[NHCOLL-L:2915] RE: Preparation of venomous snakes

[White, Rich]

Karen,

Yes, you do need to be very careful with venomous snakes, even with very
old, dried and prepared specimens.  I once was handling a large
collection of snakes which had been obtained from animal importers/
breeders in the 1970's.  I was catalogueing and curating the lot in 1999
or 2000, and was handling a bugged and dried skeleton of Jameson's
mamba,  Dendroaspis jamesoni.  I pricked my finger on one of the fangs,
and almost immediately began to have tingling and numbness in my hand
and arm.  I went to the hospital, where they watched me for a bit.
Fortunately, the symptoms abated fairly quikcly and they didn't have to
try to get antivenon.  But it scared me into being much more careful
with such material.

Rich


 
Richard S. White, Jr.
Director
International Wildlife Museum
4800 West Gates Pass Road
Tucson, Arizona 85745
520-629-0100 extension 252
Fax: 520-618-3561


-----Original Message-----
From: owner-nhcoll-l at lists.yale.edu
[mailto:owner-nhcoll-l at lists.yale.edu] On Behalf Of Karen Cebra
Sent: Monday, January 09, 2006 1:19 PM
To: nhcoll-l at lists.yale.edu
Subject: [NHCOLL-L:2914] Preparation of venomous snakes

Is there any danger posed to a preparator when processing venomous
snakes? 
In the many years I have been preparing specimens, I have always used
extra caution with such specimens. However, it would be great to know
what the risks really are!

Thanks in advance,

Karen Cebra
Human Identification Laboratory
California State University at Chico
kcebra at altair.ucdavis.edu