this may not be new info for all you owners of hots but this is newly aquired info for me & it disturbed me & made me think of you guys so maybe you can clarify this or ease some of this anxiety.
last night watching a new episode of fatal attractions on animal planet & interestingly enough it was about owners of hots, they said something about being exposed to venom over any length of time can result in your body building up an immuno-response (allergy) to it & that if ever actually bitten, your body will have a greater chance of shutting down alot quicker then it should.
they pretty much said this allergy thing is more common with owners of spitting cobras because cleaning the cages activates the dried venom particles which are then inhaled & the body reacts to it.
on that episode though a guy apparently having built up an allergy to the venom he was being exposed to daily, died within 30 minutes of a cobra bite when he should've been able to survive for up to at least 8-10 hours. i'm sure his pre-existing asthma problem didnt help matters any but still, hearing that exposure to venom can cause such an allergic reaction shook me up cuz i know theres some hots owners here & grew concerned as to whether or not ya'll know this or not. sorry if its a stupid question & if i'm getting concerned about a non issue its ok to tell me but honestly, although i admire your guy's courage, i worry too cuz your pretty much playing at death's door every time you open a cage of a venomous animal, despite all the precautions one can take it's only a matter of time before your faced with your own mortality & that's apparently not a good way to go...just sayin'.
please understand i'm not judging you guys or saying what your doing is bad or wrong or whatever, i'm fully aware that it takes experience & patience to do what you do & i respect that but i know that you must know that a venomous snake can strike, inject venom & recoil faster then you can blink once...so how do you prepare for that?
is it really & simply all about prevention & knowing what makes each animal tick & working with it with that always in mind or is it really about luck after closing a cage & walking away unscathed to live another day?
i ask cuz i simply dont know but i seek the knowledge & wisdom that can only come from your experience.
i pray for you guys, not because i doubt your skills or anything but because i just care that way. i pray for your continued safety in all that you do with your magnificent animals so you can live to post more pics on bp.net, rofl.