door open to the "African" exhibit? The cage with the Gabby ,Rhino and East African Green Mamba? There was a shield in place but I was not comfortable with him taking his eyes off that snake.But to call a spade a spade the show didn't support private keeping of hot's.

>>If you saw it did anyone catch the"professional" zookeeper talking to the camera with the door open to the "African" exhibit? The cage with the Gabby ,Rhino and East African Green Mamba? There was a shield in place but I was not comfortable with him taking his eyes off that snake.But to call a spade a spade the show didn't support private keeping of hot's.
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U.A.P.P.E.A.L.
Uniting A Proactive Primate and Exotic Animal League
www.uappeal.org

>>If you saw it did anyone catch the"professional" zookeeper talking to the camera with the door open to the "African" exhibit?

Yeah, I wasn't real comfortable with that either but I was at least encouraged to see the shield. (I sure wouldn't have taken my eyes off that snake.)

I've seen MUCH worse on other shows:
Zoo keeper cleaning glass inside a large enclosure and turning his back on two black mambas coiled on a branch 4 feet away.
Worker in a reptile park reaching over a coiled INLAND TAIPAN to clean the glass behind it!

Instead of bashing the two sides of the same coin, just chalk it all up to different levels of experience...
I routinely open Mamba exhibits and walk away, most mambas are very well behaved after being acclimated and are very easy to work around...
I would have liked to have seen the show but didn't, so am just going by what the other posters are saying...

If that is the same moron I am thinking of, He had lied on the permit application,which they discvovered after his 3 bites,and he was arrested about a year later for the theft of some animals from an area pet store. and this is the guy they chose to represent legitimate Permited keepers.
I guess if they picked some one who didn't live with his parents,get bit every other day, and lie and steal, it just wouldn't be that interesting.

"They really promoted the venom extraction kits. I have never seen such good spoken of these things before so I would like to hear more discussion on this. It looked to work well in helping in this case."

Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine studied the effectiveness on the capabilities of extractors, extracting venom, they don't! More recently Dr S. Bush et al also studied the effectiveness of these devices, he also came to the same conclusion, they don't extract venom.
My personal view is, if you are bitten by an animal that predominately affects the nervous system, and you are alone. Applying a suction device may be benificial before trying to attempt applying a pressure bandage and splint by your self. The reason being, the vaccum within the cup can be as high as 750mmhg well above the pressure within the lymph system, any venom within the vaccumed tissue will be slowed down or even stopped.
Applying a pressure bandage correctly is not easy as it looks, even when there is two of you, so being on your own is not going to be simple task, have a practice.

John
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"Its no help to hide behind the statement that snake bite accidents are a rarity and that the average Dr seldom or never will treat one. For the bitten patient, it is a matter of life or death, and the rarity of the event is of no interest to him."

Considering the quote about the Gaboon was a re-enactment, I wonder if, when he actually did it, he wasn't screaming at the top of his lungs and soiling himself.
I wondered about the extractors myself. I wonder if a tourniquet wouldn't have been better.
Since my daughter is taking a Coral Reef course in Honduras next winter through her college, I made sure she saw the episode....and told her to wear proper foot gear in the tropics. NO FLIP FLOPS in the jungle, lol
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1.1 Blackheaded pythons
1.1 Woma (Juvie female)
2.1 Aussie Olives
1.1 Timors
1.0 Angolan Juvie
1.1 Savu
1.1 Juvie Bloods
1.1 Juvie Balls
1.1 IJ Carpets
1.1 Coastal Carpets
1.2 Macklotts
1.1 Papuan Olives
1.0 Jungle Carpet
2.2 Scrubs (on breeding loan)
0.1 Jungle/Diamond cross
0.1 child, CB
0.1 wife, WC

You do not want a tissue destroying venom to stay in one area.

Has anyone noticed that it seems the ones that survive a bite and end up on the news are the ones that have no business being around a venomous animal in the first place? Kind of reminds me of the old problem of drunks being the least injured in an accident.
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Bryan, Atlanta GA

1-0-0 Rescued Ball Python - Apep
0-1-0 Rescued Mountain Horned Dragon - Ki
0-0-1 Rescued Aggressive Bearded Dragon - Zeus
0-0-1 Rescued Non-Alpha Green Iguana - Bud
1-1-0 Rescued Rats... no wait... ROTTEN Little Cats - Ra, Bastet
0-0-1 Rescued Dieting Panda Hamster - Mr. Fluffy
0-1-0 Rescued Little Angelic Kitten - Isis
1-0-0 Horse... whoops... BIG Golden Retriever - Jake
0-1-0 Wife
2-0-0 Kids

Show on last night, sort of like Mythbusters, where they wanted to see if suction had any effect on snakebite. They used a turkey (fresh from the store, not live), and injected it with dye, then applied suction with the most commonly available kit. All the suction did was swell the area around the injection site, keeping any venom/dye from leaving the wound. The conclusion (doctor involved) was that it didn't do anything, and actually harmed the site by swelling.
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1.1 Blackheaded pythons
1.1 Woma (Juvie female)
2.1 Aussie Olives
1.1 Timors
1.0 Angolan Juvie
1.1 Savu
1.1 Juvie Bloods
1.1 Juvie Balls
1.1 IJ Carpets
1.1 Coastal Carpets
1.2 Macklotts
1.1 Papuan Olives
1.0 Jungle Carpet
2.2 Scrubs (on breeding loan)
0.1 Jungle/Diamond cross
0.1 child, CB
0.1 wife, WC