Snake Bite Kits

Yep - compression bandages, immobilisation and expert medical help SAP is the current thing - panic, profanities, condy's crystals, a red hot knife, booze and taking the snake with you have all fallen into disfavour (largely :-o).

A can of Sprite soft drink???? Michael

Hi Terra'Mer
I endorse the other replys adding the basis of snakebite first aid is compression bandage (to slow poison travel) and immobilisation of bite area and self. To immobilise a limb the best splint is called SAM SPLINT , it is made from aluminium with a foam backing , rolls up to store and shapes to almost any body part . See Ebay USA
The other part of immobilisation is SELF (meaning STAY PUT AND WAIT FOR HELP), noting your plans for the next twelve months the only communication device 100% reliable in the remote tracks you will be on is an EPIRB.Hope this helps a bit as I can see you are doing your homework
MIKE

Basically the correct stuff. Some sort of non absorbant dressing like Melolite (?sp) is also handy and should be in any retail kit. Don't clean the bite, place the dressing over the top before the bandages. They can then use the venom id kits to try an id the snake. It was brown and had teeth does not usually help.

Don't make the bandages too tight, you are restricting the lymph not the blood flow. Also useful is to splint the limb as long muscle contraction is what pumps the lymph around. So a few triangular bandages can be handy.

Knowing how to use it is the most important thing.Well executed first aid will give you 15 hours or so according to the literature. If you have not done a first aid course you should. They will give you a fair few more details. By the way there are a lot of other things that bite out there, may of there are also covered in the courses.

Have a good trip.

Steve

Thanks Darian, Mike and Steve,

Great advice, I'll follow up on that aluminium/foam splint too. EPIRB or GPS Spot, still tossing up between the two. Probs EPIRB across Larapinta Trail and Alps and GPS Spot around Australia but I may also have a sat phone sponsor interested in helping out.

How much truth or myth is in the story of aboriginals being able to survive snake bites by stopping and laying down where they were bitten for 3 days and then continuing their migration without side effects? I'm not going to try it but I have always wondered if it was true. I guess it depends on what kind of snake they were bitten by.

The core and basis to all first aid kits, and THE most valuable first aid items you can carry are 3 x 4 inch heavy cotton crepe bandages.

That is the minimum required to properly provide for a snake bite on the leg of an adult, and can also be used to provide for bone breakages and a number of other things.

If you carry nothing else, carry those 3 x 4 inch heavy cotton crepe bandages.

The first bandage should start above the bite site and be worked toward the extremity......tension should be even and similar to a sprain.

the second should be started at the top accessable part of the limb and be worked to the extremity..again firm but not tight enough to inhibit blood circulation.

the third should be use to secure the splint.

elivate the limb if possible.

Keep the patient cool, quiet and calm.

putting an nonadherant dressing on the bite site may benifit, and marking the bite site with X on the outside of the bandages will be handy for the medcal people, because they may cut the bandages to access the bite site to avoid removing the bandages.

all sorts of things can be used as a splint.......news papers or magazines work well.....fold the whole mag or paper into a big U shape and bandage it on.....

everybody should do a first aid course.

cheers

Hi TerraMer

I would prefer to stay out of things, but this time I am responding. I am no expert, but have twice before dealt with kids here being bitten by snakes.
Firstly, snakes very rarely invenomate on the first strike, and no medical professional will use anti-venom unless certain of invenomation (poison going in).

If there are clear signs of puncture wounds, a small compress directly onto the bite area, taped on, Then, a stick or something similar next to the limb, and the entire limb firmly bandaged, from the top down, (armpit to hand, or groin to foot), will slow the blood movement hence slow the venom travelling through the body. The stick will stop limb movement, hence help slow down the movement of venom. Nearly all bites are on the feet, lower legs or hands.

The wider the bandage, the less chance for any acute compression, therefore the less chance of cutting circulation. Under no circumstances apply a tight wrap, that will stop circulation, a full, wide bandage will sufficiently slow circulation.

In general response, I carry several wide bandages, melolin patches, tape and good scissors (and a heap of other gear), but then where I live, our nearest doctor is the RFDS in an emergency, though we do have a remote area nurse.

Hope this helps a bit, but remember I am not an expert.

Marc

You've got it Terra'mer

Compression bandages (and something to hold them in place like bandage clips or safety pins). You can unually find sticks or something to make a split. Then use your sat phone for call for assistance and relax. Panic and movement is the worst thing.

Be aware of where you are walking is the best defence. Freeze if you see a snake so it doesn't feel threatened and it will go on its way (as they say - snakes don't go around biting trees). Snakes bites are pretty rare.

More about snakes bites with some useful links Snake Bite First Aid

Motherhen

There is another alternative..
Read about it here ...Ointment Treatment for Snake Bite

G'day Tarra'mer,

The obvious best treatment is to avoid being bitten in the first place. I have seen stats over the years that suggest a substantial proportion of snake bites were as a result of people trying to catch or kill them. That leaves a small number of trekkers and gardeners accidentally treading or grabbing them, a lot of these no doubt did not wear boots or gloves.

I agree that it is good to be prepared and I always have with me compression bandages.

Give them some space and enjoy their company.

Hope you have uneventful travels.

Kind regards

Interesting, but I wouldn't be applying any ointment until the practice is endorsed in this country. Identifying the venom would be more critical than slowing its movement in many cases.

Noone has mentioned cling wrap as a possible alternative when compression bandages aren't available. Started carrying a roll to use for first aid since reading about its many uses (teeth, burns - don't wrap but lay over, marine stings, lung punctures etc). I can't seem to find the the original reference for it but I'd be very interested in re-reading it if someone can.

Gotta smile - just like humans, there is always someone wanting to be different - ABC radio awhile back - caretaker in the botanic gardens at Cooktown - just reminding people to take care where they walk because their resident death adders won't slither off if encountered in the leaf litter (unlike most other Aussie snakes, they just stay put and get ready to defend).

What a great discussion this has been. I've certainly learned some new things. Terra'Mer, you sure know how to get the conversation rolling :-)

Now that we've moved on to spiders I'm reminded of a stay at Geehi Flats 3 yrs ago. It started to rain late at night and with wine still in our glasses we decided to finish it under our tent fly. My husband thought it would be more romantic if we turned the gas light off so we sat in companionable silence, sipping away, as the rain drummed down. And then our eyes started to get accustomed to the dark. Hundreds of spiders were on the march. It was like a horror movie. I'm always quick to move at times like this but I reckon it was neck and neck between me and the old man. I seem to remember he was under the covers while I was zipping us in.

We're heading that way again in a few days :-)

Lou

One of the real issues we have in this country is the great variability of what you will find.

We have a wide variety of insects, snakes and reptiles, all with varying habits and responses and presenting varying threats to humans.
Even the same spicies in different situations can present different levels of threat.

And different people will be more or less suceptable or effected.

So a lot of the simplistic ideas and thaughts are simply not reliable.

The redback has been mentioned....the toxisity of the venom and the effect of a bite from one can vary considerably from spider to spider in dfferent situations.

I was bitten by a small Redback while pruning, apart from a sting no worse than some ants and an itchy, tingling feeling in my hand....no real ill effects, Our headmaster at the primary school I went to was bitten and spent 2 days in hospital and was off work for a week.

All the various snakes have different habits, and their behaviour and strength of their venom can vary depending on the conditions at the time.

So be cautious about stories of recoveries and survival..those people might just have been lucky.

People say they hardly ever see snakes......well that may be so, perhaps they aren't looking...appart from being bitten when trying to catch or kill a snake the next most common is being bitten after stepping on one...hmm did'nt see that one.

A couple of months ago, I went for a drive thru the forestry near Monto.......in the space of about 2 hours I saw 6 different snakes cross the track..how many didn't I see.

I think those of us of a certain age that grew up in less urbanised times, and were in scouts or whatever tend to take the things we had drummed into our heads for granted.

We have a whole generation that know little about the risks of spiders and snakes, and at the first sign of any insect arround the house they get the fumigators in, and at the first sight of any snake anywhere near the home all hell breaks loose.

If you wear long trousers and boots when you go bush and make plenty of noise, ya chances of being bit by a snake are very low.

cheers

to keep it in perspective none of our snakes get remotly close to the worlds deadliest

somewhere between 2 and 3 people a year die from snakebites here with the brown (lumping all browns together the eastern, dugite and gwarder being the main ones) are our deadliest snake

but snakes such as the krait, saw scaled viper, russels viper and cobras kill 10s of 000s a year with snakes suchas the riussels viper being responsable for the averadge australian suburb worth of deaths a year..................

just to keep it in perspective

Chill
This thread has had a good run but if it starts getting nasty I can ask for it to be locked