Snaked bite

[groveman14]

I have a cow which two different experienced cow men says looks like she has been snake bit. Here could be rattler or cotton mouth. Cows drink from man made ponds and am sure there are some snakes there, even tho I try to eliminate them as well as all gators. Her face has been swollen for a while, and the wound looks like it's "weeping" some. Otherwise, whe seems to be healthy and happy. Anyone had any experiences with snakebite?

 

[dj]

luckily i haven't experienced this.
if you use the search tab at the top and snakebite
you'll get 22 threads about it. what i remember from reading in the past, it clears up if they don't get hit in a vital place?

 

[ALACOWMAN]

had a heifer bit by a big a$$ rattler a few year ago. with no problems but the heat. and location can effect it alot. get her up and give her some antibotics

 

[backhoeboogie]

Benadryl. That is what the vet is going to tell you.

Be glad it wasn't a copperhead. Hope it was a rattler. Her chances are good. Watch for rotting flesh from viruses snakes can carry. Check the links and threads.

I have lost animals to copperhead bites. Never to a rattler.

 

[brierpatch1974]

I have lost animals to copperhead bites. Never to a rattler ?

Thats amazing seems like it would be other way around. I was bit by a copper head myself and had swelling and sick as a mule. Thought nothing could be worse until last year when I got bit by a Black Widow. I will take ten more copper heads over that dang spider any day.

BP

 

[alabama]

I have lost animals to copperhead bites. Never to a rattler ?

Thats amazing seems like it would be other way around. I was bit by a copper head myself and had swelling and sick as a mule. Thought nothing could be worse until last year when I got bit by a Black Widow. I will take ten more copper heads over that dang spider any day.

BP

YOu need to stay out of the brier patch.

 

[jj216]

I thought copper heads were alot less poisonous than rattlers.I know plenty people got bit buy em .My dawg got bit by a copperhead,swole up a little but was fine .Mabye its different on cattle but I dont know why it would be.

 

[Anonymous]

I have lost animals to copperhead bites. Never to a rattler ?

Thats amazing seems like it would be other way around. I was bit by a copper head myself and had swelling and sick as a mule. Thought nothing could be worse until last year when I got bit by a Black Widow. I will take ten more copper heads over that dang spider any day.

BP

I also was bit by a black widow a few years back, also been bit by a brown recluse...i'd rather be bit by the black widow than the brown recluse

 

[flaboy-]

Being from the land-o-lots-o-snakes I have seen my share. I have had dogs and cows bit. Don't know if it was rattlers or cotton mouths though because I didn't see it.

I lost the last cow that got hit. She took one on the nose. She had been bit for a week or so before I saw her. I got her up to the barn and started shooting high doses of antibiotics into her but it was too late. She swelled behind the jaws in the glands, her nose rotted to the point I put a bullet in her due to the smell. I have had other hit that did just fine on their own. I think it depends on where they take the strike.

I have had dogs hit and just pumped them full of antibiotics also and they did just fine. I took one to the vet and told her I shot him full or penicillin about 10 minutes after the strike and she said "that's all I could have done also". She did give me some pills (antibiotics) for him though.

Don't want to be too graphic here but anyone notice the buzzards don't mess with snake bit critters?

 

[milesvb]

Don't want to be too graphic here but anyone notice the buzzards don't mess with snake bit critters?

I've never heard that before but scavengers sure don't seem to care much for a carcass of a cow pumped full antibiotics.

As far snakes go I would have to agree that between a rattlesnake and copperhead that a rattler would be the worse of the two based on sheer amount of venom injected. My grandfather was bitten by a copperhead and got over it but on the other hand the paper reported that a local fellow was bit on his bare foot about a month ago and died! Most likely it aggravated some other medical condition.

 

[Rustler9]

I was bitten by a copper head a s kid and did fine. I had two cows bitten by either a copperhead or a rattler two summers ago and they both looked bad for about a month and finally went down. They were both bitten under the eye on their jaw, each one ran for awhile and finally dried up.

 

[Beefy]

on a cow how does one distinguish between a copperhead bite and a rattlesnake bite?

 

[backhoeboogie]

I thought copper heads were alot less poisonous than rattlers.I know plenty people got bit buy em .My dawg got bit by a copperhead,swole up a little but was fine .Mabye its different on cattle but I dont know why it would be.

Copperheads carry viruses, in addition to venom. Check with your vet. One virus is very similar to black leg. I too had a dog survive copperhead bite to the nose. A year later the fool got bit again, I didn't see it this time, half his face rotted. Pitiful. The vet tells me it is not the venom, it is the viruses in it.

 

[backhoeboogie]

on a cow how does one distinguish between a copperhead bite and a rattlesnake bite?

It really helps if you can find the critter or see it happen. Otherwise, you can pretty much be assured that a really spread fang mark a ways up on the animal is a rattler.

If it is a small rattler, you can't much tell delta in fang width spread. You just assume copperhead.

 

[jj216]

Thats good info.I didnt know that about copper heads.Learn something everyday.Thanks

 

[D.R. Cattle]

Don't want to be too graphic here but anyone notice the buzzards don't mess with snake bit critters?

I didn't notice that. We had a trap full of culls not too long ago. Bad bags, brokenmouth, bad eyes, etc. Among them was a cow going down hill from a rotted jaw. Stunk like she was already dead. I was told she had been hit by a cottonmouth. A committee of buzzards was already lighting on the fence posts of the trap. We ended up giving her lead poisoning rather than wait for our cull buyer. But since you mentioned it, I never did go back to see if buzzards had cleaned her up or not.

 

[cypressfarms]

Got bit by a copperhead myself when I was a freshman in high school, bit me on the second toe of my right foot as I slid a boot on. Spent the night in the hospital. Copperheads, believe it or not, are more agressive than most venemous snakes in the U.S. It's good that their venom isn't more potent; more people would be seriously ill, and perhaps dead.

 

[Jogeephus]

Had a calf get bit in the leg. Leg (ankle) swole up pretty good and ran fluids for quite some time. He eventually healed on his own.

Most snake bites are dry bites. Only about 30% of the bites are venomous. That's not to say there will not be some venom. But a venomous bite is where the snake pumps you. This occurs when he is hunting for food or when some knit whit is messing with him - usually under the influence of alcohol - this is why 90% of snake bites in humans occur in either the hand or the face.

Last summer, the cost of treating a rattlesnake bite was around $28,000 in our area. So its best to either leave him alone or kill him - unless you are a liberal environmentalist who wishes to end grazing and logging on public lands. If this is the case, its best to put your head as close to the snake as possible and listen to Mother Earth. She WILL speak to you and impart some divine wisdom in your soul. ;-)

 

[Ryder]

Last summer, the cost of treating a rattlesnake bite was around $28,000 in our area. So its best to either leave him alone or kill him - unless you are a liberal environmentalist who wishes to end grazing and logging on public lands. If this is the case, its best to put your head as close to the snake as possible and listen to Mother Earth. She WILL speak to you and impart some divine wisdom in your soul. ;-)

Kill if possible.

 

[msscamp]

This occurs when he is hunting for food or when some knit whit is messing with him - usually under the influence of alcohol - ...

According to what I've read, this statement is not entirely true. The amount of venom injected has a direct correlation to the size of the victim and the fact that snakes are subject to fear as any other animal is - including humans. Because of the fear factor some bites will inject no venom, some bites will inject a higher amount of venom than usual, and some bites will inject somewhere in between.