What A Snakebite Feels Like

Kjbartolotta

Potentially has/is dog
Super Member
Registered
Joined
May 15, 2014
Messages
4,197
Reaction score
1,047
Location
Los Angeles
Did a little bit research, ready to dig deeper soon but most of the pictures I run afoul of online make me squeamish, so I'm jumping the gun here a bit. Anyone ever been bit? How would you describe it? As opposed to what happened, how did it feel? Thanks in advanced
 

Kjbartolotta

Potentially has/is dog
Super Member
Registered
Joined
May 15, 2014
Messages
4,197
Reaction score
1,047
Location
Los Angeles
Did a bit of the googling, until the pics got me uncomfortable and I had to go do something else. Ugh, why did it have to be snakes?

Thank you, though, that article's right what I was looking for. Any AW'ers have that dubious pleasure?
 

stephenf

Super Member
Registered
Joined
Jul 29, 2008
Messages
1,199
Reaction score
335
Hi
I was bitten by a cobra in India . The bite was like a cat digging their claws in your leg . You could see where the fangs went in ,and the skin around the wound turned black .The shock and fear made me feel physically sick . I was taken to a hospital , given injection ,and recovered in an hour or so .
 
Last edited:

JulianneQJohnson

Ferret Herder
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Jan 29, 2013
Messages
1,486
Reaction score
294
Location
Indiana
Website
julianneqjohnson.com
I got bitten by a baby copperhead once. I was lucky it was a baby--no lasting effects. First, I was startled, you know, that full body flinch when something surprises you. It was a sudden pain that jolted me. Even small puncture wounds hurt, especially if you are bitten somewhere sensitive, like a finger tip. The pain faded quickly, because the tip of my finger went numb. That faded within a couple hours, and I was left with the lesson: don't pick up baby snakes if you can't tell what type they are. :D
 

Helix

socially distancing
Kind Benefactor
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Mar 31, 2011
Messages
11,676
Reaction score
12,032
Location
Atherton Tablelands
Website
snailseyeview.medium.com
What sort of a snake? Because a bite from a python is quite different from a bite from venomous snakes and the bites of different venomous snakes are different from each other.
 

Kjbartolotta

Potentially has/is dog
Super Member
Registered
Joined
May 15, 2014
Messages
4,197
Reaction score
1,047
Location
Los Angeles
In the case of the story I'm working on, the magic kind. But any spectacularly poisonous variety will do.
 

Helix

socially distancing
Kind Benefactor
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Mar 31, 2011
Messages
11,676
Reaction score
12,032
Location
Atherton Tablelands
Website
snailseyeview.medium.com
A coastal taipan (Oxyuranus scutellatus) bite is often painless...at first. See the second case here. (No pics.) A bite from a Gaboon viper would be quite a different matter.
 

Kjbartolotta

Potentially has/is dog
Super Member
Registered
Joined
May 15, 2014
Messages
4,197
Reaction score
1,047
Location
Los Angeles
Quite a story, thank you! After a day of research, and much more 'squeem'-ing (Guh, I really hate snakes, I realize), I think my requirements are A) painful, and B) swiftly fatal. Like I said, the snake's magic, so it doesn't totally matter what genus it falls into, but I'm leaning towards something death adder-ish.

BTW, when I type in 'Gaboon viper' the autocomplete fills it with 'for sale'. Which is troubling.
 

Helix

socially distancing
Kind Benefactor
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Mar 31, 2011
Messages
11,676
Reaction score
12,032
Location
Atherton Tablelands
Website
snailseyeview.medium.com
I don't think I know anyone who's been bitten by a death adder. I know people who have been bitten by brown snakes and coastal taipans*. Python bites are pretty common and are deeply unpleasant, even though not venomous.

I know you don't want to trawl through more snake stuff, but stuff by and about Bryan Fry ('Venom Doc') might be of use. Here's an ABC article about him: http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-08-...ieg-fry-takes-snake-bites-for-science/6720298

"The first snake bite I had it gave me like a bad LSD trip and train of heart attacks. That was a type of rattlesnake.

"One in Australia, a type of death adder, that was ... a complete out-of-body experience. For eight hours I was completely paralysed. It lasted hundreds of thousands of years for me ... I was like drifting through time and space, completely euphoric.
"A total trapped-in syndrome but I was having a party on the inside."

He did a radio interview with Richard Fidler. Hang on a tic, while I find the link.

ETA: Here it is: http://www.abc.net.au/local/stories/2015/08/24/4297954.htm
It'll be available in a range of formats, so you can save it for later, if interested.

*one person/one snake/one bite
 
Last edited:

MDSchafer

Banned
Joined
May 21, 2007
Messages
1,871
Reaction score
320
Location
Atlanta, GA
Website
firstfolio.blogspot.com
So, funny story. My brother and I were camp counselors at the same camp one summer. He was running the maintenance crew that year and so he was do a lot of trail maintenance and whatnot. So I'm walking my campers up a trail and my brother is sitting on a log with a black snake dug into the muscle of his left lower forearm. My kids freak out and my brother, kid you not says, "It doesn't hurt, I'm just waiting for it to let go," before quoting Homer Simpson and adds, "Snake's nature's quitters."

The snake was in his arm a good ten minutes and bruised the heck out of him, but it didn't hurt a whole lot. He said he didn't feel the bite, which tracks with what stab victims tell me. Most often stabbing victims say it felt like being punched.
 
Last edited:

Cindyt

Gettin wiggy wit it
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Aug 14, 2016
Messages
4,826
Reaction score
1,954
Location
The Sticks
Website
growingupwolf.blogspot.com
All these stories and descriptions are awesome and I've got the heebie jeebies. :roll:

This thread is ironic. One of my MCs got bitten by a cottonmouth a few chapters up. The scene was not his POV so i had him say "I was shaving a splinter off the notch when something grabbed my leg--it hurts." Now I can add to it. Haha. I google images of a cottonmouth's bite two years ago. The marks were not the round red wounds I thought they would be, but red and blackish slits. I suppose the wound depends on where and how it gets you.
 

Kjbartolotta

Potentially has/is dog
Super Member
Registered
Joined
May 15, 2014
Messages
4,197
Reaction score
1,047
Location
Los Angeles
You folks are making me rather glad I wandered over here! Thank you MDS, your brother wins for best use of a Simpsons quote ever! And extra thanks to Helix, I'm paying close mind to Australian beasties in particular, and this is good stuff. Also, OT, I've owned two Blues Heelers and make a point of thanking every Australian I come across for their people's contribution to dogmaking.

If anyone's curious, the snake in question is a small, innocuous species that lures it's prey by singing, then kills the victim with a fairly fast-acting and dead poison. The singing's because the snake is magic, but the poison, I imagine, is made out of molecules or something.
 

CJSimone

Super Member
Registered
Joined
Oct 10, 2016
Messages
1,387
Reaction score
497
A couple years ago, I was bit by a snake while hiking a trail. To me it felt like being stabbed with a stick (which at first is what I thought happened - that I'd stepped on a stick and it had poked into me). It wasn't that painful - one sharp prick- but it swelled up and stayed that way a week or two.
 
Last edited:

Twick

Super Member
Registered
Joined
Oct 16, 2014
Messages
3,291
Reaction score
715
Location
Canada
I had someone once tell me about being bitten by a baby Massasauga rattler. She was reaching under a bush, and felt what she thought was a bee sting. It wasn't until she saw a doctor because it wasn't healing that he pointed out the two holes in her finger, not one.
 

Kjbartolotta

Potentially has/is dog
Super Member
Registered
Joined
May 15, 2014
Messages
4,197
Reaction score
1,047
Location
Los Angeles
Blacbird, a fact not lost on me. But why use magic to throw out the rulebook when you can use it to do things that are small, subtle, and unexpected instead. That's how magic works in the real world, at least.

Woof!
 

DianneM

Super Member
Registered
Joined
Jan 18, 2017
Messages
81
Reaction score
6
Location
Texas
I was bit my a king snake once I think it scared me more than hurt. It happened so lightening quick I about jumped through the roof. It wasn't poisonous so it didn't have any lingering effects. I'm not even sure that it broke the skin to be honest.
 

GeorgeK

ever seeking
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Jul 17, 2007
Messages
6,577
Reaction score
740
I've only been bitten by non-venomous snakes and it was like a paper cut
 

PeteMC

@PeteMC666
Kind Benefactor
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Apr 26, 2011
Messages
3,002
Reaction score
363
Location
UK
Website
talonwraith.wordpress.com
I used to keep snakes and I've been bitten loads of times, but mine were all varieties of constrictors which aren't venomous.

It doesn't feel like much, really - they're so ridiculously fast you don't know it's happened until it's over. My Boa really went for me once, and when I got my hand back I had six rows of small double punctures (they only have two teeth) like I'd been machine-gunned with an office stapler. It didn't really hurt, but it did bleed a fair bit.

I have no idea what it's like to be bitten by something venomous and I'm quite happy to keep it that way!

EDIT: That said, the Boa was a small one (about 4 feet long) - I also had an 18 foot Burmese Python and I really wouldn't have wanted to have been bitten by her. She never did, thankfully, but she did get hold of my leg and start to constrict once. That was *way* scarier than being bitten.
 
Last edited:

Tsu Dho Nimh

Super Member
Registered
Joined
Sep 2, 2006
Messages
1,534
Reaction score
248
Location
West Enchilada, NM
Known neurological effects from some rattlesnake bites: everything turns a yellowish color.

Since this is a singing magic snake, maybe the auras could be rainbow and swirly just before the pain sets in.
 

Roxxsmom

Beastly Fido
Kind Benefactor
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Oct 24, 2011
Messages
23,057
Reaction score
10,704
Location
Where faults collide
Website
doggedlywriting.blogspot.com
I've only been bitten by non venomous snakes myself--once by a python (it was about 10' long), which hurt like any animal bite would. It was a very quick thing. Its teeth were very small, but there were a lot in its mouth and they point backwards, so there's some tearing when it pulled away. There was bruising and my hand swelled up some, and I went to the doctor. They gave me antibiotics as a precaution (since their mouths have some interesting bacteria) and a tetanus shot.

I was also bitten by a large bull snake (one of our bio departments animals) when I was handling it in class. Mr. Big is usually docile, and his bite was pretty lackadaisical (I think he smelled another animal on my hand and thought it might be supper). He held on, the way he might with a mouse. I gently took his head and pushed it forward and off, so he released without tearing my skin, and I just had tiny pin pricks from his teeth. The wound wasn't deep and didn't hurt all that much. I cleaned it up with iodine. And I always wash my hands before handling that snake now.

There is a visceral startle reaction when something bites you, even for those of us who aren't afraid of snakes. And I think humans might be wired up to jump back when a snake appears suddenly near their foot. I've had benign snakes slither right in front of me while I was hiking, and I always jump back with heart pounding, even as my brain is registering, "Oh, that's just a coachwhip. Cool." or whatever.

I knew someone who was bitten on the toe by a baby rattle snake when he was canoeing. He said it felt like a bee sting initially, but there was the snake (and two tiny fang marks on his bare toe). He got very little venom with the bite, but like an idiot, didn't go to the urgent care for a couple hours, until it started to swell and he felt woozy. He ended up being okay, but yesh. We told him he was an idiot, because rattlesnake venom can cause gangrene and loss of digits (or limbs).

If you're making up a magical snake with magical venom, you can make its effects feel pretty much any way you want. Venom often burns, tingles, stings, or feels intensely cold when it enters someone's body. With very intense venoms, the victim can start to feel sick, dizzy, have palpitations, sweat, cramp, hallucinate, or lose consciousness within minutes or less of being bitten.

One thing--cutting the wound and sucking the venom out of a wound by mouth or suction bulb (as per outdated "snake bite kits" and an old standby rememdy in many a novel) doesn't actually work, and it can actually do more harm. And compression bandages are a terrible idea for hemolytic toxins like rattlesnake venom (though I understand they're the first-aid treatment of choice for some kinds of venoms, like funnel web spiders).
 

WeaselFire

Benefactor Member
Kind Benefactor
Super Member
Registered
Joined
May 17, 2012
Messages
3,539
Reaction score
429
Location
Floral City, FL
Did a little bit research, ready to dig deeper soon but most of the pictures I run afoul of online make me squeamish, so I'm jumping the gun here a bit. Anyone ever been bit? How would you describe it? As opposed to what happened, how did it feel? Thanks in advanced

Depends on the snake. Bitten by a small boa, feels like being gummed by an infant. Garter snakes and black snakes pinch as much as cut, but can scrape and feel a lot like a woman's nails scratching you. Rattle snake is like a bad wasp sting, at least until the burn and pain from the venom. Red rat snake on the web of your hand hurts like the proverbial son of a... Okay, a little like getting your hand slammed in a drawer but really localized.

Still not afraid of snakes. Pretty afraid of paramedics and emergency room doctors trying to figure out if they have current rattlesnake antivenin around. A snake bite kit in the truck helps a lot though. Careful where you step in South Florida, pygmy rattlers don't warn you.

Jeff
 
Last edited:

LucindaLynx

Super Member
Registered
Joined
Sep 25, 2005
Messages
628
Reaction score
112
Location
Finland
I know I shouldn't get involved, but...I live in a country called Finland. No, I have not bitten by a viper. I almost got bitten, but not quite.
I was picking berries in bare hands. All of sudden I heard a hiss. I pulled my hand away as fast as I could before I'd get bitten. Then I just heard when the viper escaped. I was able to see the zig zag pattern. That's how I knew it had been a snake. I'm glad it warned me, though. I jumped back and screamed. Vipers and I are not friends.
 

armydillo978

Banned
Joined
Sep 23, 2011
Messages
3,758
Reaction score
122
Location
Florida
I've been bitten by three snakes....usually working on vehicles and the snakes are in em...under seats, in the engine space, etc. For me it was like taking a fish hook, or a safety pin and suddenly get hooked real quick for 1-2 seconds then it went away. A quick sharp pain, and then just a burning of the damaged cells swelling up and an ache afterwards.