Deadly African snake on the loose in South Carolina!

[Iamme]

People are being warned to stay away from bushes and such places.
Residents are probably horrified; women especially(lol).
It`s a gaboon viper, and it has longest fangs.
An exterminator happened to stumble upon the shed snake skin by accident, and the skin was analyzed and the type of snake identified.
An anti-venom must come from Africa. It is made when injected in a horse and then the antibodies extracted.
(I have a couple snake stories.)

 

[ThunderChunky]

It's from Africa...better watch out.

 

[Silly Green Monkey]

All the snake-hoarders want one of those. There might be enough in the US to start a breeding population if a few got loose.

 

[Cleon]

Holy crap, this is actually happening.

 

[Silly Green Monkey]

Link went to a blank page.

It's just one apartment complex it seems, unless the snake's escaped the building---wonder if they've checked on all the residents.

 

[Iamme]

All the snake-hoarders want one of those. There might be enough in the US to start a breeding population if a few got loose.

Yipes! That`s what happened in the Everglades with non-native pythons. Big giant ones too!

 

[Iamme]

Link went to a blank page.

It's just one apartment complex it seems, unless the snake's escaped the building---wonder if they've checked on all the residents.

Like it could be in some other tenant`s bed?
When i lived in Texas with rattlesnakes, when i slid my feet under the covers, that thought crossed my mind.

 

[PinkRabbit]

Yikes. I wonder how feasible it even is to find one specific snake in an area like that. Seems like there would be nearly limitless hiding places and probably lots of rodents to hunt. Just hope no one gets bit as the anti-venom is apparently made in Africa and virtually unheard of in this country.

 

[Iamme]

I used to take pot shots off my elevated Texas beach house deck. Oddly, it was a big snake i DIDN`T hit with 10 shots. While a baby rattler i shot dead center through the back of its head. I could see the ground thru the hole. Reminded me of the Munsters tv show when Herman hit a baseball so hard it went thru a Dodgers fielders glove that was smoking and you could see daylight through the glove. Lol

 

[Black Hole Box]

I was sure that was a SC newspaper headline of an Obama visit.

 

[RenaissanceBiker]

What does gaboon viper taste like?

 

[Bikewer]

Chicken....

Famous St. Louis Zoo director Marlin Perkins was almost killed by a Gaboon viper years ago.
They were de-lousing the snake, which involves putting the animal in a "press" (a lot like the old tennis-racket presses) and then using a tweezers.... A tedious task.
In the course of this, the press came loose and the snake got Perkins with one fang on a finger.
Within an hour he was near death, bleeding from every orifice, severe bruising anywhere he'd been touched, depressed heart and respiration.
They used three different types of antivenin on him, as no one had handled a bite by one of these serpents.
Quite a dangerous critter. They have very long fangs and inject a lot of venom.

 

[varwoche]

Link went to a blank page.

That's because the HTML code was eaten by the snake.

 

[johnny karate]

"Just one?" said everyone in Africa.

 

[Monketi Ghost]

Black Snake Moan?

 

[TofuFighter]

"Just one?" said everyone in Africa.

*chuckles*

 

[madurobob]

Link went to a blank page.

http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/headlin...ke-on-the-loose-has-sc-community-on-lockdown/

There ya go.

 

[madurobob]

The bit about the anti-venom is worrisome. I wonder what it'd cost the local hospital to order enough for a couple of treatments just in case?

Last year I had two friends bitten by copperheads. They both reported about the same thing from their hospital bill - about $20K per treatment for the anti-venom alone. One friend required a single treatment, the other two consecutive treatments. Since copperheads are pretty common around here, it surprised me the anti-venom was so spendy.

 

[Cool Hand Luke]

 

[Craig4]

View attachment 30675

Actually, that kid would probably be wondering what the hell anyone would be doing with a Gabon viper in their house. The indicator that keeping an animal like this in your home is a bad idea is that Africans don't make pets of the wildlife. Sure, they have pet cats and dogs (though not as much into dogs) but no one keeps snakes, primates (though people sort of coexist with monkeys and baboons) big cats or pretty much anything else that lives in the bush.

I cannot imagine for the life of me why it is legal in the US to own these animals. I understand that it's illegal where the skin was found but it is legal to buy these animals in other states.

You can get the anti venom in the US. There is a Florida Company that makes a type specific and African polyvalent to treat Gabon Viper bites. You can also buy online, a doasage kit of shelf stabilized anti venom for about 300 Euro but that's a single dose.