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TORONTO STAR (Ontario) 13 September 06 Antidote ready as viper bites man (Gail Swainson)
A "very lucky" 26-year-old Barrie man is recovering in hospital after suffering a painful bite from one of the world's most aggressive and toxic snakes, a deadly Saw-scale Viper.
"At this point, he's not having any critical problems, there's just some localized swelling," emergency room doctor Mitchell Whyne told reporters last night.
Ontario Provincial Police rushed 20 vials of rare antivenom to Royal Victoria Hospital from Indian River Reptile Zoo near Peterborough just in case. But Whyne said the antivenom will only be used if needed. Doctors typically wait for symptoms to develop before administering the antiserum because the snake doesn't always inject the poison when it strikes.
"We are monitoring his vitals for the next 15 hours and doing blood tests every two hours," Whyne added.
Zoo curator Bry Loyst, who travelled with the medication, worth about $2,000, said the viper is highly venomous.
"I'm still scared by this situation, it's pretty terrifying," Loyst said as he clutched a plastic container with the snake inside. "I really don't recommend these snakes as pets. They belong in a zoo. They are very dangerous."
Hospital spokesperson Donna Danyluk said the victim, who has not been named, was bitten on the right thumb about 3: 30 p.m. while visiting a friend who owned the two-foot-long reptile, which is light beige with white and brown bands. She could not say how the bite happened. The man remains in stable condition.
There are only two facilities that carry antivenom in the area, the Toronto Zoo and the Peterborough reptile zoo, Loyst said.
"There's so many venomous snakes out there we really need one central place to keep the antivenom," Loyst said. The antiserum, which was just enough to treat "one serious bite," will go to the zoo if it is not needed in Barrie.
"I really don't want to have to go back to work tomorrow without it, " Loyst added. "It's very precious stuff."
Danyluk could not say what will happen to the snake, which is not on the endangered species list. The Discovery Channel website says the Saw-scale Viper gets its name from the sound it makes when it readies for attack.
The snake, found in Africa, Southern Asia and India, coils and rubs its lateral scales together, making a sound like a saw cutting through wood.
The snake's highly toxic venom eats away at body tissue and can cause interruptions in blood flow, said the website.

http://www.thestar.com/NASApp/cs/ContentServer?pagename=thestar/Layout/Article_Type1&call_pageid=971358637177&c=Article&cid=1158097812359

Well he is a very lucky lad if he doesn't need any serum. Echis & Daboia kill more people than any other venomous snakes.

Al
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"I'm a lone rhinoceros there ain't one hell of a lots of us
left in this world." Adrian Belew, 1982

BARRIE EXAMINER (Ontario) 13 September 06 Deadly snake bites man - Bitten by friend’s viper; antivenin rushed to Barrie’s RVH (Raymond Bowe)
Antivenin was rushed from the Peterborough area to Royal Victoria Hospital yesterday after a Barrie man was bitten by his friend’s pet venomous snake.
The 26-year-old was listed in stable condition last night after being bitten on the right thumb by a saw-scaled viper at a Barrie residence at about 3:30 p.m.
He’s under observation in the emergency room, and will be watched closely for 15 hours to gauge the effects of the venom.
“It’s a bit sore, but he should be fine,” Dr. Mitchell Whyne said from the emergency room.
Doctors think it was a “dry bite” — meaning no venom was injected — but they’re taking all necessary precautions, because it’s too early to tell, Whyne said.
Possible blood-clotting is one of the biggest dangers.
The location of the bite was somewhat lucky, Whyne said. The farther away from the heart and large blood vessels, the better.
However, the man isn’t out of the woods, yet.
Bry Loyst, curator of the Indian River Reptile Zoo, was contacted by the bite victim, and told him to get to the hospital immediately. Loyst and the antivenin were rushed along Highway 400 in an OPP cruiser.
The deadly effects of the saw-scaled vipers are numerous — including attacking the nervous system, and breaking down tissue — but Loyst said a bite victim would die from respiratory failure, or a heart attack, before those symptoms kicked in.
“With a full-blown bite, 90 per cent of people will die,” he said, adding it was too early to tell how much venom was injected.
If needed, the antivenin will be administered by intravenous, and the hospital will get a bill.
The snake is alive and was being kept in a container at RVH.
Saw-scaled vipers are venomous snakes found in Africa, the Middle East, Sri Lanka and India. They’re said to be aggressive, quick-tempered and strike readily, but Loyst disagrees.
“There really are no aggressive snakes,” Loyst said. “He bothered it and poked it and that’s why he got bit.
“I wish people wouldn’t keep venomous snakes without antivenin (nearby),” he added. “It’s silly.”
Though uncommon, some people do keep poisonous snakes as pets, Loyst said. But they usually remain “underground” about it.

http://www.thebarrieexaminer.com/webapp/sitepages/content.asp?contentid=189112&catname=Local News&classif=News - Local

"bitten on the right thumb by a saw-scaled viper"

Sounds like he was trying to pin the snake.