bee sting allergy and hognose snakes

[Smitty33]

A couple years ago I developed a serious allergy to bee stings, serious enough I would have died without medical attention. I now have to carry an epi-pen everywhere and if I get stung it's an injection and trip to ER asap. I've thought about getting a hognose but the talk of a bite being no more serious than a bee sting concerns me. I also read somewhere the toxin in the "venom" is virtually the same as a bee. This would basically for me anyway turn a harmless hognose into a full blown "hot" if that was true. Anyone have any better insight to this?

[Kokorobosoi]

IIRC, bee stings, lionfish, and hognose are all very very similar. I know I'm allergic to bees, and I was specifically prohibited from working with hognose or lionfish at my old job.

I don't want you to learn the hard way :/ Better safe than sorry. I know a good enough sting will close my throat far sooner than an ambulance will ever get to me. Those types of reactions can get suddenly worse without any warning.

On the other hand, they are rear fanged, so its SLIGHTLY less common for an envenomation. Anyone feel free to correct me on this, though.

Is it really worth it though? That's a big risk.

[Albert Clark]

Yeah, if you have a allergy to bee stings i would err on the side of caution with the hognose snake simply bc a ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. No sense in taking a chance if you have a documented allergy that could potentially be triggered by a hognose snake bite. The chemical structures of the venoms are different. The hognose has a proto lipase enzyme cocktail where as bee venom is a mellittin, histamine and amines ingredient that causes itching and pain. So, different but you dont want to take chances. It doesn't mean you can't be extra careful when near them. Using gloves is a good way to start and end. For what its worth though, the hognose are a species that is almost reluctant to bite and will do all kinds of movements, to appear dead or dying if they become alarmed. Even letting their tongue hang out of their mouth with the mouth open. Main thing, treat them as a potential risk.

[Stewart_Reptiles]

It's hard to tell how you would react, the good news as Albert mentionned this species rarely bites. I am a bite magnet in general and out of the species I have owned this is the only one that has not bit me yet (5 years so far).

However you must be cautious when feeding some do go wild, (females especially) waiting at the front of the tub and literally flying out of it.

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[Smitty33]

Thanks for the input guys and think I'll error on the side of caution. I was never allergic to bees until a few years ago. In fact I had been stung a couple weeks before the yellow jacket that nailed me with no reaction what so ever. But when this guy got me I knew almost immediately this was different. Fifteen minutes later walking into ER I couldn't breathe. Last one only got me on ankle and reaction was less severe but still was epi- pen ER city. Thanks again!!