Description

Bitis Arietans Venom Online (Puff Adder), puff adder Large in length, thick, extremely stout and heavy bodied snake with a short ( males ) to very short ( females ) tail. Buy Bitis Arietans Venom, Large in length, thick, extremely stout and heavy bodied snake with a short ( males ) to very short ( females ) tail. Can grow to a maximum of about 1.91 metres ( with a girth of 38 cm ). Saudi Arabian specimens are much smaller, rarely exceeding 0.80 metres. Unusually, the largest specimens are found in semi desert and dry savanna regions. Buy Bitis Arietans Venom Online (Puff Adder) – Reptile Venom Shop

Head is broad, flattened, lanceolate and very distinct from narrow neck. Head is covered with small, keeled, imbricate scales. Snout is short and canthus is distinct. Nostrils are large and face more directly upward than in any other African viper. Eyes are medium in size with vertically elliptical pupils. Dorsal scales are heavily keeled with apical pits ( outer scale row is smooth or feebly keeled ). Buy Bitis Arietans Venom Online (Puff Adder) – Reptile Venom Shop

Habitat:
Very adaptable to a wide range of habitats ( including savanna, scrub and semi-desert ) up to about 3500 metres elevation. Only absent from true desert, tropical rainforest and very high montane grassland and peaks. Buy Bitis Arietans Venom Online (Puff Adder) – Reptile Venom Shop

Habits:
Terrestrial, mainly nocturnal and very sluggish snake. Emerges at dusk and remains hidden in cover ( effective camouflage ) ready to ambush prey. If disturbed it inflates its body with air and exhaling in loud hisses or puffs ( hence its common name ) and will adopt a striking posture with the anterior body held in a taut S shape. Buy Bitis Arietans Venom Online (Puff Adder) – Reptile Venom Shop

At the same time though, it edges itself backward into cover. It will strike readily and swiftly if cornered or provoked. Often swims, but on land moves with a caterpillar like motion leaving a straight track in sand or loose soil. Buy Bitis Arietans Venom Online (Puff Adder) – Reptile Venom Shop

Prey:
Feeds on a wide variety of prey, including hares, hedgehogs, grasshoppers and cockroaches but most often on rodents, small mammals, lizards and birds, occasionally other snakes. An opportunistic feeder. Young feed mainly on toads and frogs. Buy Bitis Arietans Venom Online (Puff Adder) – Reptile Venom Shop

In the event of an actual or probable bite from a Puff Adder, execute the following first aid measures without delay.

Snake:
Make sure that the responsible snake or snakes have been appropriately and safely contained, and are out of danger of inflicting any additional bites.

Transportation:

Immediately call for transportation Telephone:

Victim:

Keep the victim calm and reassured. Allow him or her to lie flat and avoid as much movement as possible. If possible, allow the bitten limb to rest at a level lower than the victim’s heart.

Immediately wrap a large crepe bandage snugly around the bitten limb starting at the site of the bite and working proximally up the limb (the full length if possible). The bandage should be as tight as one might bind a sprained ankle.

Secure the splint to the bandaged limb to keep the limb as rigid and unmoving as possible. Avoid bending or moving the limb excessively while applying the splint.

DO NOT remove the splint or bandages until the victim has reached the hospital and is receiving Antivenom.

Have the SAIMR (South African Institute for Medical Research) polyvalent antivenom ready for the Lifeflight crew to take with the victim to the hospital.

First Aid:
Description: First aid for bites by Viperid snakes likely to cause significant local injury at the bite site (see listing in Comments section).

Details:

1. After ensuring the patient and onlookers have moved out of range of further strikes by the snake, the bitten person should be reassured and persuaded to lie down and remain still. Many will be terrified, fearing sudden death and, in this mood, they may behave irrationally or even hysterically. The basis for reassurance is the fact that many venomous bites do not result in envenoming, the relatively slow progression to severe envenoming (hours following elapid bites, days following viper bites) and the effectiveness of modern medical treatment. Buy Bitis Arietans Venom

2. The bite wound should not be tampered with in any way. Wiping it once with a damp cloth to remove surface venom is unlikely to do much harm (or good) but the wound must not be massaged. Buy Bitis Arietans Venom Online (Puff Adder) – Reptile Venom Shop

3. All rings or other jewellery on the bitten limb, especially on fingers, should be removed, as they may act as tourniquets if oedema develops. Buy Bitis Arietans Venom Online (Puff Adder) – Reptile Venom Shop

4. The bitten limb should be immobilised as effectively as possible using an extemporised splint or sling; if available, crepe bandaging of the splinted limb is an effective form of immobilisation. Buy Bitis Arietans Venom Online (Puff Adder) – Reptile Venom Shop

5. If there is any impairment of vital functions, such as problems with respiration, airway, circulation, heart function, these must be supported as a priority. In particular, for bites causing flaccid paralysis, including respiratory paralysis, both airway and respiration may be impaired, requiring urgent and prolonged treatment, which may include the mouth to mask (mouth to mouth) technique of expired air transfer. Seek urgent medical attention.

6. Do not use Tourniquets, cut, suck or scarify the wound or apply chemicals or electric shock.

7. Avoid peroral intake, absolutely no alcohol. No sedatives outside hospital. If there will be considerable delay before reaching medical aid, measured in several hours to days, then give clear fluids by mouth to prevent dehydration. Buy Bitis Arietans Venom Online (Puff Adder) – Reptile Venom Shop

8. If the offending snake has been killed it should be brought with the patient for identification (only relevant in areas where there are more than one naturally occurring venomous snake species), but be careful to avoid touching the head, as even a dead snake can envenom. No attempt should be made to pursue the snake into the undergrowth as this will risk further bites. Buy Bitis Arietans Venom Online (Puff Adder) – Reptile Venom Shop

9. The snakebite victim should be transported as quickly and as passively as possible to the nearest place where they can be seen by a medically-trained person (health station, dispensary, clinic or hospital). The bitten limb must not be exercised as muscular contraction will promote systemic absorption of venom. If no motor vehicle or boat is available, the patient can be carried on a stretcher or hurdle, on the pillion or crossbar of a bicycle or on someone’s back. Buy Bitis Arietans Venom Online (Puff Adder) – Reptile Venom Shop

10. Most traditional, and many of the more recently fashionable, first aid measures are useless and potentially dangerous. These include local cauterization, incision, excision, amputation, suction by mouth, vacuum pump or syringe, combined incision and suction (venom-ex apparatus), injection or instillation of compounds such as potassium permanganate, phenol (carbolic soap) and trypsin, application of electric shocks or ice (cryotherapy), use of traditional herbal, folk and other remedies including the ingestion of emetic plant products and parts of the snake, multiple incisions, tattooing and so on. Buy Bitis Arietans Venom Online (Puff Adder) – Reptile Venom Shop

Treatment Summary:

Puff adder bites are likely to cause severe local & systemic envenoming rapidly, requiring urgent assessment & treatment. Fluid shift & shock may occur. Urgent fluid load, good wound care and antivenom are required. While compartment syndrome can occur, it must be confirmed by pressure measurement before considering fasciotomy. Beware any surgical intervention while venom haemorrhagins are active. Buy Bitis Arietans Venom Online (Puff Adder) – Reptile Venom Shop

Key Diagnostic Features:

Local swelling, blistering, necrosis + coagulopathy, bleeding

General Approach to Management:

All cases should be treated as urgent & potentially lethal. Rapid assessment & commencement of treatment including appropriate antivenom (if indicated available) is mandatory. Admit all cases. Buy Bitis Arietans Venom Online (Puff Adder) – Reptile Venom Shop

Antivenom Therapy:
Antivenom is the key treatment for systemic envenoming. Multiple doses may be required.