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<blockquote data-quote="crittergitter" data-source="post: 169911" data-attributes="member: 8098"><p>No offense, but I have to disagree. No snake has the capacity to be "angry", but some are more agressively defensive than others. All pit vipers control their venom flow and reserve their venom for hunting. 50% of all venomous snakes bites are dry. Most of the rattlesnake bites I have seen (not many) have been pretty nasty. Copperheads and cottonmouths are close relatives. More cottonmouths show aggressive tendencies than copperheads. Most copperheads are completely passive and rely on camo for defense. Most copperhead bites are about like a severe hornet sting...I know because I have treated several before sending the patient to the hospital. I saw an 11 year old girl step on a young copperhead barefoot and get bitten. She was sent home from the hospital with Tylenol 3 after spending the night for observation. That's pretty typical. I move 20 - 40 copperheads a year from around campsites and public areas and have found that about 1 out of 10 will turn to face you when approached. Most lie still until touched. About half will try to either strike or escape if you pick them up with a stick. Most will lunge at you if you pick them up by the tail. Pinning the head to pick them up is down right dangerous because the little ones can stick you by popping a fang out of the side of their mouths...treated a biology student from Murray State 2 weeks ago for that. Cottonmouths and copperheads have highly hemolytic venom designed to start the digestion process from the inside of the prey before it is consumed. It takes about 150 mg of dried cottonmouth venom to kill the average person, and they carry about that much and rarely inject more than 75% of that when hunting, less when defending themselves. Copperhead venom is more potent and they can kill humans with as little as 70 mg. Most carry about 40 mg and inject 75% or less in a strike. Juveniles carry less but it is stronger so you can expect the same symptoms from a juvy bite as an adult. To my knowledge there has never been a death from a copperhead bite in Tennessee, and only a handfull in the southeastern U.S. ever. I have seen several people get bitten and actually debate whether to get treatment or not because symptoms were so mild. If every copperhead you see is aggressive, you walked by 10 times that many that were passive and went un-noticed.</p><p></p><p>My 2 cents worth.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="crittergitter, post: 169911, member: 8098"] No offense, but I have to disagree. No snake has the capacity to be "angry", but some are more agressively defensive than others. All pit vipers control their venom flow and reserve their venom for hunting. 50% of all venomous snakes bites are dry. Most of the rattlesnake bites I have seen (not many) have been pretty nasty. Copperheads and cottonmouths are close relatives. More cottonmouths show aggressive tendencies than copperheads. Most copperheads are completely passive and rely on camo for defense. Most copperhead bites are about like a severe hornet sting...I know because I have treated several before sending the patient to the hospital. I saw an 11 year old girl step on a young copperhead barefoot and get bitten. She was sent home from the hospital with Tylenol 3 after spending the night for observation. That's pretty typical. I move 20 - 40 copperheads a year from around campsites and public areas and have found that about 1 out of 10 will turn to face you when approached. Most lie still until touched. About half will try to either strike or escape if you pick them up with a stick. Most will lunge at you if you pick them up by the tail. Pinning the head to pick them up is down right dangerous because the little ones can stick you by popping a fang out of the side of their mouths...treated a biology student from Murray State 2 weeks ago for that. Cottonmouths and copperheads have highly hemolytic venom designed to start the digestion process from the inside of the prey before it is consumed. It takes about 150 mg of dried cottonmouth venom to kill the average person, and they carry about that much and rarely inject more than 75% of that when hunting, less when defending themselves. Copperhead venom is more potent and they can kill humans with as little as 70 mg. Most carry about 40 mg and inject 75% or less in a strike. Juveniles carry less but it is stronger so you can expect the same symptoms from a juvy bite as an adult. To my knowledge there has never been a death from a copperhead bite in Tennessee, and only a handfull in the southeastern U.S. ever. I have seen several people get bitten and actually debate whether to get treatment or not because symptoms were so mild. If every copperhead you see is aggressive, you walked by 10 times that many that were passive and went un-noticed. My 2 cents worth. [/QUOTE]
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