Quote:
Originally posted by SCReptiles
I think statistically most bites happen during or in relation to venom extractions. The second highest occurrence of bites is from bagging accidents. There are no hard core numbers on these things, but based on my experience, this is the breakdown. .
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Venom extractors do tend to get bitten, some of them more often than others, but given the amount of hands-on work they do their safety record tends to be amazingly good.
Bagging accidents are a good thing to point out. I'd place most of them under the "container too small" category, since snakes tend to bounce back out and tag keepers. I had an interesting time of it when I miscalculated the size of the bag I would need to stuff a 12' king cobra into with nobody to help me. That stupid snake story is here:
http://www.faunaclassifieds.com/foru...threadid=39525
Or were you referring to somebody being unwise enough to handle the pillowcase too freely with their hands? Anybody who thinks a snake can't see to bite through a bag is invited to put a standard pillowcase over their own head and see how good the visibility actually is from in there. And of course a bit of cloth doesn't hamper pit vipers a bit; it's not just their eyes they're using to target you.
My guess is that a lot of snake bites are probably proceeded by words to the effect of, "Hey, y'all watch this" or "I bet I could do that." Most common victim profile in North America is a young male in his early 20's, intoxicated.