Poisonous snakes - A pet peeve of mine.

[darthsamurai]

When I'm asked if my snakes are poisonous, I just reply "Don't know, I've never eaten one of them."

LMAO! hilarious! that's how my brain works

[Skiploder]

There's no such thing as a poisonous snake. Most of you herpers here know this.

Tired of hearing of "poisonous snakes" on the news, animal planet, from uneducated people etc etc. Same thing with spiders, I know of no poisonous spiders (and scorpions!)

Although it hurts my ears to hear people call them poisonous as much as it hurts to hear This: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YbTsebLs7yU

I continually educate the uneducated...

Poison...is INJESTED, like rat poison....they eat it...and they die.
Venom, as in VENOMOUS, is injected, like doctors give you shots with a needle, venomous creatures use their fangs to deliver their payload.


/rant off


Had to rant because in the 5 seconds i heard from some program on animal planet, they were talking about how DANGEROUS this POISONOUS copperhead snake is.

A pet peeve of mine is people who claim there are no poisonous snakes, when there are.

As Monica has stated, the tiger keel back secretes poison from it's nuchal glands and the little inoffensive ringneck can excrete poison from it's cloaca that's capable of bringing down any large dog that eats it.

While people do misuse the word poisonous when referring to venomous snakes, making the claim that there are no poisonous snakes is - well, to use your own words - uneducated.

[ChrisS]

I doubt anyone at this park will be eating any snakes anytime soon.

[Rawbbeh]

I doubt anyone at this park will be eating any snakes anytime soon.

This sign is hillarious...it's like "not only are we warning you of snakes that could be dangerous to your health if you eat them...but hey, theres bugs and plants out there too! So watch out!"

Are they likening snakes being as dangerous as plants and bugs? Sure there are some nasties out there like scorpions and spiders....but plants? You talking about Poison Ivy? or just that big tree over there ready to drop a branch on your head?

[ChrisS]

This sign is hillarious...it's like "not only are we warning you of snakes that could be dangerous to your health if you eat them...but hey, theres bugs and plants out there too! So watch out!"

Are they likening snakes being as dangerous as plants and bugs? Sure there are some nasties out there like scorpions and spiders....but plants? You talking about Poison Ivy? or just that big tree over there ready to drop a branch on your head?

No these trees come to life up root themselves and chase you. They are as dangerous as any "poisonous" snake I've encountered. Oh and don't forget the bees/wasps in the bug category. Those are actually bad at this park, no joke.

[WarriorPrincess90]

Just out of curiosity...if someone were to ingest snake venom, wouldn't it still be absorbed by the villi and microvilli in the small intestine and thus make it into the bloodstream? And in that case, would it then be considered poison or venom? Just a thought...

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I agree with your point but they are not the same thing. If you drank venom, nothing would happen. Same if you injected poison. Venom attacks the nervous system through the circulatory system, usually breaking down blood cells and such. When poison is ingested it attacks the body usually through the organs. I feel the need to argue the point because as well as being in to reptiles I am also an English teacher. Snake venom is venomous to humans. It is not poisonous to us. People do use certain words interchangeably sometimes but it doesn't mean it is correct and tends to drives me nuts as well.

This was what prompted the question.

[rasslinrinyu]

Just out of curiosity...if someone were to ingest snake venom, wouldn't it still be absorbed by the villi and microvilli in the small intestine and thus make it into the bloodstream? And in that case, would it then be considered poison or venom? Just a thought...

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This was what prompted the question.

No, it would be digested. The composition of a venom would be such that it could not viably survive the digestive processes. It would be broken down into harmless components by the time it was introduced in to the bloodstream. The only danger ingesting venom would be if someone had an open sore in the mouth/ throat or perhaps had an ulcer in the stomach which would mean yet again, however, that the venom would be directly entering the bloodstream.

[Roadtrash]

On one of the TV shows, I don't remember the name but it's the one with the Miami Fire Dept Venom One guys, the one they call Big Country caught an eastern diamondback and had some venom on his hand. He proceeded to lick it off his hand and explained to the man standing there with him and the camera that it was not poison but venom and then explained the difference between the two. He also said that you shouldn't do what he just did as he was only doing it to better explain the difference between the two. I thought he did pretty good explaining the difference which is unusual for a TV show. This show seems to be better than most of the other shows about snakes and lizards as most of them don't seem to really know what they are talking about.