Snake owner survives venomous bite with help from Riverbanks Zoo
Maybe more than any other venomous snakes, mambas make me nervous. They're smart and alert, have a twitchy, nervous disposition, and are fast as lightning. Combine that with a deadly neurotoxin which can kill a human many times over and you can see why they rank very high on my list of animals to not get bitten by. One private pet owner in North Carolina (where keeping venomous snakes is legal) was not having a lucky day and was bitten by his pet green mamba, the smaller, more arboreal cousin to the more famous black mamba.
Being an African species, green mamba bites aren't something that many hospitals in the US are ever going to have to deal with, so they don't stock the very expensive, perishable antivenin to treat bite victims. Green mambas aren't quite rare in zoos, but they also aren't super common. The victim is very lucky that there was a zoo within a reasonable distance (read: a one-state radius) that had antivenin. The staff of the Riverbanks Zoo is to be congratulated for their quick response, which doubtlessly saved this man's life.
Green mambas are gorgeous snakes, no doubt about it. That beauty is matched with incredible danger. Perhaps, in light of recent events, the owner might consider a corn snake or a ball python next time.
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