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Wilderness Emergency Care
Thoughts on Snakebite
Steve Beyer

Pit vipers      Coral snakes      Neotropical snakes

Neotropical snakes

For those who are about to go into the jungle, here are some thoughts on snakes and snakebite in the Upper Amazon.

As you might expect, snakes are an important part of the lore of the Amazon. Snakes are symbols of the rope-like ayahuasca vine, and snakes are common elements in ayahuasca visions. Snakes are teachers, who can teach icaros or sacred songs during ayahuasca sessions. When a student receives the mariri or magical phlegm from his master, it enters his mouth in the form of a snake. The patterns on the skin of a snake symbolize the connection between the individual and his ancestors and descendants. The three great Spirit Snakes of the mestizo shamans are Yacumama or "Mother of the Water", Sachamama or "Mother of the Jungle", and Huairamama or "Mother of the Air", corresponding to the three great cosmological realms. It requires little encouragement for natives to tell you stories of their encounters with monstrous snakes in the jungle, with eyes like truck headlights, as large as tree trunks in the jungle or steamboats on the water, or creating whirlwinds and thunder as they fly through the air.

What can you really expect to find?

Well, first, there are Crotalids or pit vipers. Those of most concern are the thirty-one species of snake somewhat indiscriminately referred to by the name fer-de-lance or "lancehead," all of the genus Bothrops, and all looking very similar, with long bodies and large triangular heads. The lanceheads live in the lowland jungle and average four to six feet in length, although they may grow as long as eight feet. They are generally tan with dark brown diamond-like markings along their sides, and are very well camouflaged. Amazonian pit vipers – as opposed to the colorful coral snakes – have clearly chosen crypsis over warning; it is not hard to pass very close to a fer-de-lance without noticing it. Species of Bothrops apparently account for most of the serious snakebites in South America.

There are also two species of so-called forest pit vipers, in the genus Bothriopsis – the two-striped and the speckled, both exclusively arboreal and camouflaged for tree dwelling, with the color green in their pattern. These forest pit vipers are slender snakes, reaching five feet in length, with prehensile tails, usually found coiled around twigs and bushes.

The Amazonian bushmaster or Lachesis muta – the Latin name means "silent fate" – is the largest pit viper in the world, reaching lengths up to twelve feet. The bushmaster is found in the lowland rainforest throughout the Amazon. It is generally a coppery tan with dark brown diamond-shaped marks on its back, rather than on its side. It is active at twilight and night, and coils up in the buttresses of large trees, or under roots and logs. After having fed, a bushmaster will remain in place until it has digested its prey, a period of two to four weeks. Whereas the other Neotropical pit vipers bear live young, the bushmaster lays eggs. Because of its length, it can strike over a long distance; because of its large fangs, it can deliver a large dose of venom – probably the largest venom dose of any pit viper. However, bushmasters are very rarely encountered; many experienced tropical herpetologists have yet to see their first wild specimen. Thus, few envenomations actually occur, although the fatality rate is reportedly high. I have been unable to find information about the age, physical condition, or treatment of reported fatalities.

There are also Elapidae or coral snakes in the Upper Amazon – fifty-three species in the genus Micruris and one species in the genus Micruoides. Like the northern species, they have various combinations of black and brightly colored rings. As is often the case when a venomous snake has chosen warning over camouflage, the venomous coral snakes intermingle in the environment with nonvenomous mimics, with all sorts of color ring patterns. Everyone knows the rhyme that helps you remember the difference between North American venomous coral snakes and nonvenomous king snakes – "Red on yellow, kill a fellow; red on black, poison lack." This distinction does not hold true south of Mexico City. There is no simple visual way of distinguishing venomous coral snakes from nonvenomous mimics in the Upper Amazon. Neotropical coral snakes can be active day or night, and can be found beneath logs or rocks. Envenomations are apparently very rare.

So, what does this mean? Well, you should not tease a fer-de-lance; but then neither would you tease a rattlesnake, if you have any sense at all. If you exercise the same care you would exercise, say, in the Rocky Mountains, the chances of actually being envenomated by an Amazonian snake are relatively low. It is very difficult to find hard data on who actually gets bitten, the effects of envenomation at different ages or conditions of health, or on the outcome of indigenous treatments. If envenomation occurs, treatment – and the likelihood of recovery – is probably about the same as for North American Crotalids and Elapids. Be careful. Have fun.

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