South Africa's deadliest snakes

[viper200]

Most Dangerous = defenitly puffy
Most Toxic = Boomslang

[drummer]

Natal Black Posted:
Hey drummer! Brown house snakes are harmless!
Dumbass!

Well you learn something new everyday hey... then i would have to say dasypeltis scabra wins

[neko]

LOL!! Drummer.. You're hilarious.

[Jandejager]

In my opinion, I would rate the Boomslang & Vinesnakes quite high.

Firstly the Boomslang, even though bites are uncommon. A while ago I read that a boomslang only injects a small quantity(of the cappable capacity) of its venom with a single bite(compared to say a mamba) therefore, if you could take a full capacity bite from a boomslang, or numerous bites, it could have a deadlier effect than a mamba bite.

Secondly, most unlikely to bite - the Vine snake.
But in a pathetic situation, & one bite, your almost guaranteed to die! coz theres no anti V!!

[snake_freak]

why did you mention Proatheris as a bad bite?

Hey BV. Maybe your friend has a high tolerance to their venom or was really lucky. I've heard that they often spend all their venom within a couple of seconds of because they are so psycho, and repeatedly strike and envenomate everything before they can be handled. So that could be why his symptoms were minor .

Resent research suggests that their venom is a lot more dangerous than previously thought. A full out envenomation can cause rapid onset of extreme pain, necrosis (tissue death) and ecchymosis (purple discoloration due to blood entering the subcutaneous tissue from ruptured blood vessels) and blebs (blisters filled with serous fluid). Excessive hemolysis (The destruction or dissolution of red blood cells, with subsequent release of hemoglobin) and thrombocytopenia (abnormal decrease in the number of platelets in circulatory blood) can occur within a couple of days. Liver and kidney failure follow due to the hemolysis and possibly disseminated intravascular coagulation (process in the body where the blood starts to coagulate throughout the whole body). In some cases jaundice (yellowish discoloration of the whites of the eyes, skin, and mucous membranes caused by deposition of bile salts in these tissues) can occur and death can result from the renal failure.

I think what freaks me out the most is the renal failure, doesn't sound to good. Plus there is no AV so you'd have to just fight it out.

Check out Adam Marfisi's envenomation account at http://www.kingsnake.com/atheris/venom.html
Just glad it wasn't me.

[GOOF 1o1]

Wel I would rate spitters as more dangerous than other snakes cause they can spit whilst other snakes cant they are also more common in human suroundings for instance the mosambique spitter or even the rinkhals they are quite common but then theres the vine snake wich we dont have a anti vene for yet and obviosly the puffy and black mamba so I think every snake is dangerous in its very own way

[drummer]

my vote for real is black mamba. put it this way... thousands of people get bitten by jack russels every year but only 10 by a pitbull. Which dog is the most dangerous?

black mamba i reckon has fastest killing venom, its BIG, super fast and.... it wins

[froot]

I agree 100% Drummer.
It's about animals as indeviduals, not populations.