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Posted by gila7150 on August 23, 2002 at 11:03:47:
In Reply to: Pssamophis posted by BGF on August 22, 2002 at 04:23:40:
:I now have Pssamophis on the list of genera not to get nailed by. Yesterday we milked one of the P. mossambica (the snake that is usually referred to as P. sibilans even though that snake is a dinky little one in reality) and got huge venom yields. So, today we chucked a mouse into the cage with the P. sudanensis. The P. sudanensis killed the mouse in less than two minutes!!! It bit it, chewed three times and sat back to wait while just holding the mouse in its mouth as if it knew things would be over soon .... and they were!! Very very scary. Less than two minutes would be about average for a cobra of equivalent head size having an average feeding bite. I now have Pssamophis very very much on the list of snakes not to get by!!! Death was by neurotoxicity!
:Fun stuff!
:BGF
I'm really looking forward to reading about what you find out about these guys. I was babysitting one of the Pssamophis that was sent to you. (We were referring to it as sibilans although this may have been incorrect). It was the largest of the Pssamophis and was solid black/dark grey in color. I fed it live once while it was in my care and also noticed an extremely fast kill rate. The mouse seemed to exhibit paralysis of the rear legs and urinary incontinence after only about 45 seconds. I also noticed a fairly significant amount of bleeding from the mouth similar to a boomslang bite. I'll be really interested to see if you find a strong anticoagulant in their venom.
Good luck with your research.
Chris
