I have no idea what forum to post in, so....

[MDT]

Surprise! Pythons have venom…but just a little. | Wild Types (http://wildtypes.wordpress.com/2013/04/09/surprise-pythons-have-venom-but-just-a-little/)

"The amount of venom is not enough to harm a human or to kill prey, says Fry, but it’s enough “to mess up an extremely sensitive diagnostic tool.”


I don't know if this has been posted, or really if this belongs in the Venomous forum, but I thought very interesting...

Discuss :)

[Concept9]

Well that's very interesting.

I have read that a lot of non-venomous snakes are actually venomous but the venom is so weak it really isn't considered a venom and its only purpose is an anticoagulant.

I don't know how true this is. Was light reading one day. :)

[sweatshirt]

Interesting read!

[MDT]

Dr. Fry is definitely one of the leaders in venom research. The dude knows his stuff.

[rocknhorse76]

Wow, that's quite interesting.

[smy_749]

I think pythons are venomous because when they bite you it hurts. Thats my proof.

[MDT]

I think pythons are venomous because when they bite you it hurts. Thats my proof.

sounds good to me, I'm going with it!

[Concept9]

I think pythons are venomous because when they bite you it hurts. Thats my proof.

I would group Boas and Anacondas here too then, LOL.

[Lupinus]

Interesting

[smy_749]

I would group Boas and Anacondas here too then, LOL.

Yeap. Clearly venomous. Anacondas are venomous because they were in a movie and theyre green.

[BryanB]

YAY something else for the all unknowing to get all excited about with the hobby. Coming soon WHAT they are poisonous and deadly nobody should be able to keep these animals ban them and send them back to the pits of hell where they came from. I hate NJ

[Lupinus]

YAY something else for the all unknowing to get all excited about with the hobby. Coming soon WHAT they are poisonous and deadly nobody should be able to keep these animals ban them and send them back to the pits of hell where they came from. I hate NJ
So did I, which is why I escaped :D

Course, for the past ten years it's been a challenge to find a decent peace of pizza....

[Amadeus]

This is not good at all for our hobby... "Giant constrictors are now know to have venom"

Bad ju ju indeed

[millertime89]

Its not definitive, lots more research and science needs to be done.

[BryanB]

It's on the Internet in most people's eyes it is 100% remember most people are dumb

[brylecc1989]

Wow that's interesting

[Amadeus]

I think most snakes do have a sort of venom, for example I got bit by a 4ft nerodia last summer and it would just keep on bleeding and bleeding, obviously it has an anticoagulant.

So I'm assuming it's only something minor like this in regards to the python, but still not good for our hobby.

Oh well still interesting.

[Mikoh4792]

I think most snakes do have a sort of venom, for example I got bit by a 4ft nerodia last summer and it would just keep on bleeding and bleeding, obviously it has an anticoagulant.

So I'm assuming it's only something minor like this in regards to the python, but still not good for our hobby.

Oh well still interesting.

Same thing happened when I got bit by a 7 foot bci. Or maybe it just hit a vein. Wasn't a pleasant experience.

[millertime89]

Every individual is going to react differently to the different chemicals in a snake's saliva, when I've been bit I stop bleeding rather quickly, even when I got bit by an 7ish ft retic.

[MDT]

Every individual is going to react differently to the different chemicals in a snake's saliva, when I've been bit I stop bleeding rather quickly, even when I got bit by an 7ish ft retic.

Yep, unless you're bitten by something that injects an anticoagulant (ticks, mosquitos, etc), your clotting factors will determine your "stopping time". Having said that, I have zero idea if nonvenomous snakes (and I will lump pythons in here since the research is suggesting minuscule amounts of venom) have any type of anticoagulant properties to their saliva. It would not seem needed from an evolutionary standpoint, whereas venomous snakes would need that component to help incapacitate their prey.

I'll wait on the research....and try not to get bitten :)

[guyabano]

I recall following a link from a thread in these forums that led to an article similar to this one by National Geographic. It's pretty cool to think that soon, this will be common knowledge.

[Starbuck]

i thought it was really neat that he described 'all snakes having evolved from a venomous lizard'. i'll be honest, one of my first thoughts was 'maybe some bacteria living in the snakes mouth are producing some low-grade toxin, that to humans reads like a venom (like a cat bite, or maybe a komodo dragon (which also maybe has venom i've learned?))?'

But now i'm not so sure. Very neat, to be sure :)

[Derek Roddy]

BHPs actually have vemon glads but, no way to deliver the venom.

So, this begs the question....are they gaining the ability or losing it?

D