tiger snake bite ... effects of ...

Hello all you sun lovers,

Just thought I'd give you a quick bit of info that was passed on to me this evening from a girlfriend who works at Healesville Sanctuary.

Apparently one of the keepers was bitten by a tiger snake on Thursday. There were three of them in the tank and one was hidden under a log or something. Anyway, he was trying to remove a slough (dead skin) from the tank and the snake bit him... quickly.

He immediately wrapped a compression bandage around his arm. Not cutting off the blood flow - but holding the arm tightly and restricting the flow of the venum.

They rang the ambulance which arrived in five minutes. He was transported to Lilydale Hospital and then removed to Monash Medical Centre as it was believed he would need possibly more intensive care and would obtain it over there.

They kept testing his other arm - taking blood to see if any venum was present. Nothing... Hour after hour. Then... they eventually removed the bandage which had been on all that time.

Suddenly the venum began to be detected in his arm.

After all those hours. He had kept the arm still and compressed and that gave him much needed time to get to hospital.

He then began to experience symptoms from the snake bite and was in a fairly critical condition. However, he was at least in good hands and they could keep an eye on him.

So for what it's worth - remember those compression bandages in case you ever get bitten. Seems they really do work.

Put one in the glove box and have it handy if you go bush.

My mum saw a huge tiger snake yesterday which eventually slithered under the concrete floor of the chook house... but that's another story.

Cheers,
T