Becky Ghostley, Fort Rucker Safety Manager shares 12 simple steps you can take to avoid nasty encounters with venomous snakes. She also busts common myths about what to do when you’re struck. Here are 8 things you absolutely should not do. [US Army]
How To Identify the 9 Most Venomous Snakes in North America
Learn how to spot native species and give them wide berth. Plus, how to keep your eyes open for snakes new to North America, like the Yellow-Bellied Sea Snake. It’s the only sea snake to inhabit the open ocean. Climate change and El Niño have brought this lethal species to California waters.
It is essential to correctly identify the snake that has bitten you, even if it means killing it and taking its body along to the clinic or hospital so that doctors can treat you with the correct neurotoxic anti-venom.
“Just the sight of a slithering snake can send a shiver down even the manliest spine. And with good reason-with just one nibble, and in only a few hours, these feetless, cold-blooded serpents can snuff out your life.” [Art of Manliness]
“A knife on its own or attached to a stick to create a spear can help to fend off curious or dangerous animals that invade your camp,” writes Michael D’Angona. As the “pointy” part of your spear, the survival knife can deter an advancing snake or, if needed, kill it.
“Bounty hunters and biologists wade deep into the Everglades to wrestle with the invasion of giant pythons threatening the state’s wetlands.” Learn what a day’s work is like for a python elimination specialist. [Smithsonian]
Slithery Snacks: Hunting & Eating Snakes for Survival
When you’re out in the wild and in a survival situation, you will need all the calories you can get, whether from foraging or, better yet, hunting. A source of precious calories is snakes. Here’s how to find, catch, prep, and cook them.
