# fwc bite



## fastnfurious (Dec 15, 2009)

how bad can they be


----------



## ChrisNE (Jul 13, 2008)

:google:


----------



## fastnfurious (Dec 15, 2009)

dont start please i just want peoples experiences with bites


----------



## ChrisNE (Jul 13, 2008)

Ive heard they can be bad in some circumstances. Depends if they get a good chew. Venom compares to that of a timber rattlesnake apparently and people have been known to lose digits and their life but it's mostly just a pain in the backside. 30 seconds on google. There's a search function on here too, This question is around every few months so type FWC into it and you'll find plenty of info. :no1:


----------



## mustang100893 (Nov 16, 2009)

> Ive heard they can be bad in some circumstances. Depends if they get a good chew. Venom compares to that of a timber rattlesnake apparently and people have been known to lose digits and their life but it's mostly just a pain in the backside. 30 seconds on google. There's a search function on here too, This question is around every few months so type FWC into it and you'll find plenty of info. :no1:


 
How it would get close enough to your ass is anyones guess though.


----------



## ChrisNE (Jul 13, 2008)

mustang100893 said:


> How it would get close enough to your ass is anyones guess though.


:lol2::lol2::lol2: :no1:

Made my evening! :2thumb:


----------



## nitro (Dec 8, 2009)

ChrisNE said:


> Ive heard they can be bad in some circumstances. Depends if they get a good chew. Venom compares to that of a timber rattlesnake
> I find that hard to believe!!
> 
> 
> people have been known to lose digits and their life Who died?? but it's mostly just a pain in the backside. 30 seconds on google. There's a search function on here too, This question is around every few months so type FWC into it and you'll find plenty of info. :no1:


You need more than 3 characters to perform a search!


----------



## mustang100893 (Nov 16, 2009)

nitro said:


> You need more than 3 characters to perform a search!


 Allright put False Water Cobra in then, doesn't take a genius. Just me.


----------



## nitro (Dec 8, 2009)

Editted


----------



## Jczreptiles (Sep 1, 2009)

The venom is fairly toxic but the delivery of it is not all that effective but it is still possible to get a nasty bite without a chew although rare.


----------



## bothrops (Jan 7, 2007)

nitro said:


> I find that hard to believe


 
Just because you find something hard to believe doesn't mean it's not true!

These might help to enlighten the OP (and you)

http://www.reptileforums.co.uk/snakes/240303-false-water-cobra.html

http://www.reptileforums.co.uk/snakes/233267-fwc-questions.html

http://www.reptileforums.co.uk/snakes/164687-false-water-cobras.html

http://www.reptileforums.co.uk/snakes/242403-hydrodynastes-gigas-false-water-cobra.html


In summary......The late great John Foden was one individual that suffered a very painful bite from an FWC.

FWC venom is comparable (drop for drop) to the venom of the timber rattlesnake

FWC's tend to deliver a low venom yield but a good chew is likely to cause pain and swelling and coould end in permanent discomfort and even necrosis.

No deaths have been recorded from an FWC bite.



Cheers

Andy


----------



## nitro (Dec 8, 2009)

Yeah, so nobody has died


----------



## bothrops (Jan 7, 2007)

Correct.....that was the one thing you did get right...


----------



## nitro (Dec 8, 2009)

bothrops said:


> Correct.....that was the one thing you did get right...


I got two things right


----------



## bothrops (Jan 7, 2007)

My apologies, that you did!



mind if you put 'FWCs' it works just fine!:Na_Na_Na_Na:


----------



## nitro (Dec 8, 2009)

bothrops said:


> My apologies, that you did!
> 
> 
> 
> mind if you put 'FWCs' it works just fine!:Na_Na_Na_Na:


:lol2:


----------



## Jczreptiles (Sep 1, 2009)

If it is true that the FWC venom is equal to a timber rattlesnake then 75mg would be fatal.


----------



## DavidR (Mar 19, 2008)

> If it is true that the FWC venom is equal to a timber rattlesnake then 75mg would be fatal.


75mg is a reasonably large amount of venom even for a front fanged snake, for a rear fanged snake it is a huge quantity. When induced to produce venom with ketamine, the maximum dry solids from a fwc was 15.2mg, the average was 7.31mg.
The timber rattlesnake comparison comes from an LD50 conducted by Glenn. _et al_ (1992) which scored _H. gigas_ with an LD50 of 2 mg/kg (i.p.) which is comparable with an LD50 for a _Crotalus horridus_. That is where the statement that fwc is like that of the timber rattesnake. LD50's do not give an accurate indication of danger posed to humans and 2 mg/kg is not particularly impressive (especially when you consider that timber rattesnakes deliver 100's of mg in a single bite). More interestingly, it has been shown that the venom of _H. gigas_ has higher heamorhhagic activity than _C. atrox_ venom. Again this is meaningless from a human danger perspective because of the yields involved, but interesting none the less.

In answer to the original question, bites can be very uncomfortable but have never been shown to be life threatening. Here is a little series of photos I have put up before.
The culprit: 33cm in length and only two months old, was attached to my finger for no more than 20 seconds. Chewing action was noted.









Half an hour after the bite: Intense throbbing in the finger and localised swelling and weeping at the bite site.








24 hours post bite:









Swelling was to the elbow, lymph nodes were tender. Localised swelling remained for 5-7 days, bruising for a bit longer and pain in the joints and knuckle lasted for weeks. Two weeks after the bite the skin of my whole hand started to slough (like it does after sunburn). 

This is not a normal reaction, this is a reasonably severe envenomation for a fwc but serves as a worst case scenario (or atleast a bad scenario, the mother of this snake is 7ft long and one would assume capable of delivering a much larger dose).

David.


----------



## SiUK (Feb 15, 2007)

DavidR said:


> 75mg is a reasonably large amount of venom even for a front fanged snake, for a rear fanged snake it is a huge quantity. When induced to produce venom with ketamine, the maximum dry solids from a fwc was 15.2mg, the average was 7.31mg.
> The timber rattlesnake comparison comes from an LD50 conducted by Glenn. _et al_ (1992) which scored _H. gigas_ with an LD50 of 2 mg/kg (i.p.) which is comparable with an LD50 for a _Crotalus horridus_. That is where the statement that fwc is like that of the timber rattesnake. LD50's do not give an accurate indication of danger posed to humans and 2 mg/kg is not particularly impressive (especially when you consider that timber rattesnakes deliver 100's of mg in a single bite). More interestingly, it has been shown that the venom of _H. gigas_ has higher heamorhhagic activity than _C. atrox_ venom. Again this is meaningless from a human danger perspective because of the yields involved, but interesting none the less.
> 
> In answer to the original question, bites can be very uncomfortable but have never been shown to be life threatening. Here is a little series of photos I have put up before.
> ...


excellent David, its something that gets thrown around alot, without anyone going into details, or even really knowing why they are saying it, so its nice to see the explanation to back up the statement:no1:


----------



## leecb0 (Apr 14, 2009)

great bit of research there Davidr thank you

I too have had a couple af bite that i have had a mild reaction too first one about 10 years ago with localised swelling very miner pain and numbness. i also had one about a couple of weeks ago which was not as bad but a small reaction was noticed. 

As for John Foden's he did go to hospital and im sure Paul's department were consulted but if i am correct he had just started his trearment for cancer which would have lowerd his imune system's ability to fight the toxins


----------

