Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Africa Black Mamba Question.

my issue is if it destroys the proteins of the venom why in the hell doesnt it do more damage to the proteins in the body around the bite site...

as far as neurotoxins versus the various others, yah need to keep in mind with rare exception most snakes carry a cocktail of most all the types....the neurotoxin of a mambas bite just kicks in alot faster than the various other toxins the mamba has in lesser amounts....the average, healthy adult can take a full bite from a US copperhead and never truly need antivenin they will give it to you to slow down tissue destruction but your not likely to die from a bite on the hand....maybe loose a few fingers but you wont die....

puff adders have some really nasty venom but it is designed almost totally for tissue destruction, its real good at basically dissolving muscle tissue almost like acid....like most snakes with similar venom, the venom rarely kills yah unless the fangs injected it directly into a major vein or artery...

the Gabon viper is sorta well known for this due to its huge fangs....infact individual snakes that have had their venom glands removed to make them "safe" have still killed ppl cause due to the force of the bite(4-6 foot snake, 20 plus pounds) coupled with the 2 inch fangs, ppl have had arteries in their arms severed and bled out....

what usually kills yah in the instance of the puff adder, aint the venom, its the infection that sets in as that dissolved flesh starts to rot....

boomslangs have nasty venom aswell....different from mambas or adders, their venom completly gets rid of you bloods clotting factor and starts screwing with the integrity of the vein and artery walls, you start bleeding from everywhere, your eyes, nose, mouth , belly button and elsewhere in a bad bite....