Reptiles at Risk

Poisonous or Venomous?

Posted by Jeff Hathaway on July 27, 2010 at 11:13 PM

Over the past week the Reptiles at Risk crew has traveled farther into northern Ontario than ever before. After a full day of driving on Saturday we arrived near the Pic River first nations community, where the sun sets at about 10 o'clock - roughly an hour later than at the home base in Orillia. At this point in the journey, we now have eight programs under our collective belts, and we have all gotten pretty good at juggling hoardes of small children, the creatures, and many plastic beads (which usually end up everywhere. A containment system is underway). One observation that I have made during our journeying involves a common misconception about poisonous snakes. That is, many people ask us if our snakes are poisonous. This usually seems to happen when a snake is being handled by an eager five-year-old, and although I am always tempted to be sarcastic, I usually resist the urge to tell the public that we lose three children a day to snake bites. However, sarcasm aside, it is a legitimate question and a very common misunderstanding relating to snakes - many believe that all snakes are poisonous. There are a few things wrong about this, the first of which concerns the fact that no snake on the planet that we know of is poisonous*, as poison is something that has to be eaten in order to take effect. Snakes are instead venomous, as they inject venom into the bloodstreams of their prey. A fun fact about venom is that in theory you can drink it (or eat it?), and as long as you have no ulcers or openings in your digestive tract, you'll be a-okay at the end of the day (although please, never try this. Just trust that what I say is true!). The second is that the vast majority of snakes are not venomous. This is especially true in Ontario, as out of the 15 species that can be found here, only one is venemous. That one is the Masassauga Rattlesnake, and of the few people who have been bitten by this snake (often on the hands or back, in which case, the blame can't really be placed on the snake...) all those who went to a hospital survived to tell the tale. The only place on earth where there are more venomous species of snake than non-venomous species is Australia, which has a surprisingly low number of recorded venomous snake bites each year (or maybe not surprising, as people there are taught to not approach snakes if they don't know what they are. If we all did the same in Ontario, at the very least no one would suffer from being bitten on the back by Masassauga's, as really, the only way to get bitten there likely involves a bit of reckless snake handling...)

Finally, we would not pass around dangerous animals to small children, or adults, or co-workers! It be a stupid thing for us to do, as no one would ever offer us funding, and no insurance company would insure our programs, and we would have to call amblances, and likely sign annoying forms, and potentially go to court...

I like my job just fine without having to deal with any of that.

- Brittany

* We have researched this in the past and were unable to find any examples of poisonous snakes. However, if you know of one, tell us about it! We would love to know if such a creature exists!