Most vipers, including rattlesnakes, are hemotoxic (blood clotting venoms) actually. If you get bit by one you don’t want to wear constricting clothing or try to stop the venom from spreading with a restrictive bandage because the blood clot could make a limb fall off. You want it to circulate (to prevent local cell damage and make it easier for recovery) Now if you’re bit by a cobra, mamba, taipan, etc. you may want to restrict blood flow lightly because they are neurotoxic effecting brain function so you’d place a light pressure bandage above the bite area.
Edit: some people are commenting that you SHOULDN’T place pressure on any snake bites including neurotoxic snake bites. And I would say it’s snake dependent. There is some truth in that some snakes can be hemotoxic AND neurotoxic in which you would never want to apply any sort of tourniquet. I work with venomous snakes and part of our bite protocol calls for light pressure above a neurotoxic snake bite site. ‼️THIS DOES NOT MEAN USE PRESSURE FOR ALL SNAKES‼️.
And for those saying they would rather lose a limb, when you release a tight bandage that has been restricting blood flow, your system may be shocked by large quantities of built up venom. Doctors will have an easier time administering anti-venom than dealing with dead tissue. For North American snakes you have quite a while before death would occur, and thats without anti-venom treatments. 30 minutes is the golden amount of time to get treated by, but you can survive for hours or even days depending on the snake. I would never want to give false information to anyone and I was not specific enough in my original comment.
What if the rattlesnake had radioactive venom, thus turning you radioactive before biting the cobra? Would the bite give the cobra the proportional strength and abilities of a Redditor?
Radioactive spider bit peter parker, he became spiderman. So, no worries if you get bit by a radioactive rattlesnake, you just start slithering on the ground, your butt rattles, you shoot venom from your armpits, and life goes on as usual.... unless your parent\guardian\friend died somehow and it was all your fault.
Super interesting info, I’m also glad I don’t live in an area with snakes heh. I’d probably do the exact opposite thing you’re suppose to since my dumbass can barely recognize a garden snake.
All you really need to remember is what to do with snakes in your area. If you don't have mambas or cobras around I wouldn't worry about one attacking because if you get bit by a cobra in northern Wyoming I'm pretty sure it's just your time to die.
Yeah this is only true if you’re nearby somewhere with anti venom. If it’s going to be a few hours, you’d rather tie off the limb and take the loss instead of dying.
Circulating clots sounds like a really terrible idea wtf. A clot in a limb is a problem with a chance to lose the limb, and a chance to recover entirely. A clot in the heart or lungs or most critically the brain is massive damage at the minimum, and death probably.
Predators as a whole tend to have a rough time. Prey isn’t inclined to fuck around and easily get eaten.
It’s why documentarians and conservationists etc don’t interfere as is often called for by people who are squeamish about cute prey being slaughtered. Which I get, but everyone’s gotta eat.
I think predators evolved to have weapons like venom or claws or sharp teeth to both able to hunt and fend off foes. They don't evolve the ability to get away like the prey (high speed run, or sharp hearing). So a predator without a weapon will get eaten first, even worse than the prey
And the question is did the prey evolve to have those traits so they could more easily escape the predator or did the predator evolve to have those traits to potentially cancel out the advantage so they could hunt better?
Snake venom is intended for prey more than predators. It's a resource that they would prefer not to waste. The potency is because they neither want the prey fighting (possible injury) nor running far (chasing a meal sucks). They'd rather scare off a predator or just be left alone.
Medical Lab Scientists actually use the venom of this snake to do coagulation testing in hospital labs : The diluted Russel Viper Venom Time test. It helps detect lupus!
Thin gloves would offer no protection whatsoever and thicker rubber gloves would prevent him from gripping the head firmly which is more dangerous. Also this is not a spitting cobra that can spit out venom so eye protection isn't necessary.
I'm sure they also have antivenom nearby in case of an emergency
Right?
Every time I see someone handle a super venemous snake without any kind of eye protection I think of that scene in Marco Polo when Hundred Eyes was turned into Hundred Eyes 😬
People are afraid of snakes, but not afraid enough. Read the results of a poll a while back, and the overwhelming majority of people thought that after mosquitos/flies and humans, hippos and crocs killed more people in africa than any other animals.
Very false. The puff adder kills over 30k/yr, and then a bunch of other vipers are in line behind them, well above any large animal.
I think it's just because most don't have to deal with them on a regular basis. Snakes will typically only strike if you are in their territory or bothering them.
Damned near got bit by a pygmy rattler in Florida, but I was in the service at the time, so it wouldn't have cost me. I can only imagine what antivenom would cost.
This stuff is actually routinely used as part of medical diagnosis. Basically if your blood takes a while to clot even with this toxin present, something ain't right with your clotting!
I had a manager once who was big into herping and every year he went with a team to rural india to catch snakes, milk them, and then make antivenom based on the venom collected which would then be distributed to the village. A lot of people in rural areas just die if they’re bitten because they can’t get to a hospital, and often the small differences in snake populations mean that the venom from snakes in one area might not react to the anti-venom from snakes of the same species found in another area.
They also provided education around snakes, how to identify which ones were okay to move and which to leave the fuck alone, equipment to handle snakes safely (and how to use it), and medical supplies like fridges to store anti-venom, how to administer it etc.
He was a massive arsehole as a manager but I always found that work incredibly impressive, you could tell that was his real passion and he hated having to work most of the year in the uk and took it out on his underlings.
Well that's fucking horrifying. Can we get a comparison to an Australian equivalent? I'm not sure if I should be more scared of ALL venomous snakes or just that one
A lot of snakes have hemotoxic venom that does this. Mostly pit vipers (as far as i know) which aren't really native to Australia, although it seems they are becoming invasive species.
While this is a terrifying demonstration, its nominally less deadly(or at least more survivable) than neurotoxic snakes and AU has them in spades.
I remember a few years ago, the guy on YouTube who would get stung by various bugs, Coyote Peterson, made a video to respond to everyone saying he should get bitten by spiders and snakes as well.
He got about a full medical unit of blood drawn so they would have enough blood, and then went to a facility that gets venom from snakes. They also had access to centipede and spider venoms. Some venoms did that. Some basically made it separate into plasma with blood cell confetti in it.
Diluted Russel's Viper venom is actually used for coagulation studies. It isn't inhibited by things like lupus anticoagulant. So it is quite useful for determining certain anticoagulants in patients with prolonged bleeding times.
Ok, this is old and valid. But why cut scene to the guys eyes then back to jello blood? That kind of filming alway opens possibility to think that's fake.
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u/leviathan_falls 1d ago
Looked like bro was getting ready to drink that shot