Bitten by a Vipera berus
Here are my report based on my personals experiences with a Vipera berus bite.
(23 May 2010. Odsherred, Denmark).
(23 May 2010. Odsherred, Denmark).
About the field trip that day:
The whole field trip was marked by many small incidents on the way, but still the day presented lot of wonderful field herping as well.
For starters; when I woke up I misread the public transport schedules so I had to walk five kilometers through a boring residential area to retrieve my car, (07am in the morning). When I finally retrieved the car the weather was starting to get cloudy and foggy. (Approx. 10:00am). We had to wait several hours before the clouds had disappeared so it was worth to go out into the field, but eventually the weather became quite well. We visited a few different areas in Odsherred Zealand. Unfortunately, we had no luck with us this day, especially with the snakes. Actually we found very few snakes and vipers, despite a long search. But it was a nice trip anyway.
About the bite:
Despite my eternal refuse to the possibility that it could ever happen; I was bitten in the hand by a Vipera berus, (common adder).
I am not proud of this story, but it happened accidentally. So based on the personal experiences I had, I chose to write a little "Raport" about the bite.
Perhaps somebody can use the knowledge for something? The snake that bit me was a juvenile specimen. It was a female, approximately 30cm long, from the populations of the Lumsås area, (Odsherred Denmark). It only hit my with a single tooth, so maby I only suffered from a half dose? It was proberly only a "small" reaction I had/have.
Well as I said, the thing must not happen, happened. We had been out looking for snakes and other reptiles, for a long time but we found almost no vipers. The bad weather irritated me a bit, so when my herping-buddy Christian spotted a large Natrix natrix on a rock pile, consisting of aprox. 15 very large stones; I was quick to photograph. Unfortunately the grass snake saw my movement and disappeared. Stupid as I was I tried to lie down and stare into cracks between the stones. I thought I could see the N. natrix through the pile. But when I put my hand down to find grip; “I placed it right across a small viper, (brown female. 30cm - young specimen). In a split of a second I was bitten between my thumb and long finger.
When I saw/realized the bite mark I just knew I had been bitten. The minutes after the bite, I took it quite easy. I sat down and lid a cigarette, I had no desire to finish my started field trip, so we chose to wait and continue the search. The actual bite did not hurt at all; it just felt like a small corn snake or something. It was not bad as some might imagine. It took a couple of minutes before I began to hurt, maybe 10 minutes I think. The pain was weird; it did not hurt very much: It felt like a pain in the bones, like my hand had been run over by a small car/bike or something like that. After approximately 10 minutes we started to field herp again.
(Images from the bite can be found below this text).
The whole field trip was marked by many small incidents on the way, but still the day presented lot of wonderful field herping as well.
For starters; when I woke up I misread the public transport schedules so I had to walk five kilometers through a boring residential area to retrieve my car, (07am in the morning). When I finally retrieved the car the weather was starting to get cloudy and foggy. (Approx. 10:00am). We had to wait several hours before the clouds had disappeared so it was worth to go out into the field, but eventually the weather became quite well. We visited a few different areas in Odsherred Zealand. Unfortunately, we had no luck with us this day, especially with the snakes. Actually we found very few snakes and vipers, despite a long search. But it was a nice trip anyway.
About the bite:
Despite my eternal refuse to the possibility that it could ever happen; I was bitten in the hand by a Vipera berus, (common adder).
I am not proud of this story, but it happened accidentally. So based on the personal experiences I had, I chose to write a little "Raport" about the bite.
Perhaps somebody can use the knowledge for something? The snake that bit me was a juvenile specimen. It was a female, approximately 30cm long, from the populations of the Lumsås area, (Odsherred Denmark). It only hit my with a single tooth, so maby I only suffered from a half dose? It was proberly only a "small" reaction I had/have.
Well as I said, the thing must not happen, happened. We had been out looking for snakes and other reptiles, for a long time but we found almost no vipers. The bad weather irritated me a bit, so when my herping-buddy Christian spotted a large Natrix natrix on a rock pile, consisting of aprox. 15 very large stones; I was quick to photograph. Unfortunately the grass snake saw my movement and disappeared. Stupid as I was I tried to lie down and stare into cracks between the stones. I thought I could see the N. natrix through the pile. But when I put my hand down to find grip; “I placed it right across a small viper, (brown female. 30cm - young specimen). In a split of a second I was bitten between my thumb and long finger.
When I saw/realized the bite mark I just knew I had been bitten. The minutes after the bite, I took it quite easy. I sat down and lid a cigarette, I had no desire to finish my started field trip, so we chose to wait and continue the search. The actual bite did not hurt at all; it just felt like a small corn snake or something. It was not bad as some might imagine. It took a couple of minutes before I began to hurt, maybe 10 minutes I think. The pain was weird; it did not hurt very much: It felt like a pain in the bones, like my hand had been run over by a small car/bike or something like that. After approximately 10 minutes we started to field herp again.
(Images from the bite can be found below this text).
15:01
Another viper from the same location.
15:02
15:07
This is how it looked after 5-7 minutes, my skin had begon to get pale and a bit swollen around the bite mark. I could feel a gentle but sharp pain deep in my hand.
15.09
The pain disappeared and it started to tingle a little in my hand instead. Otherwise, I thought no more about it.
15:13
After 10 minutes it started to hurt again. The swelling of the bite mark had increased even further.
15:13
As you can see my skin started to react, I dont know if the paleness is because of the swelling - or because the venom causes local anemia?
15:26
No severe swelling yet, but the pain kept comming and going. Luckily it was rather mild. (The swellings had not developed further.)
15:40
By some reason the pain kept comming and going, somtimes I did not feel it at all, othertimes it hurt pretty badly. My hand kept swelling very slowly.
16:32
One and a half hour after the bite my hand was allmost double the size than my other palm. The pain was mild and endurable, but now I could not bend my fingers at all, my tendons felt allmost useless.
17:01
Two hours after the bite my hand began to sweat heavily from the palm. The swelling where moving up the arm, so we began to think about if it perhaps was best to visit the hospital?
17.50
As we sat in the waiting room the swelling had moved 5-10 cm down the arm. When we came out from the doctor 15 minutes later, the swelling had moved as far as to the elbow. The swelling effect spread around. 15 cm in less than an hour. (In this chase that is).
17.56
More than two and a halv hours after the bite we chose to visit the doctor.
I got a some antihistamins and corticosteroids for two days. Otherwise i got no further treatment at the doctor. He did however measure my blood pressure, (which was fine).
21.20
7 hours efter the bite it seemed as if the swelling had stopped spreading through my system.
The pain was not comming in waves but was now constant. It felt as if my arm had been beaten with clubs
The pain was not comming in waves but was now constant. It felt as if my arm had been beaten with clubs
21:20
As you can se, my wrist was very swollen as well. In general Im a skinny guy, so my skin felt very extended/stretched at that moment. I could not move my fingers yet.
The following days:
Update 24 May 2010
When i woke up the following morning my hand was precisely as swollen as shown on the last pictures, but I could move my fingers agian. My skin was very sensitive to touching. Otherwise everything was fine.
Update 24 May 2010: 21:40 pm - 33 hours after the bite.
Earlier the swelling of my arm had almost stopped and gone away. But now a sudden swelling in my elbow has just appeared.
Suddenly my elbow began to swell and is now quite tender. I do not know why I got a second reaction so late? My elbow was 4.3 cm wider (in diameter) than the other arm. A few hours before that there was almost nothing to see. I must admit I was not good at keeping my arm in a calm-neutral position, perhaps that is why? I think its interesting that late reactions can occur.
Earlier the swelling of my arm had almost stopped and gone away. But now a sudden swelling in my elbow has just appeared.
Suddenly my elbow began to swell and is now quite tender. I do not know why I got a second reaction so late? My elbow was 4.3 cm wider (in diameter) than the other arm. A few hours before that there was almost nothing to see. I must admit I was not good at keeping my arm in a calm-neutral position, perhaps that is why? I think its interesting that late reactions can occur.
My thoughts
My evaluation of this particullar bite is: Since i was only suffering the bite from a single tooth, and since it was a small juvenile it can still make a terrific swelling and great deal of pain, probably because of swelling? (In my case). I know all people react differently, so it is not something to joke about when you consider how small the viper was. I could imagine an adult idivid could do some damage. I will now take precautions next time so this does not happen again. I was very lucky that I only experienced a minor reaction.
I know the difference can be hard to see judging from my pictures, but i can promise i felt the swelling ever minute, so be careful with those vipers!
I hope you will see this as an "educational" article, rather than debating whether it is foolish to be bitten, because i know it's stupid .
But it was, as I say, accidentally. So I try to get the best out of it any way.
Greetings from
Mikkel Frederiksen
I know the difference can be hard to see judging from my pictures, but i can promise i felt the swelling ever minute, so be careful with those vipers!
I hope you will see this as an "educational" article, rather than debating whether it is foolish to be bitten, because i know it's stupid .
But it was, as I say, accidentally. So I try to get the best out of it any way.
Greetings from
Mikkel Frederiksen
Responces:
Venomdoc forum: http://www.venomdoc.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=4570
Fieldherping.EU: http://fieldherping.eu/Forum/viewtopic.php?f=10&t=431&sid=087af3e4d0a89e709f0565267f90d9e0
Fieldherp forum: http://www.fieldherpforum.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=31715
NHF: http://www.nhf.dk/phpBB/viewtopic.php?f=24&t=38285&sid=d2d52bb16b4dae8ad787a5a14508f99a
Slange forum: http://www.designer-reptiles.com/forum/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=5005
Venomdoc forum: http://www.venomdoc.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=4570
Fieldherping.EU: http://fieldherping.eu/Forum/viewtopic.php?f=10&t=431&sid=087af3e4d0a89e709f0565267f90d9e0
Fieldherp forum: http://www.fieldherpforum.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=31715
NHF: http://www.nhf.dk/phpBB/viewtopic.php?f=24&t=38285&sid=d2d52bb16b4dae8ad787a5a14508f99a
Slange forum: http://www.designer-reptiles.com/forum/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=5005