western diamondback bite wound

one would hope you'd have the antivenom on hand for your saw scale... especially with how quick they are.

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Originally Posted by graffixx

I cant seem to find any info on procedure if my saw scale gets me (Except theres not enough time to call for help)

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lol atleast you got a good idea what your up against

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Originally Posted by PigsnPythons

gross. Why did they have to open his arm??

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To save it .

I have spoken to the person who was bit in the link.

I have asked him to come here to speak about it. :banana:

Hi N4S , i am here;)
Ask what ever you want!
Please remember ; English is not my 1st language , because i live in the Netherlands (Europe) and the only venomous snakes here are vipera species and they are less venomous than a copperhead.

How did you find out I posted the link on the other forum? I already know but some may wonder. :)

How long did it take for the pain to set in?

Can you explain why the doctors made that wide long incision in your arm? I thought initally that is was to relieve some of the swelling or to let some of the puss or whatever have a way to get out of your arm.

Has this been the only time you were ever bit?

Is the snake still alive?

How did you find out I posted the link on the other forum?
**I was checking my stats and was curious why this forum was looking so many times at my site!

How long did it take for the pain to set in?
**I allways heard it would be in minutes , but i was suprised that it took more than 2 hours before the pain set in.

Can you explain why the doctors made that wide long incision in your arm? I thought initally that is was to relieve some of the swelling or to let some of the puss or whatever have a way to get out of your arm.
**The incisions where made to relieve the pressure of the Compartment Syndrom and the operation is named Fasciotomy.
There was no puss , but there was necrose (dead tissue) the surgeons removed later on.

Has this been the only time you were ever bit?
**I have bin bitten about 400 times , but never by a hot.
I handle lots of snakes , so there is allways al certain risc.

Is the snake still alive?
Yes he is and he is doing very well , since he met a female:D
He has no side-effects from biting me:D:D

Some extra info;

At the time i was bitten , i made some "minor" mistakes ;
*i was tired (work with little or no sleep)
*i cleaned the other tanks first , venomous snakes last
*this animal was relocated in the previous week , so was allready stressed
*the tank was low to the ground and i was not used to that
Overall there was a number of reasons this bite took place.
Now i have changed my rules , protocols and habits in order to make working with hots safer!
I consider this as a VERY LOUD wake-up call!

Health insurance is not an issue for western europeans like the dutch. I can only imagine what health insurance premiums that actually cover keepers of hots in the US cost per month, if such things even exist. I imagine a treatment like he underwent would bankrupt almost anyone

WOW....I wasn't expecting it to heal that nicely.

That was pretty nasty though and now my stomach hurts

Health insurance is not a problem at all in the Netherlands.
Whatever i payd last year , i know it was worth it!
The total price of my hospitaltreatments is around 115.000 dollars.

A positiv attitude helps the healingproces and allso the support of my family was great.
Normally it takes about 14 - 18 months to heal , in my case is was 7 months.

115,000 is a lot of $ for anyone really. Health insurance would help cover you from snake bites in the USA I am pretty sure (mine does) but I have to pay a montly premium ($200 a mos for my family, thanks to USBank Corp.) But damn! I could not imagine just the operation itself, let alone the bill!

Without insurance , both bill and operation would be equally painfull:D
In the Netherlands everybody has health insurance unlike USA...

the wound vac saved your arm a lot of healing time.

I was actually considering getting a hot but not anymore. :O Nice medi bill though :salute:

De vac was used for about 1 week and saved at least 2 weeks in healing of the wound.
In Belgium (small country next to the Netherlands) a drunken hot-owner stuck his tongue out to his rattler with open window and the snake bit him in his tongue. He lived for two weeks and died of suffication DISPITE the use of 24 vials of anti-venom.
He was bragging to his friends , now his friends are bragging about him:snake:

Sounds like fun, they walk in a bar, a drunk starts ranting about his car, etc. The guys say "oh yeah my friend choked on his own tounge"