A kindergarten teacher in Flagstaff Hill, South Australia was bitten on the ankle inside the children’s play area. Flagstaff Hill is a built-up area, which highlights just how common snakes are.
The teacher should be congratulated: after being bitten, she first thought of the children, clearing them from the area. A colleague then settled the teacher, laying her down and immobilising the leg before calling an ambulance.
The teacher was later released from hospital without needing antivenom treatment.
The second story is more chilling: a Victorian woman was bitten while driving her car! The snake is believed to have crawled into the car through an open window or door. Once bitten, the woman didn’t panic. She grabbed the snake behind the head and threw it out of the vehicle. She applied a torniquet to the leg and drove home, by which time she had developed a headache and throbbing in her leg. She was later released from hospital after several hours of observation.
Howdy, my company has just bought about 25 sets of your gaiters and I was interested in some of the articles here on your website.
However, I have a couple of questions :
Even tho’ there was no venom found on the inside of the gaitors during testing, presumably some venom was found on the outside and inner padding of the gaiter.
Q1: How long does the venom remain ‘venomous’ (probably depends on the type of snake, but it is one minute, one hour, one day or one week….or even longer) ?
Depending on the answer to Q1……
Since the gaiters appear to work so well, it is possible to be attacked by a snake without even knowing it.
Q2: Could any residual venom get into your bloodstream via, say, a cut on the finger that was brushed over the venom on the outside of the gaiter ? (if so, we will be recommending our guys wear gloves to remove the gaiters)
Q3 : If so, would spraying down the gaiters daily after use be useful or will spraying the gaiters damage them ?
Please reply via email address attached.
Thanks, Ian
Hello Ian,
Thanks for your enquiry, I have quite a detailed response from a herpetology expert, which wont fit in to the space on this chat, so I will email the details to you.
Generally it is felt that the likely hood of dry or moist venom on the garment entering the the wearer’s circulation is unlikely, but the commonsense use of PPE is important, and the regular wiping down of the gaiter is strongly encouraged.
Ian, i will provide more details by email.
Regards, Rod.