Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Africa Giant Gaboon viper

The neck looks kinked and likely broken from my view?

Regardless of size, vipers are bad news. In the PH academy we learned with videos showing a man getting bitten by a small Puff adder in a snake show, going to the hospital, with the video crew along with him. The next day his arm was about 3 times the size and he was pumped so full of anti-venom his body could take no more.

They decided to amputate the arm, but it was too late he died within 48 hours. This non-public video tape was to show that even a small adder was nothing to fool with.

One of my long time PH's was bitten on the index finger tip with barely a pin prick from a single fang.several hours later he could feel his hand throbbing. Later that early evening his finger began to swell and he was feeling feverish and nauseous. It was decided better safe then sorry lets get him to the hospital.

By the time we arrived he was very sick and swelling up fast. They gave him a good dose of anti-venom. Almost instantly he went into cardiac arrest and was flat lined, the paddles came out and revived him, twice more in the next hour he had cardiac arrest and the paddles were used to bring him back.

He was one of the 10% allergic to the anti-venom and had anaphylactic shock. Had the anti venom been given in the field he would have died there in the bush.

By night fall he was about 100% perfect with no effects from the paddles, the anaphylactic shock or the venom. He was back hunting the next day!

One of my School mates in RSA is a doctor in Natal. He told us that most of the snake bites he sees in his practice are from black kids running bare foot. Most lose a foot or leg below the knee from adder bites. The cytotoxic nature of the venom digests the flesh around the bite, and causes loss of blood flow with the massive swelling. This kills enough tissue that amputation is the last resort but all too frequent.

He also made note that he had never seen a adder bite above the knee. Most are assumed to be stepped upon and react by biting the nearest thing on them. Fortunately most snakes grandstand a bit before the strike. The Rinkals cobra may be one exception along with the Black Mamba during the breeding season. These two seem to bite first and ask questions later. Outside of the Breeding season they more remind me of a squirrel. They tend to go up the first tree they can reach. I've seen many more mambas in Trees then on the ground. same with the Rinkals. By the way, that Rinkals cobra goes through the branches about as easy as a fish can swim. They can go thru the trees faster overhead then a man can walk on the ground.

Anyway, I have plenty of stories and experience with snakes, too much to go into here. I've never cared for them, but I don't usually kill them "just because" either. I figure it's just bad Karma and hope they will give me a pass in the future for all those I have let go by in the past.