A Serpentine Spectrum

I used to be able to say, with complete sincerity, that in a lifetime of working with reptiles, I've never been bitten by a venomous snake.

I suppose that I can no longer say that.  Not because of any recent bite that's changed by stats - but because of the continuing evolution and redefinition of "venom."

A lot of people think of venom as binary - a snake is or it isn't, and if it is, and it bites you, you're going to die (instantly, if the movies are to be trusted... which they aren't).  In reality, venom is a spectrum.  If we're describing it by its pure definition, a substance which is injected (via fangs, stingers, etc) that has an injurious impact on the victim... well, a lot of species become venomous.  The thing is, we just never really noticed or considered a lot of them venomous before, because the impact on humans - the species that we are, naturally, the most concerned about - is negligible.  

Gartersnakes, for example, are a group of fairly small, very common snakes found across North America.  I played with them all the time as a kid, and was nipped more than once.  They are one of the species that I first learned snake handling on - and apparently, they actually are venomous.  None of those bites ever had any impact on me, but the venom was still there - it was just meant to act on their actual prey, not on humans.  The same can be said for many exotic snakes.  Tentacled snakes, an aquatic Asian species very popular in zoos and aquariums, are also mildly venomous.  In the unlikely event that you can get one to bite you (they are very docile), you may experience some slight itchiness.  Maybe.

This keeper probably wouldn't be holding a "real" venomous snake this way

This mostly becomes a headache for herp curators who are formulating protocols for their facilities.  When I was starting off in the field, the dichotomy between venomous and nonvenomous snakes was clear.  If you had training and experience that had been signed off by the curator, you were clear to work with the venomous snakes.  If you didn't, then you did not.  There were no ifs, ands, or buts, and an untrained keeper were to be found working with a venomous snake without approval, there would be hell to pay.  Some of those "mildly venomous" species - the tentacled snakes came to mind - were still counted as venomous, because no one wanted to decide where to draw the line, and it seemed like a slippery slope.

Still, new keepers were, on their first day, working with gartersnakes, and hognosed snakes, and other snakes that we know now are venomous.  I wonder how the protocols have changed to embrace this new reality.  Which species are safe to work with?  Does it matter for training purposes?  For safety drills?  For insurance?  Can venomous snakes neatly be divided into dangerous and non-dangerous categories?

Nature is messy, and animals don't seem to read the rule books that we write.  That's part of what makes working with them so chaotic - and so much fun.