About our e-newsletters
- Free e-newsletters
- Mayo Clinic expertise
- We do not share your e-mail address
Housecall, our weekly general-interest e-newsletter, keeps you up to date on a wide variety of health topics with timely, reliable, practical information, recipes, blogs, questions and answers with Mayo Clinic experts and more. Our biweekly topic-specific e-newsletters also include blogs, questions and answers with Mayo Clinic experts, and other useful information that will help you manage your health.
Housecall Archives
Mayo Clinic Housecall
Stay up to date on the latest health information.
What you get
- Free weekly e-newsletter
- Mayo Clinic expertise
- Recipes, tools and other helpful information
- We do not share your e-mail address
Most North American snakes aren't poisonous. Some exceptions include the rattlesnake, coral snake, water moccasin and copperhead. Their bite can be life-threatening.
Of the poisonous snakes found in North America, all but the coral snake have slit-like eyes. Their heads are triangular, with a depression, or pit, midway between the eyes and nostrils.
Other characteristics are unique to certain poisonous snakes:
- Rattlesnakes rattle by shaking the rings at the end of their tails.
- Water moccasins' mouths have a white, cottony lining.
- Coral snakes have red, yellow and black rings along the length of their bodies.
To reduce your risk of snakebite, avoid touching any snake. Instead, back away slowly. Most snakes avoid people if possible and bite only when threatened or surprised.
If a snake bites you:
- Remain calm
- Immobilize the bitten arm or leg and stay as quiet as possible to keep the poison from spreading through your body
- Remove jewelry before you start to swell
- Position yourself, if possible, so that the bite is at or below the level of your heart
- Cleanse the wound, but don't flush it with water, and cover it with a clean, dry dressing
- Apply a splint to reduce movement of the affected area, but keep it loose enough so as not to restrict blood flow
- Don't use a tourniquet or apply ice
- Don't cut the wound or attempt to remove the venom
- Don't drink caffeine or alcohol
- Don't try to capture the snake, but try to remember its color and shape so you can describe it, which will help in your treatment
Call 911 or seek immediate medical attention, especially if the area changes color, begins to swell or is painful.
- How to prevent or respond to a snake bite. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. http://emergency.cdc.gov/disasters/snakebite.asp. Accessed Nov. 17, 2009.
- What to do in a medical emergency: Bites and stings. American College of Emergency Physicians. http://www.emergencycareforyou.org/EmergencyManual/WhatToDoInMedicalEmergency/Default.aspx?id=210&terms=snake+bites. Accessed Nov. 12, 2009.
- Bowers R, et al. Disorders due to physical & environmental agents. In: Stone C, et al. Current Diagnosis & Treatment: Emergency Medicine. 6th ed. Los Altos, Calif.: Lange Medical Publishing; 2009. http://www.accessmedicine.com/content.aspx?aID=3113673. Accessed Nov. 12, 2009.
- Quick answers: Bites, snake. AccessMedicine. http://www.accessmedicine.com/quickam.aspx. Accessed Nov. 12, 2009.
Find Mayo Clinic on