Macrelaps removal

South African snakes with venoms that are not considered to be medically important.

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Macrelaps removal

Postby GCol » Mon Apr 22, 2013 5:46 pm

Just a Natal Black that I removed this afternoon. It was a bit banged up by the Garden services and was covered in mud, so I cleaned it up a bit to inspect it. Gave it a all clear.

Image

Image

I am a size 8 shoe, in case anyone thinks I am a midget or a toddler. Does anyone know if these guys have been seen playing dead?

Cheers
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Re: Macrelaps removal

Postby Fooble » Mon Apr 22, 2013 6:13 pm

Organized crime comes in more forms than one.
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Re: Macrelaps removal

Postby GCol » Mon Apr 22, 2013 7:29 pm

Hectic, thats what this one did. I was scratching my head for a bit over it.

Thanks Fooble.
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Re: Macrelaps removal

Postby wadekilian » Mon Apr 22, 2013 11:42 pm

I'm assuming it was hurt accidentally considering they called you?

Don't mean to hijack the thread, but the first snake I saw feigning death with a juvenile Rinkhals. Wasn't the most convincing though, it just slowly turned its head and stayed still. I was hoping it would turn over complety and leave its tongue out, but it wasn't nearly as dramatic as this, haha.
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Re: Macrelaps removal

Postby it_bit_me » Tue Apr 23, 2013 12:22 am

Looks like they get pretty big.
If I'm gonna be an old, lonely man, I'm gonna need a thing, you know, a hook, like that guy on the subway who eats his own face. So I figure I'll be Crazy Man with a Snake, y'know. Crazy Snake Man. And I'll get more snakes, call them my babies, kids won't walk past my place, they will run. "Run away from Crazy Snake Man, " they'll shout!”
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Re: Macrelaps removal

Postby Westley Price » Tue Apr 23, 2013 8:47 am

Nice find and great observations!

That's quite the monster you have there! Looks like he's due to shed too.

Great stuff and thanx for posting.
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Re: Macrelaps removal

Postby iiviii » Tue Apr 23, 2013 12:27 pm

Just to stretch your thread a bit more, I noticed that this snake is under the "mildly venomous snakes" section, do you or anyone else here maybe know what a bite would do to an average human? Or similar to which snake the bite would be?
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Re: Macrelaps removal

Postby GCol » Tue Apr 23, 2013 1:04 pm

Thanks westley, yes he was in the blue, we often get them this big here (2 or 3 a year).

iivii I am not sure what the venom would do, but they kill rodents quite rapidly. I would not want to take a bite from one this size.
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Re: Macrelaps removal

Postby Fooble » Tue Apr 23, 2013 2:17 pm

The venom is very under studied Theres a report in Marais book stating a bite resulted in loss of consciousness in one instance.
I have had many interactions with these and only have had one actually try bite. They have an insane feeding response but usually have a relatively docile disposition.
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