What to do if snake bitten?

[Disco]

Sitting still for hours after a rattler bite?? The movie Billy Jack---(after this scene he sits and gets a vision etc etc). Not recommended for your average hiker.

Great video! Saw that movie ages ago but didn't remember the scene. Wouldn't want to be actor Tom Laughlin's stunt double.

[Tipi Walter]

Great video! Saw that movie ages ago but didn't remember the scene. Wouldn't want to be actor Tom Laughlin's stunt double.

It's all fake of course, something about Billy Jack using rattler venom for his "vision quest".

[righand]

i meet a guy in Glasgow Va that got bit, he was trying to pick it up LOL his hand swelled like a ballon! (Mountain Mike) he was ginseng hunting had lots of it to

[BuckeyeBill]

Hope he had a good haul of ginseng, as anti venom is expensive.

[TexasBob]

[QUOTE=yaduck9;2151675][QUOTE=perdidochas;2151661
This guy keeps many poisonous snakes at his home and has most of the anti venom. But he won't keep an american rattlesnakes because of the cost of the anti venom....[/QUOTE]

[QUOTE=rocketsocks;2151702]

Like I said earlier, you gotta have a sense of humor, good article. My son has a high school friend who now lives in FL picking oranges on a farm, he told me he goes to work with a big stick and a knife, the stick is to kill the snake that bites you, and the knife is to cut off the head to bring to the hospital so you can get treated with the right anti venom.

Anti-venom available in the US (Crofab for example) is polyvalent and treats for all pit vipers (copperheads, rattlers & cotton mouths) but not for coral snakes. If you get bit by a rattler or a copperhead you are getting treated with the same anti-venom. There is a separate anti-venom for coral snakes.

[Five Tango]

[QUOTE=Tipi Walter;2151459]Here you go, the lightest available---


From---

http://turtleskin.com/snake-gaiters

Not cheap, but what is paranoia worth? Then again, won't work with trail runners etc. Won't work with anything a fang will get thru like fabric trail runners.

Have I or will I carry these things? No, never have. Would I? Sure, why not, if I had a pair sitting around. 8ozs is pretty light for peace of mind etc. Let's talk about packing our fears? Let's not.

Of course, when I'm sitting around as a couch potato at the computer these things seem mandatory. "Next trip!!!!" I howl. But when I'm actually out hiking---not so much. Until that first strike, I guess.

Last summer I saw one copperhead and 3 rattlesnakes in a single backpacking trip, a record. It spooked me. And they all started to look like Jimmys to me, or at least they will respond and recognize this name Or addressed as Sir Pit Viper, in a formal setting.

I see alot of pit vipers on my trips---but I've always liked snakes, since being a kid. Had a reptile garden in Oklahoma and charged neighborhood kids 5 cents to visit it in my garage.

But in a real-world backpacking scenario of getting hit by a rattler? With no hope of rescue?
** First I'd scream like a two year old.
** Panic and increased heart rate. At my age a heart attack could be what kills me---as the venom does its work.
** I'd try to get down to a creek and get in cold water---just a gut hunch to cool my system down. Or at least submerge the wound. THIS IS NOT MEDICAL ADVICE, just something I would think seriously about.
** Try to set up camp and drink a huge amount of water. Perhaps eat.
** Wait. And have a long conversation with Miss Nature.[/QUOTE
Actually,I like this idea so Thanks Tipi Walter! The reason being that they weigh no more than the non snake proof knee high gaiters I currently have.I keep my current gaiters treated with permethrin and Deet sprays more for tick protection as well as briars and grass as I walk some unmaintained bush whacking places.FWIW,I have not picked up any ticks since going to "treated knee highs"

[Toofar]

One thing I would recommend if your bitten is to write the time your bit on your leg. Also draw a circle around the bite marks. Make sure you do not tie anything tight around it. The damage caused by the venom will do more damage if kept locally. Lastly, calm yourself down. The venom is carried in your bloodstream. Having a panic attack will only speed the venom faster in your body.


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[Uncle Walkie]

Bite back!