Reptile bite/scratch and scars

[crpy]

When snakes break off their teeth, how quickly do they grow back? Are they able to eat ok still?

They have several rows of re-curved teeth and they often come out when they grab prey. So they are able to still eat and the teeth will grow back (polypydont) but Im not sure of the length of time but not that long.

 

[thomas22]

i would have to say my most painful bite was by an Agkistrodon p.piscavorus. i had a large female give birth to 16 young so hooked her out of her enclosure and proceded to to hook out the babies. Whie reaching in to remove the water bowl i found out that she had 17 babies and received two swift bites to the top of my right hand at the pinkie knuckel. almost immediatly i felt the burning and pounding of the venom stomp its way up my hand. within 10min my hand was completly swollen 2x its size from the finger tips to the wrist. half hour later the sweling was up to my elbow and continueing to stomp its way up the rest of my arm. by the 2 hour mark my hand was purple and excruciatingly painful. by 3 hours i couldnt lift my hand past heart level because the lymphnodes in my armpit were so swollen and it hurt to do so so bad it felt like i was being stabbed slowly in my armpit with the eraser side of a pencil. at the 6 hour mark my fiance was pleading with me to go to the hostpital. ive have been bit several time by copperheads and knew that a cottonmouth was much more serious btu still didnt wanna go. i went as oon as the doctor heard i was bitten by a venomous snake he gave me a lecture on not to mess with venomous reptiles "they can kill you". he called a toxicologist and and was told to preform a pocket pressure test and to start me on anibiotics. i told him a PPT was not needed and that under no circumstance was i getting a fasciatomy. he said the venom was starting to spread rapidly and that my nervous system would be shutting down very soon. that was when i told him that i was fine and decided to check myself out of the ER. cottonmouths dont have a neurotoxic venom it hemotoxic and there for can shut down my central nervous system. he had no clue what to do in the event of a snake bite even after i told him the latin and common names and what type of venom they possess and what symptoms can/will appear and who to call for more info if needed. and his words exactly "poison control dont know their asses from a whole in the ground,theyll just complicate things more." so i went home took some tylenol and benedryle and tried to get some sleep but that wasnt happening. the symptoms,bruising and swelling went down by the end of a two week period and im still brreathing and as far as i can tell my heart is still beating also. my hand is fine but seems to get stiff from time to time. and its been about 9 months since the bite happened. could have been much worse though. i was more than lucky this sp is pretty hot.

 

[bamato]

She was eating again in a week no problems. Although I do feel bad calling her "toofless" for that few days. My wife and I had to laugh about it.

But most boa's, pythons, and collubrids can replace teeth in no time. It happens all the time when they attack prey. It's to my understanding though that "hot" herps such as those from the Viperdae (sp?) family have a much harder time replacing broken fangs. I've had friends that have had rattlesnakes break off both their fangs trying to take down prey that was too much for them (I wasn't condoning it) and they wouldn't eat for weeks a few months and ended up dying. Now whether their fangs didn't grow back or they didnt function correctly again, the point is it hurt the snake. Anybody else want to chime in on that one.

 

[bamato]

i would have to say my most painful bite was by an Agkistrodon p.piscavorus. i had a large female give birth to 16 young so hooked her out of her enclosure and proceded to to hook out the babies. Whie reaching in to remove the water bowl i found out that she had 17 babies and received two swift bites to the top of my right hand at the pinkie knuckel. almost immediatly i felt the burning and pounding of the venom stomp its way up my hand. within 10min my hand was completly swollen 2x its size from the finger tips to the wrist. half hour later the sweling was up to my elbow and continueing to stomp its way up the rest of my arm. by the 2 hour mark my hand was purple and excruciatingly painful. by 3 hours i couldnt lift my hand past heart level because the lymphnodes in my armpit were so swollen and it hurt to do so so bad it felt like i was being stabbed slowly in my armpit with the eraser side of a pencil. at the 6 hour mark my fiance was pleading with me to go to the hostpital. ive have been bit several time by copperheads and knew that a cottonmouth was much more serious btu still didnt wanna go. i went as oon as the doctor heard i was bitten by a venomous snake he gave me a lecture on not to mess with venomous reptiles "they can kill you". he called a toxicologist and and was told to preform a pocket pressure test and to start me on anibiotics. i told him a PPT was not needed and that under no circumstance was i getting a fasciatomy. he said the venom was starting to spread rapidly and that my nervous system would be shutting down very soon. that was when i told him that i was fine and decided to check myself out of the ER. cottonmouths dont have a neurotoxic venom it hemotoxic and there for can shut down my central nervous system. he had no clue what to do in the event of a snake bite even after i told him the latin and common names and what type of venom they possess and what symptoms can/will appear and who to call for more info if needed. and his words exactly "poison control dont know their asses from a whole in the ground,theyll just complicate things more." so i went home took some tylenol and benedryle and tried to get some sleep but that wasnt happening. the symptoms,bruising and swelling went down by the end of a two week period and im still brreathing and as far as i can tell my heart is still beating also. my hand is fine but seems to get stiff from time to time. and its been about 9 months since the bite happened. could have been much worse though. i was more than lucky this sp is pretty hot.

All I can say..... my god. You handled that situation much differently than I would have. I've been around hot herps for a while. Never had the pleasure of being bitten by one. But I have to say I respect your ability to remain calm and think things through when you were in such utter pain. I cannot say that I would even be coherent enough to be so intelligent. I probably would have looked elsewhere for medical help, but most people don't have six hospitals in their city. But kudos to you, I hope there aren't any long term effects you're still putting up with. I would have been scared to death......

 

[crpy]

She was eating again in a week no problems. Although I do feel bad calling her "toofless" for that few days. My wife and I had to laugh about it.

But most boa's, pythons, and collubrids can replace teeth in no time. It happens all the time when they attack prey. It's to my understanding though that "hot" herps such as those from the Viperdae (sp?) family have a much harder time replacing broken fangs. I've had friends that have had rattlesnakes break off both their fangs trying to take down prey that was too much for them (I wasn't condoning it) and they wouldn't eat for weeks a few months and ended up dying. Now whether their fangs didn't grow back or they didnt function correctly again, the point is it hurt the snake. Anybody else want to chime in on that one.

Crotalids usually have a couple sets of fangs, no eating for a few weeks after a large prey item is the norm. It sounds like the snake was probably harassed enough to die of other complications.

 

[thomas22]

She was eating again in a week no problems. Although I do feel bad calling her "toofless" for that few days. My wife and I had to laugh about it.

But most boa's, pythons, and collubrids can replace teeth in no time. It happens all the time when they attack prey. It's to my understanding though that "hot" herps such as those from the Viperdae (sp?) family have a much harder time replacing broken fangs. I've had friends that have had rattlesnakes break off both their fangs trying to take down prey that was too much for them (I wasn't condoning it) and they wouldn't eat for weeks a few months and ended up dying. Now whether their fangs didn't grow back or they didnt function correctly again, the point is it hurt the snake. Anybody else want to chime in on that one.

all hots be it viperidea or elapidea can replace teeth and or fangs as need a lot of rattlesnakes have been known to have two and even three fangs in the same place. either way they shed their fangs often to either replace broken or worn out dull fangs. and can have a new fang in the place of a broken one in the matter of just a couple days.

 

[bamato]

Crotalids usually have a couple sets of fangs, no eating for a few weeks after a large prey item is the norm. It sounds like the snake was probably harassed enough to die of other complications.

Could easily be the case. 99% of venomous reptiles are illegal here in AZ, and one of the people whose reptile shop I would frequent use to keep them illegally in his apartment, and in my opinion he kept them for entertainment purposes. Needless to say I don't speak to him anymore. The animals had pretty poor living standards. He's had everything from local rattlers to black mambas in that apartment. And either he would sell them or they would "die from importing". The good thing is though within the last few years I've heard fish and game has gotten their hands on him. People get what they deserve.

 

[bamato]

all hots be it viperidea or elapidea can replace teeth and or fangs as need a lot of rattlesnakes have been known to have two and even three fangs in the same place. either way they shed their fangs often to either replace broken or worn out dull fangs. and can have a new fang in the place of a broken one in the matter of just a couple days.

I stand corrected! Thanks guys! I need to find some better sources! lol

 

[crpy]

Could easily be the case. 99% of venomous reptiles are illegal here in AZ, and one of the people whose reptile shop I would frequent use to keep them illegally in his apartment, and in my opinion he kept them for entertainment purposes. Needless to say I don't speak to him anymore. The animals had pretty poor living standards. He's had everything from local rattlers to black mambas in that apartment. And either he would sell them or they would "die from importing". The good thing is though within the last few years I've heard fish and game has gotten their hands on him. People get what they deserve.

.......Karma

 

[Tarantula_man94]

Crpy's story of the crocodile monitor is pretty bad. that must have hurt. I have actually seen one that was tame. my friend held it and i got to pet him. they really are bautiful reptiles.

 

[halfwaynowhere]

i've only been bitten by hatchling corns, and once by my yearling corn. no big deal, most of the times i didn't even feel them...
oh, and a few weeks ago, my female mali uromastyx bit me. But they don't have teeth, i guess... it hurt a tiny bit, but no big deal.
then again, i'm not one to mess with anything i wouldn't want to get bitten by...

 

[crpy]

i've only been bitten by hatchling corns, and once by my yearling corn. no big deal, most of the times i didn't even feel them...
oh, and a few weeks ago, my female mali uromastyx bit me. But they don't have teeth, i guess... it hurt a tiny bit, but no big deal.
then again, i'm not one to mess with anything i wouldn't want to get bitten by...

You reminded me, what about rabbits, do you have rabbits. I got the snot bit out of me by a big buck, yowie

Oh, malis have teeth

 

[halfwaynowhere]

You reminded me, what about rabbits, do you have rabbits. I got the snot bit out of me by a big buck, yowie

Oh, malis have teeth

oh, yeah. i've been bitten by a rabbit before. Zoe thought she was a vampire. I swear she enjoyed biting my neck and drawing blood... gorgeous california white. I think she ended up in the tummy of a burm.

malis have teeth? Sure didn't feel like there were any! She bit me long and hard, i was almost worried about a bruise, even though it didn't hurt...

of all the animal bites i've had, i've had one bad cat bite, a few bad mouse bites, and a bad cockatiel bite. The tiels liked to go for the area right next to the fingernail, which really hurt... mice dig their teeth in deep, and leave a tiny bruise... and the one bad cat bite i got went straight through my thumb nail.
Still, nothing compared to most of what I've read here!

 

[Richard McJimsey]

Well, my Red eared slider turtle has bitten me countless times.
She has broken my nose once, and givin me a scar on my cheek.

 

[crpy]

Well, my Red eared slider turtle has bitten me countless times.
She has broken my nose once, and givin me a scar on my cheek.

Alright, this obviously solicited the question lol, uummm, how did your turtle break your nose:?

 

[dairy]

I'm not a herp guy, but I kept a Garter snake for a summer when I was younger. Long story short she got stuck to a piece of tape. Not a happy snake While removing the tape she popped her head free from my hand and latched onto my left index finger. She chewed for all she was worth for 15 or 20 seconds, leaving 2 pinprick holes in my finger. I had two tiny scars that lasted a couple of years. Not quite a mauling from a monitor, but my only herp bite.

 

[ballpython2]

i would have to say my most painful bite was by an Agkistrodon p.piscavorus. i had a large female give birth to 16 young so hooked her out of her enclosure and proceded to to hook out the babies. Whie reaching in to remove the water bowl i found out that she had 17 babies and received two swift bites to the top of my right hand at the pinkie knuckel. almost immediatly i felt the burning and pounding of the venom stomp its way up my hand. within 10min my hand was completly swollen 2x its size from the finger tips to the wrist. half hour later the sweling was up to my elbow and continueing to stomp its way up the rest of my arm. by the 2 hour mark my hand was purple and excruciatingly painful. by 3 hours i couldnt lift my hand past heart level because the lymphnodes in my armpit were so swollen and it hurt to do so so bad it felt like i was being stabbed slowly in my armpit with the eraser side of a pencil. at the 6 hour mark my fiance was pleading with me to go to the hostpital. ive have been bit several time by copperheads and knew that a cottonmouth was much more serious btu still didnt wanna go. i went as oon as the doctor heard i was bitten by a venomous snake he gave me a lecture on not to mess with venomous reptiles "they can kill you". he called a toxicologist and and was told to preform a pocket pressure test and to start me on anibiotics. i told him a PPT was not needed and that under no circumstance was i getting a fasciatomy. he said the venom was starting to spread rapidly and that my nervous system would be shutting down very soon. that was when i told him that i was fine and decided to check myself out of the ER. cottonmouths dont have a neurotoxic venom it hemotoxic and there for can shut down my central nervous system. he had no clue what to do in the event of a snake bite even after i told him the latin and common names and what type of venom they possess and what symptoms can/will appear and who to call for more info if needed. and his words exactly "poison control dont know their asses from a whole in the ground,theyll just complicate things more." so i went home took some tylenol and benedryle and tried to get some sleep but that wasnt happening. the symptoms,bruising and swelling went down by the end of a two week period and im still brreathing and as far as i can tell my heart is still beating also. my hand is fine but seems to get stiff from time to time. and its been about 9 months since the bite happened. could have been much worse though. i was more than lucky this sp is pretty hot.

I suck with scienific names what kind of animal is that? a snake or something?

 

[Shrike]

Agkistrodon piscivorous is the scientific name for a venomous snake commonly called the cottonmouth or water moccasin. Family viperidae. Highly aquatic snake..."piscivorous" roughly translates to eats fish. Common from Texas through the south east portion of the US. This snake packs a punch and should not be messed with.

 

[hardlucktattoo]

This was a close call I had today. I am always reading these horror stories about people being bitten and I am always like, "Wow I am glad I careful enough not to get bitten." Well today I was feeding my 4 foot female BP well my fiance was feeding her Aunt and Uncle were watching they wanted to see it eat and she dropped the rat out of the feeding tongs and I went to grab it with the tongs while she distracted it away from my hands well I leaned over a little too much and she struck at my face she almost got me to except I leaned back real quick and I lost my balance I was standing on a paint can. I fell backbard and cracked my head open on the shelf behind me.I'll tell you what it is not easy to stitch the back of your own head closed

 

[crpy]

This was a close call I had today. I am always reading these horror stories about people being bitten and I am always like, "Wow I am glad I careful enough not to get bitten." Well today I was feeding my 4 foot female BP well my fiance was feeding her Aunt and Uncle were watching they wanted to see it eat and she dropped the rat out of the feeding tongs and I went to grab it with the tongs while she distracted it away from my hands well I leaned over a little too much and she struck at my face she almost got me to except I leaned back real quick and I lost my balance I was standing on a paint can. I fell backbard and cracked my head open on the shelf behind me.I'll tell you what it is not easy to stitch the back of your own head closed

Ok, ow, but why do you have to stitch you head yourself man:?