More on Snakes..

My limited understanding is that the Australian venomous varieties, by and large do not have long fangs and this is what helps when wearing long trousers and boots.

Kind regards

Hello - according to the books I have - all front fanged snakes have fangs that are efectivey hollow - similar to hypodermic needles. All sea snakes and all but five of Australias venemous land and freshwater snakes are front fanged. The rear fanged snakes, which are not common in Australia, have an open groove along the fang lenght.

On venomous land snakes - family Elapidae - 90 (described) species in Australia - all front fanged with enlarged syringe like fangs set at front of mouth and connected to a venom gland at the rear of the head via a duct beneath the skin on the upper jaw. Note - most are not dangerous to humans..though the ones that are among the worlds most lethal snakes.

Another interesting fact - Australia is the only continent where there are more venomous snakes than non venemous snakes (but still keep in mind most are not dangerous to humans ...so dont panic:)

Cheers
greg

Only 1 in 20 snake bites need anti-venom and they only bite for 2 ressons food and fear.

Most of the time its a dry bite when people get bitten but i would still get to the hospital ASAP to get it checked out.

I have always been under the impression, but need to double check my facts, that most of the Oz snakes have a groove in the tooth. Not as efficient as a hollow tooth, but still transmitting more venom than a smooth tooth.

Here ya go have a look at this

Australian snake fangs

Baz.

Just for info..the Sydney Daily Telegraph says today that the young bloke that
died as a result of snakebite had picked up the snake & was trying to put it in his shirt. Hard to believe , not that the Tele is always believable. But I believe it is difficult to be bitten on the hands unless trying to touch a reptile... anyway, still a
sad & unfortunate incident...oldbaz.

Gidday Signman

There hollow.

Regards

Kim

For all practical purposes you are correct and clothing is a good protection. This is also a good reason for not cleaning the site of a bite. IF the snake envenomates then there will be venom on the surface of the skin which allows identification of the snake.

Fascinating creatures aren"t they.

John L.

An interesting fact re snakes: There are no snakes in Ireland so some smart thinker imported a boatload of Irish soil & put it in a trench around Vaucluse House in Sydney to stop the snakes crossing the immaculatley manicured lawns....Tis true...

Try this link(s) scienceworks.museum.vic.gov.au/pdf/ViciousVenoms_snake.pdf

Long fangs, hollow fangs, vented fangs, respitory fangs, refunctory fangs.......

I don't care, I treat them all as dangerous and keep the buggery away from them. On the whole, they generally piss off when they sense, or feel any movement.

In all my time of bush camping I've only ever had to deal with one recalcitrant snake with the shovel.

Getting killed by a snake would be like getting killed by a shark. It's not impossible, but extremely unlikely.