Re: Darlene's photo on net - Aase

[Guest guest]

Quite an amazing sight to see those small ants kill a snake, maybe

around a yard long... The snakes they often killed, are poisonous

too,

--------------

What kind of poisonous snake(s) do you have in Norway? Adders?

I do NOT miss the snow after 15 years in Alaska but the one thing I

do miss is not having to worry about running into any snakes when we

were out camping or fishing. One of the niceties of Alaska is that

it simply does not have any snakes - period.

The only things we had to worry about running into in the wild that

could cause a serious problem were (1) Brown Bear, (2) Black Bear,

and (3) ornery Moose. And I always figured if I ever had to, I

could hit any one of those three a whole lot easier with a 12 gauge

shotgun or .44 magnum than I could any snake that ever lived.

[Guest guest]

Quite an amazing sight to see those small ants kill a snake, maybe

around a yard long... The snakes they often killed, are poisonous

too,

--------------

What kind of poisonous snake(s) do you have in Norway? Adders?

I do NOT miss the snow after 15 years in Alaska but the one thing I

do miss is not having to worry about running into any snakes when we

were out camping or fishing. One of the niceties of Alaska is that

it simply does not have any snakes - period.

The only things we had to worry about running into in the wild that

could cause a serious problem were (1) Brown Bear, (2) Black Bear,

and (3) ornery Moose. And I always figured if I ever had to, I

could hit any one of those three a whole lot easier with a 12 gauge

shotgun or .44 magnum than I could any snake that ever lived.

[Guest guest]

Quite an amazing sight to see those small ants kill a snake, maybe

around a yard long... The snakes they often killed, are poisonous

too,

--------------

What kind of poisonous snake(s) do you have in Norway? Adders?

I do NOT miss the snow after 15 years in Alaska but the one thing I

do miss is not having to worry about running into any snakes when we

were out camping or fishing. One of the niceties of Alaska is that

it simply does not have any snakes - period.

The only things we had to worry about running into in the wild that

could cause a serious problem were (1) Brown Bear, (2) Black Bear,

and (3) ornery Moose. And I always figured if I ever had to, I

could hit any one of those three a whole lot easier with a 12 gauge

shotgun or .44 magnum than I could any snake that ever lived.

[Guest guest]

Hi Mike,

I have no clue what they are called in English, and after trying 4-5

dictionaries, I came up with nothing. I do think they are a type of

adder though. The latin word is vipera berus. On this page

http://www.bioresurs.uu.se/myller/jordbruk/ormar.htm

you can see a picture of three snakes, the " huggorm " , which it is

called in Norwegian, is the one to the right. Here's some April

photographs (yuck, it is April!!!!)

http://video-friluftsliv.dyndns.dk/galleri13/category.php?cat=39&expand=all

Although venomous, they are nothing like many of the snakes you find

in warmer climates... Now those are scary... and there's just

something about snakes, yuck... We have several other types of snakes

here too, also one that can look a lot like the " Huggorm " , it can

bite also, but it has no venom. The " Huggorm " is usually very easy to

recognize, because of that " zig-zag " pattern on it's back, but you

also get black ones, and the pattern on those is not easy to see.

Those are the ones that look a lot like the other type, which is

called " Buorm " . Many " Buorm's " has been killed because people thought

they were the other kind.

When we were in third grade, we had a " nature nut " of a teacher. We

had a whole zoo at the back of our classroom. We also had a snake,

but that one was a totally harmless one and also they don't look that

yucky... We used to pet it during class. Once the teacher took it

home, even if his wife had told him that he was not allowed to. And

it ended up disappearing. He could not find it, looked for days. His

wife wondered a lot why he was tidying so much, he-he... He did not

dare tell her that he had a snake on the loose. He finally found it,

inside an old manual typewriter. He had to take the whole keyboard

apart to get it out. Then was when he told his wife, you can imagine

she was really happy... LOL

Once when I was about 20, I was mowing my mom's lawn for her (which I

had let grow too long), when I felt a sting on my ankle. I went in,

and I could see the typical two teeth marks. I took a large dose of

antihistamines, and was really lucky, it can get nasty and be really

dangerous too if you are allergic. Normally the limb will swell up

really bad and turn blue. I went back out later, and there I found

it, cut into pieces. It was really huge though, and I think maybe

old, that was probably the reason why I got away with it with no

problems. The young ones are the worst ones. A friend almost lost her

huge male boxer dog last summer because of a snake bite. He was

really sick for a couple of weeks, they didn't know if he would live

or die. He was on IV fluids and lots of medication. When I am out

walking Peanut in the summer, I always carry a dose of Prednisolone

with me to give to her in case of a bee sting or snake bite, because

for a 2 kg Yorkie, both can be quite dangerous, if something happens

it is vital that they get the medication quickly. When you get to the

ER or vet you also get anti-venom in addition to Prednisolone and

antihistamines.

Aase Marit

>

>

>Quite an amazing sight to see those small ants kill a snake, maybe

>around a yard long... The snakes they often killed, are poisonous

>too,

>

> --------------

>

>What kind of poisonous snake(s) do you have in Norway? Adders?

>

>I do NOT miss the snow after 15 years in Alaska but the one thing I

>do miss is not having to worry about running into any snakes when we

>were out camping or fishing. One of the niceties of Alaska is that

>it simply does not have any snakes - period.

>

>The only things we had to worry about running into in the wild that

>could cause a serious problem were (1) Brown Bear, (2) Black Bear,

>and (3) ornery Moose. And I always figured if I ever had to, I

>could hit any one of those three a whole lot easier with a 12 gauge

>shotgun or .44 magnum than I could any snake that ever lived.

>

[Guest guest]

I do think they are a type of adder though.

Although venomous, they are nothing like many of the snakes you find

in warmer climates... Now those are scary...

Once when I was about 20, I was mowing my mom's lawn for her (which

I had let grow too long), when I felt a sting on my ankle. I went

in, and I could see the typical two teeth marks. I took a large dose

of antihistamines, and was really lucky, it can get nasty and be

really dangerous too if you are allergic. Normally the limb will

swell up really bad and turn blue. I went back out later, and there

I found it, cut into pieces. It was really huge though, and I think

maybe old, that was probably the reason why I got away with it with

no problems.

--------------

(1) I took a look at the link with the picture. You are correct -

it looks like a typical European adder.

(2) Amen to warmer climate rascals. I do NOT envy Sharon with the

variety of nasties in Australia.

(3) Another reason why you may have been lucky with the bite is that

it might not have injected venom with the bite. It is not uncommon

for a lot of venomous snakes to not inject with a strike. It could

be a " warning strike " or they may be low on venom from having used

it to recently kill food.

(4) As a general rule of thumb, you NEVER take chances with any bite

from a venomous snake. The absolute safest thing to do is get to a

hospital as quickly as possible for an injection of antivenom.

Other than places like deep bush territory in Australia and Africa,

very few people actually die in a given year from snake bite.

Potential side effects even if they survive the bite, however, can

be really nasty. Yes, you were very lucky.