$10 snake bite kit saved hunters life.

[powderman]

  Hunter saves own life after rattlesnake bit him Doctor said Chad Cross would have died had he not used a $10 snake-bite kit to extract enough deadly venom to enable him to go get help    May 01, 2013 by David Strege         Chad Cross was hunting for turkey in the woods in Alabama when a venomous pit viper rattlesnake bit him in the lower left leg. Nervous and scared, the Montgomery resident attempted to calm himself and slow his heart rate so as to prevent the quick spreading of the deadly venom throughout his body. He then made a move that saved his life. He pulled out his $10 snake-bite kit. WSFA has the incredible story:

      WSFA.com: News Weather and Sports for Montgomery, AL.
“Best way I can describe it is someone taking a full swing with a baseball bat and hitting me in my calf,” Cross told WSFA.

“I knew I had to calm down and get my heart rate down because the faster my heart was pumping, I knew the faster than venom was going through my system.”
Cross opened his Bite & Sting venom extraction kit and read the directions. He’s carried it with him on hunting trips for years but never knew how to use it.

He stuck the tip of the extractor over the bite, pushed the plunger down and pulled it up, creating a suction that brought the venom with it. Then he went to get treatment. His on-camera demonstration shows how the skin is sucked up, and thus, the venom is sucked out.
“That’s what pulled it all out and I think saved my life,” he told WSFA.
The doctor told him as much, saying without using the kit, he would have died before he ever made it to his truck.
Photos are screengrabs from WSFA.    Prev Next Trending Now

[Sourdough]

Yep, seen that before.  Some make it some don't.  He did the right thing.  Saved his life.  But that bite will bother him the rest of his life.  Tissue is dead and will degenerate and go away, leaving a big hole in his leg.  A good pair a snake proof boots would have prevented that.  I'm paranoid of snakes, (maybe that's one reason I like Alaska, we don't have snakes).  I wear snake proof boots when I'm out in the woods in Tennessee, Florida, and Texas, each year.

I had my run in with a Copperhead as a youth.  Did not bite me, got the hem of my overhalls, but that was enough.

[GeneRector]

   Howdy! That wqs one lucky guy to have the kit with him. I don't go hunting for Spring Turkey because of my fear of snakes. We keep a 20 guage shotgun handy at home from March 1st until the first freeze where I live in Texas.  Always, Gene
 
 

[Conan The Librarian]

I wonder how much venom he got out? It looks like a normal bite. Fang marks are pretty far apart, so maybe he got a real snoot full of venom from a big one. Rattler bites are not usually fatal, but require medical attention and make you sick for several days. If you're in snake country, you may want to check into the recommendations about the effectiveness of snakebite kits.
 
My buddy's dawg got his face bit by a rattler. Ug-leee! The dog made it, but that was one sad looking dog for quite a while. His head was so big I thought he was going to tip forward on his legs and fall on his face.
 
I do agree with it being nice not to have venomous snakes around. After moving from the South to Minnesota, it's one thing I can definitely say I do not miss.

[mechanic]

We had a guy from a reptile center come and do a demo for our scouts, and he said not to use the kit.  I can't see where it would harm anything, so I would rather err on the side of caution.
 
One thing I learned, is that even though a snake bites, it may not  envenomate, so draw a circle around the bite, mark the time with a pen, and carry on.  If the swelling and redness do not progress, you did not get venom.
 
This will help the folks who administer anti venom to have an idea of how much.  (It costs  thousands of dollars per dose.)
 
Simple answer is wear the snake boots and be aware....maybe.
 
Ben

[Swampman]

I'm Red Cross certified for Outdoor First-Aid and everything I've ever heard or read said don't use those kits.  I'm not afraid of snakes and don't understand a grown man being afraid of them.  I respect them and leave them alone.

[Conan The Librarian]

Mechanic:
 
What I've learned recently, because I'm running a dog down south now, is that the kits do more harm than good and can lead to even more tissue damage than not using the kit. This applies to both suction cup and syringe type kits. Also, after about 3 minutes from the time of the bite, suction of any kind does not work because any venom has moved away from the bite.
 
One good tip that I use is to walk with heavy foot falls in snake country. If carrying a walking stick, thump the end on the ground. The snakes usually bite when they are surprised by somebody, and the vibration of the foot falls alerts them to ske-daddle. So if you see somebody Monster Mashing through the woods, it may be me.

[Sourdough]

I wore a pair of Cowboy Boots that came almost to my knee.  Heavy rough-out leather outer.  Leather lined, with a layer of heavy canvas sandwiched between the layers of leather.  I remember one night my horse got hurt.  I I turned him loose in an arryo with grass, and knew he was not going anywhere.  I walked about five miles back to camp.  Saw a few Rattlers before dark, after dark I could not see them, but every once in a while something would hit my boots.  I did not want to reach down and check, I just kept walking.

[Victor3]

 The kit probably didn't do anything helpful, regardless of what the doctor said. Suction can actually cause the venom to move into more of the local tissue, where it would have stayed put without suction.

“I knew I had to calm down and get my heart rate down because the faster my heart was pumping, I knew the faster than venom was going through my system.”

This is false. Rattlesnake venom travels via the lymphatic system; it isn't "pumped" through blood vessels to areas remote from the bite. The lymphatic system relies on random muscle movement to move fluid through the body.

Only about 12 people per year (out of about 8000 bites) die from venomous snake bites in the US. Most of those deaths are caused by anaphylactic shock due to an allergic reaction, not due to toxicity of the venom. ~25% of venomous snake bites are "dry strikes" where no venom is injected. Many more people die from insect stings every year than from snake bites, so best to save any paranoia for bees/wasps.

There's plenty of good info online on how to properly deal with snake bites so I won't go into that. For God's sake, don't ever try to suck it out by mouth unless you want to end up being the ugliest kid on the block for the rest of your life.

I harvest rattlers for meat and skins. I've never been bitten; I witnessed the result of a friend being bitten and that was enough for me to avoid it like the plague. Many I take are Mojave rattlers, which have a nasty neurotoxin that makes their venom ~10x more powerful than most other rattlesnakes.

[ChungDoQuan]

http://www.wikihow.com/Treat-a-Snake-Bite


A roll of ACE wrap is what they recommend these days. The lymphatic system drains "overflow" from the venous system. Blood vessels are really like those "leaky pipe" irrigation hoses, so that nutrients and white blood cells can migrate into the tissue--- that's why you need to lower your heart rate. That's hard, because, in addition to just plain fear, snake venom actually increases your heart rate. The important thing for a large animal, like a human, is to slow the spread so the immune system can work on the venom. More people are allergic to the anti-venom than are allergic to the venom.

[Conan The Librarian]

Victor3, ChungDoQuan:


Good posts! Thanks!

[Oldshooter]

Can't testify to this but a reliable source told me that a bite from a smaller rattler is worse than one from a older larger one. Seems the younger snake will overdose you and the mature snake will not.

[yellowtail3]

The kit probably didn't do anything helpful, regardless of what the doctor said. Suction can actually cause the venom to move into more of the local tissue, where it would have stayed put without suction. ... ... ...

Thanks for posting, Victor3!

[AtlLaw]

Great topic!  Lotsa good info.      We got Diamondbacks on the farm I hunt that would feed a hungry family of six!   

[Brett]

Snakes... I don't hate them, I don't fear them but I do respect them.  If I cross paths with them I try to establish a mutual agreement with them that if it goes it's way and I go mine we will both live another day.   

[Conan The Librarian]

I do fear the venomous ones. I've nearly been bit a number of times while out in the woods and swamps, and they are a real distraction at times. It's really nice to be outdoors where you don't have venomous snakes around.
 
They are fascinating and beautiful, but I like to admire the venomous ones behind glass.

[yellowtail3]

They are fascinating and beautiful, but I like to admire the venomous ones behind glass.

..or over the bead of a shotgun...

[Conan The Librarian]

I shot one once, but only because it was about strike and my gun was pointed in the right direction. I leave them alone. Some are really pretty, like the southern copperheads that don't have mottling on them. My favorites are the indigoes, which are not venomous, and they are very beautiful.
 
Didn't take my dog on a vacation once because it was snake season in eastern Montana and I didn't want him bit. Carried a revolver with snake shot. Fortunately did not need to use it.
 
We have lots of snakes in our yard, and I like having them around because they keep the rodents under control. Nothing more satisfying than seeing a big ol hog snake skin in the wood pile. He's there eating mice and voles and such.

[Victor3]

Victor3....I've heard that there is a species of pit viper called the Tiger Rattlesnake that is found in Arizona into Sonora, Mexico and that it is considered far more poisonous than the Southeast Coral snake, which was considered the most poisonous of land snakes in the USA_ _but fortunately usually flees, has small fangs and the temperament of fleeing. I believe I read the Tiger is 17 times more poisonous than the Coral based on mg/kg body weight in lethality. Have you heard of the Tiger Rattler??

I've heard of but not studied them; I pay more attention to the five species I've encountered here in Southern CA.

I'm also of the impression that its young juvenile rattlers that will you give you a full envenomation but older mature individuals conserve their venom.

I don't know if what they say about baby ones is true or not but I can relate some anecdotal evidence. The friend I mentioned above was bitten by an ~8" long (baby) sidewinder. He had grasped it behind the head but it got one fang around and into his thumb. He received anti-venom within an hour but after a day his entire forearm had swollen to 2x its normal size and turned black. Area at the bite had split open into a gory mess. They told him he was going to have permanent damage but thankfully, he didn't. Took about two months to recover though. Would the result have been the same with an adult of the same species? Some say no but I haven't found anything definitive either way.

[Victor3]

Great topic!  Lotsa good info.      We got Diamondbacks on the farm I hunt that would feed a hungry family of six!   

 Cook one up sometime. Some are better than others but you'd prolly be surprised at how good they taste if you've never tried it. This went into a nice pan of 'snake-n-bake' as I recall...

[AtlLaw]

This went into a nice pan of 'snake-n-bake' as I recall...

When I'm fortunate enough to get one, they been pretty scarce for the last few years for some reason, I cut them into pieces about half that length, season, dredge in flour and deep fry.  Surprisingly enough there not to many recipes for snake in the cookbooks. 
 

I just never thought about carrying a snake bite kit.  Back in the day the recommended treatment was to cut an X over the fang holes and suck out the poison... The kits then had little razor blades in them to do the cutting with! 
 

Come to think on it, I've gotten really lax about watching where I step. This is a good reminder!  Prevention is the best cure! 

[Sourdough]

I live in Alaska, we don't have snakes, don't have to worry about them when up here.

I grew up in Tennessee, and saw my Grandpa killing snakes almost daily.  Copper Heads, and Spreading Adders.  Rattle Snakes were few and far between where we lived.  Then I went to Nevada, and met Sidewinders.  Played with them all the time.  When I got to Arizonia, one of the first things I saw at the base stables was this little woman with a broom sweeping a snake into her tack room.  I asked why was she doing that.  She informed me that the snake was a King Snake, and that they ate rattlers and mice.  OK.  Saw bunches of Rattlers out in the desert, left them alone, for the most part.  Then I went to New Mexico.  Right off the bat the wife ate Rattle Snake at friends house.  From that point on she wanted every Rattle Snake I saw brought home for her to cook.  She would dress them out and freeze the meat till she had enough to make a dish with.  Some she fried, others went into chili.  She fixed them all kinds of ways.  Working out in the desert all the time I had daily meetings with Rattlers.  Some times several times a day, depending on the area.  Sometimes when caught out away from camp at night, I'd walk to give my horse a rest, or he'd be limping.  I would hear a Rattles making noise so I would try and give it a wide path.  Every once in a whyile while trying to avoid one I'd get too close to another.  Thump, it would strike and hit my high top snake proof boots.  The horse would balk for a moment or two, then we'd go on after the snake moved on.  The horse seemed to know where it went.  Plus he knew I was the one out front.

I was more worried about running into Javalina than snakes.  A bunch of them little guys can kill you, right now.

[Shu]

I live in the Mojave dessert. Lots of rattle snakes here. Prevention is better than trying to treat the wound. I talked to a trauma doctor, she said if your a couple hours from the emergency room you are ok. Just get there. There are plenty of good books etc. It would be better to talk to a doctor how to treat a snake bite than read some label on a cheap kit after the fact. Zoo folks that work with poison snakes would be a better resource.

[Victor3]

When I'm fortunate enough to get one, they been pretty scarce for the last few years for some reason, I cut them into pieces about half that length, season, dredge in flour and deep fry.  Surprisingly enough there not to many recipes for snake in the cookbooks. 

I've found that laying the meat in a fry pan, just covering it with water and the juice from a small lemon and simmering for 1/2 an hour does wonders. Then you can use it for any other recipe you like. Makes it more tender and much easier to remove from the bone. You can wash down your meal with some of this. 

Come to think on it, I've gotten really lax about watching where I step. This is a good reminder!  Prevention is the best cure! 

 You got that right.


 One thing that's good to know is that rattlers can only strike to about a distance of 1/2 their length. I've seen some guys run 50 yds (females often 150 yds) from a snake, acting as though they thought it was going to fly through the air and latch onto their neck.


 When they're in this position, you know they mean business but they're usually (but not always) rattling to warn you...



 This sucker never moved or rattled; came to within 10' before I noticed him. Those are often the ones that get people...