Venomous Snake Bite...

[Martin Page]

Its just crossed my mind, having very nearly been bitten by a very large Viper, what one does in the way of medical care for being bitten by a poisonous snake here in Spain. Obviously if you live near a hospital you would go there. but otherwise ...Is it a 061 phone call or will a pharmacy be able to assist.

[El Cid]

About the only seriously venomous snakes here are the Viper and if you get bitten by one you will need antivenom and you must go to Urgencias or the nearest hospital asap. The larger and more common Montpelier snake is venomous but is less likely to bite you and is not so poisonous as a viper.

Could be life threatening

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/health/ ... viper.html

Sid

[scotty]

Well if you have a good friend with you they could suck out the poison like in the movies

[Parilla]

That would depend where you were bitten Scotty !

Parilla

[Lavanda]

There is an anti-venom kit you can buy in Boots. If you are hiking in the countryside and are a long way from a hospital or pharmacy (and you are not likely to be bitten by anything serious in a town, are you) the kit will give you time to get to civilisation.

[knowal]

Vipers are rare in Spain. Viperine snakes, Natrix Maura (which love water) are very much more common and often mistaken by ex-pats for adders, which are very rare in Spain.
Which type of viper was it, Martin?

[Lavanda]

I think I am rightly remembering that only three or four people a year actually die of snake bites in Spain and they are all in the north, in Cantabria, for example.

[Martin Page]

Ah ... there by hangs a question. Type ? ...
Well, It was very fast, having been sunbathing on my concrete based garden work surface. It was, Id guess, about a meter long and about 25-30mm diameter. The thing that I noticed more than anything was the brown diamond pattern running down it length, on a light brown body as it fell onto the floor.
From my days in the scouts I was always told that vipers and adders had that diamond pattern. Where as grass snakes were a all over greenish colour.
As for Water ... we are miles away from any standing water other than that of the sea ...
So your guess is as good as mine white horse - I didn't hang about to find out more !

[El Cid]

Some good pictures here http://www.ruralspain.info/snakesinspain.htm

Sid

[Martin Page]

Very similar .... I didn't really hang about to look at the detail