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Treatment of adder bite link |
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arvensis
Senior Member Joined: 15 Mar 2006 Location: Hampshire Status: Offline Points: 493 |
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Posted: 24 May 2006 at 7:04pm |
Someone posted this link in another forum, apologies if this has already been posted. It is an interesting read.
http://bmj.bmjjournals.com/cgi/content/full/331/7527/1244 The 'add hyperlink' button doesn't work for me so you'll have to copy n' paste it. Mark Edited by arvensis |
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Vicar
Senior Member Joined: 02 Sep 2004 Location: United Kingdom Status: Offline Points: 1184 |
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Very interesting thread, useful too. Another case history which has a nice written style is: http://www.countrysideinfo.co.uk/the1.htm |
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administrator
Admin Group Joined: 01 Jan 2007 Status: Offline Points: 10 |
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Suzi
Senior Member Joined: 06 Apr 2005 Location: United Kingdom Status: Offline Points: 1025 |
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When I read this sort of stuff I get an urge to take up stamp collecting or train-spotting!
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Suz
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arvensis
Senior Member Joined: 15 Mar 2006 Location: Hampshire Status: Offline Points: 493 |
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Cheers Gemma for posting the hyperlink. Suzi, if you look through
it, it mentions half the bites are on the hand when picking the snake
up.
I suspect some of these bites in recent cases are from people who think they are a Steve Irwin and get tagged for their efforts. The case history that Steve(Vicar) has linked has made me wonder what the reason was behind picking that adder up? Mark Edited by arvensis |
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administrator
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I read Steve's case history a while ago for the first time. The guy had no reason to hold the snake behind the head in a position where it could bite his finger, it goes against common sense. This is NOT a safe way to go about handling adders, as he found out to his cost. The whole episode was utterly avoidable. Adder can be handled relatively safely when your comfortable with them, as Tony P has said before on here, if you need to examine the animal closely, tube it. That way the snake isn't stressed and the handler isn't either. Certainly made me think reading the BMJ article though Mark, particularly about a few near misses in my time... now where did I put that timetable Edited by GemmaJF |
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arvensis
Senior Member Joined: 15 Mar 2006 Location: Hampshire Status: Offline Points: 493 |
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Gemma,
Not only do you need a timetable, you also need a parka, a notebook, a thermosflask etc. Ahem! anyway to keep it on topic, it did strike me as grabbing it behind the head as a bit odd- I thought the best way was to 'tail' them. I'll point out that I haven't a handled a Adder so far, but I know what I'd do if someone grabbed me behind the head. I'd imagine that quite a few of the yearly total of bites are avoidable. Mark |
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Suzi
Senior Member Joined: 06 Apr 2005 Location: United Kingdom Status: Offline Points: 1025 |
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I had read the story before about the adder bite. In my neck of the woods too. No I never understood why he picked it up either. Anytime from this weekend onwards I will be seeing families wandering the heaths in sandals and flipflops. A lot of the tracks would probably be OK but they have grassy verges and people often step off onto this especially kids and if with dogs. I even wear a thick gauntlet when lifting tins! |
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Suz
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administrator
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'I even wear a thick gauntlet when lifting tins! ' - so do I Suz adder often sit in the undergrowth unseen adjacent to tins, if you know they are about it is again a common sense thing to have a gauntlet on your tin lifting hand. An alternative is a long stick with a hook for lifting the tins, Midwest do a good one, but for capture work when you need to be low to the ground, a gauntlet should be thought of as a must have if adder are likely to be encountered, it isn't the one under the tin that you can see that will tag you, it's the one you didn't see in the adjacent undergrowth when your hand went down to lift the tin |
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arvensis
Senior Member Joined: 15 Mar 2006 Location: Hampshire Status: Offline Points: 493 |
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Since we're talking about protective gear, any suggestions on suitable gloves/gauntlets?
Cheers, Mark |
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