The Skinny On Snake Bites
And How To Avoid Them

To Fear Or Not To Fear Snakes And Snake Bites

By Jeet Sukumaran

Why do people fear snake bites when most snakes are secretive, shy and cautious animals?

To the casual observer, snakes hardly exist in the rainforest. They are so well hidden and camouflaged in the forest, and are usually so easily spooked into flight, that you rarely see them.

The knee-jerk reaction of many people when encountering a snake is to try and kill it. This is appalling behaviour. Snakes are as much part of the tapestry of life as anything else, and, play a very important role in tropical ecosystems.

Moreover, the killer instinct is unwarranted, since the threat is minimal. If left alone, the snake will usually leave you alone.

Are snakes dangerous? Yes! They are wild animals. But are they crazed vicious killers driven to slaughter poor unsuspecting humans without provocation? Anything can be dangerous if we do not understand it.

A little awareness and understanding of the ecology and behaviour of snakes will go a long way toward making things safer for all of us.

Venomous Snakes –“Are They Poisonous?”

Of course the most common question asked regarding snakes and snake bites is: “Is it poisonous?”

Almost all snakes produce enzymes or chemicals in one form or another, and strictly speaking, all of these oral secretions can be considered venomous, in that they attack tissue.

However, the venom produced by a majority of snakes simply has no serious effect on us in the doses delivered by one or even several snake bites. In many cases, the worst effect would be a mild swelling around the bite.

In the rainforests of Malaysia, there are two groups of snakes with sufficient venom potency and delivery capacity to endanger human life – cobra snakes (e.g. king cobras, black cobras, spitting cobras, kraits and coral snakes), and viper snakes (e.g. Malayan Pit Viper, Pope’s Pit-viper).

Cobra Snakes

I go out to the forest at night regularly, but I have yet to encounter a black, spitting or king cobra in the wild. This is because these alert and active roving predators generally move away as I stumble through the jungle, long before I even notice them.

I once was fortunate enough to come across a Red-Headed Krait (Bungarus flaviceps), a truly magnificent creature, with head, neck and tail all bright orange, measuring up to two metres long. It also has extremely venomous snake bite.

Active at night, the snake was sitting on a fallen log strewn across the creek bed. Startled and confused by our approaching head lights, the krait darted up and down and over and under logs seeking a safe exit from the light source.

It finally managed to slip away into a hole in the opposite bank of the stream. This reaction is typical of most active snakes that you encounter or surprise in the forest. Unless you overtly threaten or corner a snake, it will try its best to get away, especially if it has ample time to make a move before being sighted.

Viper Snakes

Unlike cobras, most of which are roving predators, most vipers are sit-and-wait predators. While out frogging, I regularly see arboreal vipers coiled up and sitting still in the low branches.

These snakes are almost invisible as they lie coiled and waiting for their prey. Vipers can be quite lethargic and dormant. Normally, you can get very close to them, as long as you don’t venture into their ‘danger zone’.

While Malaysian vipers do bite some people, I have no doubt that it takes considerable and extensive provocation to get them riled up.

Take the case of a rainforest veteran – a logger. While taking a chainsaw to a timber-sized tree, he apparently dislodged a viper from high up in the crown. Falling freely from the canopy, the viper landed on him, causing him to thrash about in a panic.

Spinning out of the situation, the logger accidentally stepped on the enraged snake and it struck with full force. The logger ended up in the hospital with a high fever for a couple of days.

Of course, there is also the Malayan Pit Viper (Calloselasma rhodostoma), a ground-dwelling viper with potent venom, which is responsible for many deaths in mainland Southeast Asia.

This is mainly because these sluggish snakes do not move away from disturbances. Bare-foot rubber-tappers and farmers step on them unknowingly and unintentionally provoke an attack.

Be assured, by both scientific proof and common sense, that a very simple precaution can avoid a lot of trouble and snake bites.

A conclusion of the 2001 World Herpetological Congress was that the majority of snake bites to humans occur on the feet or ankles. So by simply wearing good foot protection, you instantly make your trek in the bush safer and more comfortable. It may be time to cast aside your sandals and wear boots in the woods.

Venom

If good footwear doesn’t suffice to keep your nerves at ease, then remember that venom is metabolically expensive for snakes to produce. They prefer to reserve it for prey capture - or in other words, save the killer juices for good stuff to eat to get energy.

The cost of expending venom on a human accidentally stepping on them usually provokes a defensive bite, with little or no delivery of precious venom. But if a snake is extremely threatened, stressed or provoked, as it might be if you try to catch or harass it, it may still deliver the full wallop.

Non-Venomous Snakes

Another question to ask relates to the implied assumption that "poisonous" snake bites are dangerous while a "non-poisonous" one is not. As noted above, venomous snakes are not always as dangerous as they are made out to be. And, in fact, some non-venomous snakes are more dangerous than commonly thought.

Most people recognize a python snake; it is the most familiar non-venomous snake. Pythons are normally considered sluggish snakes, but be under no illusion - they strike blindingly fast, they clamp down hard, and they do not let go. These slithering giants are hard to extricate and it may take half a dozen or more people to free its victim.

Why? To begin with, a python snake must be forced to unlock its coils and then keep stretched out. This requires considerable strength.

Python snake bites leave behind some savagely damaged flesh. Its jaws are filled with sharp, recurved teeth that dig in hard and it’s mouth festers with many kinds of bacteria - the wound is almost bound to develop a very nasty infection.

Personally, I would rather be bitten by one of the arboreal vipers over a python snake bite.

Snakes in the Jungle – Observe with caution.

So while snakes are not mindless killers, both venomous and non-venomous snakes alike should be treated with respect and restraint. When encountering a snake in the field, it’s simple - observe and appreciate it. You are witness to a very shy and elusive creature that not many people get to see in the wild.

For the more experienced, it helps to know the temper of specific snakes. Some snake species have a very bad temper, while others are extremely gentle.

For example, the Yellowbellied Water Snake (Enhydris plumbea) is definitely one of the most vicious-tempered animals that you will encounter in the Malay Peninsula. In contrast, the Sunbeam Snake (Xenopeltis unicolor) has one of the sweetest and most gentle dispositions ever seen in any creature, snake, human or otherwise.

However, the temperament of a snake should not really be of concern if you stick to the rules:

• Always respect snakes in all situations
• Do not attempt to catch, pick up, handle, or provoke a snake; there is simply no reason to do so
• Just observe, enjoy, appreciate, and learn - from a suitable and safe distance

And one more thing: Don’t forget to wear boots!

[Jeet Sukumaran is a one-of-a-kind field researcher and Ph.D. student in biology at the University of Kansas. He set up www.frogweb.org as a tribute to Malaysian frog biodiversity.]

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