# My Marrema chasing snakes



## teejae (Jan 21, 2013)

My beautiful Lulu was bitten by a snake she had stirred up in the long grass while we were looking for a lost chook(chicken). I didn't see it happen but went toward the dogs( my Border collie was with her) to see what they were doing. Anyway called them to me to come away and as you know how deadly snakes in Australia (Tipans, Browns,Red belly blacks and the list goes on). I relised Lu had been bit on the lip as it was swelling before my eyes! In fact her whole muzzle blew up up in seconds. I was horrified as we are an hours drive from any Vet not to mention it was after hours!! So rang the Vet on call and she reassured me that if there was swelling then the bit was most likely from a Python and to give her antihistamines they worked really well and I checked her just before I went to bed and gave her another tablet and could see it was already going down. In the morning all was back to normal and I was so relieved. She is a fantastic dog and so protective of her goats and I just wanted to share how she was so lucky that it was a non poison snake, teejae


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## ksalvagno (Oct 6, 2009)

Glad she is ok. That must have been terrifying.


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## groovyoldlady (Jul 21, 2011)

OH my! I can't even fathom how scary that would be. I live in Maine (USA), so no poisonous snakes here at all. I'm glad she was ok!!


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## top_goat (Sep 16, 2014)

Here in Texas we have just about every type of poisonous snake on the books... if it slithers and doesn't have legs, it just as likely wants to kill ya! LOL 

Anywho, I find that my female LGD's are good snake dogs -- though smart -- while the males, at least so far, tend to pretty much ignore them. The girls wake me up at night when snakes are in the paddocks, running in circles around the coiled, ill-tempered little buggars until I can get out there with a more permanent solution. On the other hand, I was out walking perimeter with my senior male one day last fall when he casually turns his head to look at something. There, about 4 feet away (and fortunately traveling the opposite direction we were) was a copperhead! Thanks Pongo...appreciate the heads up, buddy!


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## Suzanne_Tyler (Jul 19, 2014)

Glad she's ok. That must have been very stressful!


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## teejae (Jan 21, 2013)

Thanks normally she is really good with snakes and so fast! But I think this time she didn't see it in the long grass. Anyway she is good as now and her happy self .Its illegal to kill snakes in Aust. all native animals are protected and if caught you can cop a hefty fine. Teejae


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## toth boer goats (Jul 20, 2008)

Oh wow, glad she is OK.


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## catharina (Mar 17, 2016)

I'm glad snakes are protected there. Here, some people just kill any snake they see, poisonous or not. Or kill the poisonous ones who are nowhere near any buildings or people or domestic animals. It's a shame. I'm glad your dog lived, & very amazed that an antihistamine could treat snakebite!


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## top_goat (Sep 16, 2014)

catharina said:


> I'm glad snakes are protected there. Here, some people just kill any snake they see, poisonous or not. Or kill the poisonous ones who are nowhere near any buildings or people or domestic animals. It's a shame. I'm glad your dog lived, & very amazed that an antihistamine could treat snakebite!


I'm no expert here, but I wonder if a non-lethal snake bite would be somewhat similar to a wasp or bee sting... hence the usefulness of the antihistamine?

As for lethal bites, Pat Colby recommends Vitamin C!!! Not long after we got our land, one of our goats got snake struck. Based on the size of the puncture wound I'm guessing a rattlesnake. She was going down fast. All I had on hand at that time was a bottle of children's liquid Vit C (berry flavored!!!) I drenched that down her 12 mls at a time and do you know she started turning around almost immediately!!! It just about took the whole bottle, but it may have saved her life. Since then I keep a bottle of injectible Vit C on hand for toxin emergencies. Now I agree with Ms. Colby - anyone in "snake country" should keep this on hand! It is Rx - get it from your vet.


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## ChrisM (Jan 13, 2014)

Non venomous snakes are protected here but most don't care and it's rarely if ever enforced. Too many "they all gotta die" people running around worrying about what they don't understand. Either that or the Bible told them they all have to die because of that serpent in the Garden of Eden story. 

So I guess from your story that the Pythons there have some kind of something in their saliva that caused the reaction? I've been bitten by several non venomous snakes over the years and never put anything on them. 

Glad your dog's ok though. You guys do have some nasty snakes on your little island. We used to have hunting dogs that would get bitten from time to time by copperheads. Never lost one but boy their faces would sure swell up for a day or two.


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