HOWTO deal with an anaconda bite
If an anaconda bites your hand, should you pull your hand out, push it in further, or give the snake a good poke in the eye? National Geographic tells you as part of their series of "Survival Guide Videos." In this clip, you can watch a herpetologist get bitten in the hand and, fortunately, get free.Anaconda Bite video (National Geographic)
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For those of us at work who can't watch video, can someone post what the correct action is?
Poke your hand further in. Snake teeth are curved backwards, so pulling your hand out would just get you impaled deeper. Poking a snake in the eye doesn't do anything. You also need someone to open the jaws while you do it.
That's what I did when my python bit me (he was hungry and I wasn't careful). I used my other hand and a pencil to pry open his jaws. Then I slathered my hand liberally with three kinds of antibiotics, because, you know, snakes are potty-mouths.
I've had big snakes. They're triggered by movement. If you don't move, they'll usually release after a few minutes. You could probably pry your way out of a six footer, but a big snake that weighs 300 pounds or more, better to stay very still.
But after you've pushed you hand further in.....umm...then don't you have to pull it out?? I'm confused....does the snake gag?
If you can get it into water and it can't get you in, hold it under until it lets go. It would rather unlatch than drown.
Note: Applies to other biting animals, but don't try it with a croc.
It should be noted that anacondas generally don't bite (or don't want none) unless you've got buns, hun.
Actually, the answer is:
D) Cut it's fucking head off with a machete
Why can't they just leave the goddamn snake alone?
couldn't you distract it with a signed Bush autobiography?
I grew up reading and re-reading Swiss Family Robinson, so I know. If anaconda grabs you, kiss your ass goodye.
How about biting it's head off?
don't harsh on the snake, man. Rilly. To get an anaconda to bite a man you pretty well have to assault it like they did. I'm pretty sure that any humans ever eaten were unattended children. Mostly they lie around in a foot of water waiting for lunch to step into their throat. I think people hate them out of envy.
I am with Patrick Austin on this one.
If you are in the bush, you should have with you a knife; said knife, in order to do the other normal jobs, will be large enough to make quick work of taking the head off a snake. Which would make it a little easier to extricate your hand with the least amount of damage, since the head is not connected to a tube of writhing muscle 8 feet long.
Of course they could not do that here since they probably wanted to study the poor creature
I like my strategy better...staying the hell away from any snakes or anything snake-like.
@#4
you have to push backwards in order to get yourself "unhooked" from their teeth. Since the teeth are curved, pulling your hand directly out will only further impale you.
at least, that's what i think the reason is
then hopefully his mouth is open wide enough that you can pull your hand out without snagging it on his teeth.
but i prefer jardine's strategy.
@ #7 & #11:
http://www.angryflower.com/bobsqu.gif
Also, if you don't want to kill the snake, a bottle of whiskey dumped into its mouth will cause it to drop you. Has the side effect of sterilizing the bite wounds as well as improving the snake's breath. A friend of mine who kept a 20-foot Burmese would always have an open bottle of whiskey within reach when feeding it, just in case. And you knife fans should realize that A) snake skins are tough and B) the first wrap a constrictor makes is around its own head/neck for precisely that reason, so give yourself 10-15 minutes to complete that task with 300 lbs. of muscle trying to pin your arms down. So to amend my advice above: hand your whiskey bottle to a friend standing nearby.
"They got snakes out here this big!?!!?"
Poke your hand further in.
Say what?!?
Gom Jabbar, again. Are you human?
Simply accept your fate monkeys
Exactly the same strategy used to extricate one's self from a clingy ex-girlfriend's grasp, then.
Judging by the video, the true answer is:
4) have a friend handy to pull the snake's mouth wide open while you get your hand out any way you like.
can I haz lolanaconda?
haven't these guys ever heard of the wasp knife?
Internet Survival Tip #113, Section 5 - Snake Bites: While using the machete method, it is best to make certain you correctly and accurately judge the distance from the tip of the snake's mouth to the end of your hand. See also Captain Hook, Luke Skywalker.
First of all, make sure that there aren't any M-F'ing snakes on your M-F'ing plane. That's from one of those movies that the kids these days like. I haven't seen it, myself. It looked dumb. Also, bad. It had that guy from that smart shark movie. That, I saw. It sucked. On the plus side, it ended, eventually. Then I leaned over and I commented to my wife on just how bad the film was. She looked back at me, terrified. Later, the police arrived.
Apparently I'm not married.