Tag Archives: exotic

Cobras

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The species of snake called the spitting cobra is very unusual as it not only has a poisonous bite but it also spits venom into the eyes of its prey and aggressors. Contact of this venom with your eyes is very painful and can even blind you temporarily, therefore, if you get cobra venom in your eyes, irrigate them with water at once in order to prevent permanent tissue damage.

The King Cobra (Ophiophagus hannah) is also unusual in this large family of snakes (elapidae) because it feeds almost exclusively on other snakes with mice and small birds also making up part of its diet.

The King Cobra sets another record in terms of size: it can get to nearly twenty feet long, which makes it the largest venomous snake in the world. The most recent discovery of a new cobra species was made in 2003, when a specimen was identified at a London Zoo as part of an illegal shipment of exotic pets.

Going by DNA reports, this new species of snake is similar to the red spitting cobra but differs in genes. It apparently originates from an area between Sudan and Egypt and it has been named the ‘Nubian Spitting Cobra’.

Though highly dangerous when it is threatened cobras will not attack if you leave them alone, although the spit is very accurate for about two meters. Compared to the strike of a rattlesnake, the cobra is fairly slow in its attack and furthermore, many bites prove to be blank, that is without venom.

Statistics of a study conducted on Malaysian cobra snake victims indicate that only 55% of the bites involved poison release and the same statistics indicate a mortality rate of only 10% for people bitten, since the poisons injected into the blood of the prey destroy the nerves (neurotoxins), which induces respiratory failure approximately half an hour after being bitten, so you have 30 minutes to seek help.

The colouration is variable from light green-grey to black, while juveniles are yellow and black banded. This snake can find a habitat all over south-eastern Asia.

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Poisonous Florida Snakes

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Florida snakes, together with the many turtles, lizards, alligators and other reptiles are part of a complex wildlife structure that plays a marvelous role in Florida’s ecosystem maintenance. Florida snakes species are numerous: there are actually forty-four species living in incredibly varied habitats, from salt marshes to fresh water marshes and dry uplands or coastal mangrove swamps to residential areas.

Only six Florida snakes are venomous and they happily coexist with their non-poisonous cousins. They even go into towns and cities too. The best way to stay out of harm’s way with snakes is to learn their morphology and therefore be able to identify the various Florida snakes. The wisest approach to adopt in relation to all snakes is avoidance.

The Coral snakes and pit vipers are by far the most dangerous of the Florida snakes. They are identifiable by quite a range of mutual characteristics. Pit vipers which include the Rattlesnake, the Cottonmouth and the Copperhead all have in common: vertical eye pupils, a v-shaped head and facial pit sensors: one between the eyes and nostrils and the others along each side of the head.

The poison of these Florida snakes is haemotoxic, which means that their venom attacks the red blood cells, destroying the wall of the blood vessel and causing uncontrolled hemorrhage. Coral snakes on the other hand use neurotoxic venom, with the toxins in the venom acting on the body nerves and inducing paralysis.

Most of the snake bites reported every year in the United States are caused by Florida snakes or by rattlesnakes to be more precise. Because their venom spreads very quickly throughout the body, the victim will die within less than thirty minutes without immediate anti-venom.

A major exception in this class of Florida snakes is the copperhead, because its venom very rarely, if ever, requires an antidote. Their toxin is the least powerful and therefore they are regarded as the least dangerous of all the poisonous Florida snakes.

It is precisely because of the danger that they present that poisonous snakes get the most attention, although the most widespread of Florida snakes is the Black Racer, which is a non-poisonous species that depends on its sharp fangs to capture its prey.

Although the usual tendency of home owners is to remove snakes from their properties, specialists stress the fact that, without them, rodents would breed out of control giving us even more cause for alarm.

So, unless you have special causes for being worried, like snakes breeding in great numbers in your garden or outhouses for instance, there is no valid reason to interfere with the lives of these usually retiring, useful animals.

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Copperhead Snakes

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Copperhead snakes are the snakes that cause the nastiest and most frequent snake-bite problems in the United States. The copperhead can be distinguished by its stout shape and its neck, which is distinct from the body as well as by its pale cross-band tan pattern that gets darker in the middle and on the sides.

Copperhead snakes have pale bellies, which makes it look very similar to its background, but their colourisation also be whitish sometimes. There are obvious spots or pits on the head of the copperhead snake that appear like tiny dark specks. There is also a rather vague stripe on its head behind its eyes; less prominent on the top, the stripe gets a lot darker towards the sides of the snake’s head.

Copperhead snakes can be found almost anywhere, from rock and pond areas to woods and the shores of streams. Their choice of habitat is dictated by the predominance of prey, as copperhead snakes live on frogs, small rodents, cicadas, lizards, caterpillars and anything else that cabe taken without too much trouble.

Among the best hide-outs for copperhead snakes, wood piles, stone slabs, walls, debris and abandoned or ruined buildings are the most common, which explains the possibility of a human encounter with them in such areas. Copperhead snakes are most active in the spring and summer months and as long as the weather stays warm, after which they enter the hibernation period.

Copperhead snakes return to the same dens to hibernate year after year, and more often than not, there are large nests counting many individuals during hibernation. On very hot summer days, copperhead snakes will remain in cooler areas during the day and use the cover of the night to hunt. On balmy summer days, the copperhead will lie in the sun on rocks or wooden debris. Copperhead snakes do not hatch eggs, but give birth to their young live. The number of young ranges from one to fourteen and they are usually born from the summer untill October.

Immediate medical assistance is absolutely necessary in the case of bites by copperhead snakes since there is the risk of permanent scarring accompanied by really unbearable pain. The best advice you can get when encountering copperhead snakes is to avoid them, because many people get bitten when they threaten the snakes when roaming or hunting.

Snakes will not harm you unless they feel threatened, then, you will become the victim of a fierce attack by a creature that is just as afraid of us as we are of them. Statistics reveal that copperhead snakes have the highest incidence in bite frequency in the United States, because these snakes attack quite out of the blue without giving threatening warnings like other species.

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