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09-11-2020, 08:55 #1
- Join Date
- Feb 2012
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- Pretoria
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- 3,327
African Snakebite Institute Advanced snake handling course feedback
I had the opportunity to attend the African Snakebite institutes advanced snake handling course.
Some background to the course, this is one of a few snake handling courses they offer. In order to do it, one needs to attend the snake awareness and handling course as well as snake handling bootcamp course. After doing the course, I can see why these requirements are in place.
Venue :Cradle Moon Lakeside Lodge.
Content: includes bagging, tubing, probing, tailing, and necking venomous snakes. Handling the Black Mamba.
Theory :The day started off with the usual Covid screening processes at the gate. En-route to the venue, we were doubting whether we should have signed up for this course, as the previous two courses gave us a fair amount of information and practice when handling venomous snakes. The day started with a brief overview of the days content, followed by a theory session. Videos were played showing what NOT to do and also lessons learned from other peoples mistakes. A discussion and video on why free handling venomous snakes is a terrible idea took place. As always, Johan has a unique sense of humor followed with a wealth of knowledge. Discussion on dogs and snakebite followed by medical expenses of a snakebite followed.
Practical
We started off with some refresher tailing of the snakes using a hook. We tailed, snouted cobra, forest cobra, boomslang . A discussion on why attempting to tail a shorter venomous snake is a bad idea and why tailing of puff adders are also a bad idea. We ended up doing double hooking of puff adders, this can be useful when dealing with larger specimens to support the weight better.
We moved on to tubing. This entails putting a snake through a clear plastic tube of the correct dimension. It cannot twist around and is useful for medical examinations or probing. Probing was covered in this segment , checking if it’s a male or female snake. When tubing, one realizes how strong these snakes are, especially larger puff adders and cobras.
A brief demonstration on bagging was done. Its easy for a snake to bite through the bag, many handlers and catchers have been bitten this way. It is commonly used when doing field surveys, bags take less storage space.
After lunch we moved on to necking. Different methods are used based on the species in terms of holding position. We first practised using rubber snakes just to get a feel for the different grips. We then necked a mole snake, and a close up of its teeth were shown, it may not be regarded as deadly but those teeth can do serious damage. We then necked, boomslang, cape cobra, forest cobra and snouted cobra. Another discussion took place on why necking the adders in general is not a good idea.
The final segment was dealing with the black mamba. We had a fairly large specimen. We did a bit of tailing with it, and used a tong, for a bit more control. We then moved on to necking of the mamba, unlike other snakes where one really doesn’t need to neck it to have control, when handling mambas, necking is actually the safer method to gain control. A brief discussion took place on how the mamba is portrayed in a certain way on many of these documentaries. It is a fast ,deadly snake. But its first response is often to try evade the threat before putting up a fight. It deserves its reputation but way too many myths surrounding it and other deadly African snakes are spread by handlers and tv programmes sensationalising content.
The courses are presented by Johan Marais, one of Africa’s leading herpetologists with over 40 years of experience. Johan is a FGASA approved service provider and accredited by ISZS (the International Society of Zoological Sciences). Herpetologist Luke Kemp also assists on the course, great guy to chat to and learn from.
Final thoughts:
- I can see the wisdom in building up your skill base for courses such as these progressively. I personally would not attend a course where everything from basic handling to advanced methods are done in a few hours.
- There is no being complacent, regardless of how much experience you have.
- When handling venomous snakes, leave the ego aside, don’t try putting on a show.
- Understand what to do in the case of a snakebite.
- Encourage awareness .
- Vast majority of snakes can be safely removed without necking and with the correct equipment.
- Free handling venomous snakes is a terrible idea! Period.
- For actual educational content, follow guys like Nick Evans, African snakebite institute,Luke Kemp, Jason Arnold. I now laugh when watching stuff like snakes in the city, and other dramatic youtube content.
Reliable Resources/channels
https://www.africansnakebiteinstitute.com/
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC8M...hMFqpurG_UmobA
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCDf...8CoUyG7vPxrPjg
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCr7...E9lw-zg/videos
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09-11-2020, 09:55 #2
- Join Date
- Aug 2016
- Posts
- 226
Re: African Snakebite Institute Advanced snake handling course feedback
Thank you for posting this. I thought about doing these courses before, now I am convinced it's a good idea.
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09-11-2020, 15:05 #3
- Join Date
- Jul 2013
- Location
- Pretoria
- Posts
- 682
Re: African Snakebite Institute Advanced snake handling course feedback
I attended their basic course a few years ago, best money spent in a very long time. I'll have to saddle up and attend the advanced course as well.
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09-11-2020, 16:32 #4
- Join Date
- Feb 2010
- Location
- Milliways
- Age
- 51
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- 339
Re: African Snakebite Institute Advanced snake handling course feedback
Thanks Antlion, great, constructive feedback.
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09-11-2020, 16:37 #5
- Join Date
- Dec 2017
- Posts
- 1,675
Re: African Snakebite Institute Advanced snake handling course feedback
Please tell us more:
"Discussion on dogs and snakebite"
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09-11-2020, 17:20 #6
- Join Date
- Feb 2012
- Location
- Pretoria
- Posts
- 3,327
Unfortunately many encounters don't end up being very positive. The dog often attacks the snake, the snake defends itself, the dog ends up killing the snake but gets bitten in the process,sometimes numerous times. In serious cases the dog requires antivenom to survive which is very costly,and sometimes owners just can't afford this. Another aspect is owners not getting the dog away from the snake when they are present, and also ends up getting bitten. There's footage of owners remaining indoors, and looking on as the dog attacks the snake and inevitably gets bitten. This is of course referring to cases where the owner is present or aware of the snake.
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09-11-2020, 23:56 #7
- Join Date
- Oct 2016
- Posts
- 106
Re: African Snakebite Institute Advanced snake handling course feedback
Thanks for the post.
Two weeks ago my fox terrier died after attacking a large puff adder . Returning from work to find the dog howling in pain, and the subsequent trip to the Vet is not something that I ever want to experience again. He was a typical lightning fast rodent (and unfortunately other small animal) catcher that could not be diverted from his natural instincts so I was not surprised by what happened.
The vet supplied me with a clear liquid product called DMSO which is applied to the bite area repeatedly and is supposed to reduce swelling and improve survival rates until medical treatment can be administered. It can also be used on humans.
I would be interested to find out if anyone knows of or has tried this product and what results were ?
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