Snake Bites in Australia That bite of summer has well and truly come early this year and with that heat, comes snakes. 3000 bites are reported annually. 300-500 hospitalisations 2-3 deaths annually. Average time to death is 12 hours. The urban myth that you are bitten in the yard and die before you can walk from your chook pen back to the house is a load of rubbish. While not new, the management of snake bite (like a flood/fire evacuation plan or CPR) should be refreshed each season. Let’s start with a Basic overview. There are five genus of snakes that will harm us (seriously) Browns, Blacks, Adders, Tigers and Taipans. All snake venom is made up of huge proteins (like egg white). When bitten, a snake injects some venom into the meat of your limb (NOT into your blood). This venom can not be absorbed into the blood stream from the bite site. It travels in a fluid transport system in your body called the lymphatic system (not the blood stream). Now this fluid (
