Saturday, April 10, 2004 at 10:28PM [non-technical] Adventure in the Life of Brian
So in preparation for going trekking in the mountains of northern Thailand, I bought some new trail shoes, and took them for a test drive today. I did a 10 mile solo endurance hike, carrying excess weight (on purpose), with major elevation changes.
I was about a half mile from the car (on the way back) when I got to a part of the trail that was cut into a hill. The hill on the left had a small 2 foot drop down to the trail, and there was a bush growing at the top of it. It was a not-a-cloud-in-the-sky, 75 degree, perfect southern California day. I was walking along (I think I may have been whistling), when all of a sudden there was a burst of motion in front of me and a 4 foot rattlesnake dropped off the hill (or out of the bush, not sure which, it was too fast and unexpected) and landed one stride in front of me. He (I'm assuming male) was not very happy, nor would I be if I just fell out of a bush. I looked at him and he glared back at me. The rattle was going furiously. He was coiled, and though I'm not an expert, he looked ready to strike. All the while I had this forward motion, and when my foot came down it would have me stepping on him. Almost a whole second had passed by this point. Before I could process what was happening and make some logical decision about course of action, my body, driven no doubt by some deep-seated tribal/species memory about bad snake experiences, somehow launched itself backwards and upwards at a precise 45 degree angle, directly away from the snake. Then I came down hard (fortunately all electronics were in my front pockets!). So now I'm lying on the ground, possibly with a broken tailbone, while this incredibly angry looking poisonous reptile is making threatening noises at me. Not the ideal fight-or-flight position. An eternity (another second) passes as we continue to stare at each other. I notice his rattle is small, but his head is huge. Does that mean bigger fangs and more venom? Other random thoughts like this bounce around my head, as I start to wonder that the heck I can do (this is still in the same second). He then slithers off to the right of the trail. Elapsed time must have been approx 3 seconds, but with a full-on adrenaline rush, it felt like an hour.
I can’t see him now, but I have to walk past that part of the trail to get back. I threw a few things in that direction, then very quickly walk past, my heart still racing.
I do a lot of stuff outside in rattlesnake areas (mountain biking, hiking, desert camping). The first 4.5 years I lived in SoCal I saw one rattlesnake the whole time, despite the fact that I was ALWAYS looking for them and wanted to see one. Now I’ve seen 3 more in the wild in just the past 2 weeks. I’m done. Having an angry one within 3 feet or so is just too close for comfort. I know it’s rare for people to die from rattlesnake bites, and that they really don’t want to bite anything they can’t swallow, and I actually did have a snake bite kit with me, but, that’s one life experience I’d like to do without.
Reader Comments (4)
Good article.
Do yourself a favor, however, and throw that snake bite kit in the garbage ... you'll end up doing more damage to yourself than just leaving it alone and getting to the hospital. I have no idea why they are legal.
Thanks Bryan, but what are you supposed to do if you are remote? Ie: In the backcoutry, 2 day walk from the car? Wouldn't trying to get some of the venom out be a good idea in that case?
Brian,
The thing is, you won't get any venom out in any meaningful amount. This has been tested to death (pubmed.org has many sources) and bite kits are still on shelves. When you use a suction kit (Sawyer's was tested as an example), you do three big bad things: a) waste time b) increases your heart rate and brings blood to the area, the opposite of what you want to do, and c) causes auxiliary damage to the area to seed necrosis. Additional tests have also shown that they just don't work on extracting venom, plain and simple. People may see some yellowish fluid come out, but this isn't venom.
If you are 2 days hike into the hills, take action before you even hit the trail. Go with someone, tell people where you're going, get a GPS beacon, or have a plan ... the same as if you were to break your leg or any other injury. What will save your life is to keep calm, keep your heartrate as low as you can, get the bite area below your heart, and send someone to get help. Do not ice it, cut, suck, tie it off, or any of the folksy remedies that cost people their lives and limbs.
Wow Bryan, *great* info.
I found the Sawyer report (yes, that IS what I have) at http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/14747805
The conclusion was pretty clear, "CONCLUSION: The Sawyer Extractor pump removed bloody fluid from our simulated snakebite wounds but removed virtually no mock venom, which suggests that suction is unlikely to be an effective treatment for reducing the total body venom burden after a venomous snakebite."
Thanks, I'll pitch it tonight.