Garter snakes are mildly venomous

[Mampam]

i very recently learned that garter snakes are actually mildly venomous, but that it, and its injection method are very poorly developed, and theyre of course rear fanged

reptiles are my specialty, and i didnt know this? descracefull lol.....

ive been bitten or mauled by garter and ribbon snakes before and never reacted, (tho i never seem to react to anything lol)

its also funny cuz about a month before i learned this, i was looking at this pick, (takin in june) and noticed resemblance to the boomslang, and the tooth that shows, thinking it could be a rear fang, but never new

sorry, didnt wana be in it

 

[Jfitz]

wow thats a shocker, when my bro was about 3 years old he was walking in a forest and saw a baby garter snake and decided to pick it up. To his surprise it latched on to his arm with his (gums) and terrified my bro. If only we knew back then that it could of been venomous rofll

 

[Havey]

I read years ago of a child reacting to a garter snake bite and losing some tissue to the bite.

 

[Knowdafish]

Venemous or is their mouth bacteria toxic?

 

[Tifftastic]

Personally, I recently read nasty mouth bacteria . . .

 

[Knowdafish]

Personally, I recently read nasty mouth bacteria . . .

I would agree.

 

[smijeha]

i think its hogwash. i think some people are just allergic to the saliva. i have allergies and have been bitten by tons of garters, rats, and kingsnakes and never had a prob. but a dog licks me and i get a rash. people just react differently.

 

[Kioka]

http://www.venomdoc.com

The fact that garter snakes are rear-fanged venomous is not widely unknown. So it is not hogwash. In fact, even corn snakes carry venom glands (found through dissection), but they have no method of delivering it thus making North American ratsnakes/milksnakes/gophersnakes natural venomoids.

Like with anything, there are varying strength of venom potency and effectiveness of delivery.

 

[smijeha]

if there is no way for it to deliver the venom, then how does that make them venomous? do the glands even produce venom or are they remanents from millions of yrs of evolution like how boas have the spurs/legs? even if the garters do have the gland, they cant deliver.....thus i think people are just reacting to the saliva and or bacteria in the mouth. my buddy got bitten by a sav and his hand got all swollen and puffy and hurt for a couple days. does that make the sav monitor venomous? no, he just reacted to the saliva and or bacteria in the mouth. ive been bitten by savs and dang near had my finger twisted off by a blackthroat monitor and i never had a reaction. heck, i dont think i even used soap to clean off my wound.

 

[Kioka]

You know what a venomoid means? Venomoid is a venomous reptile with a delivery system that have been rendered useless. So a natural venomoid implies that they used to have a way to deliever it, but evolution selected against it in favour for other methods such as constricting.

So the venom glands in the North American ratsnakes (which include gophers and milks) is a remnant.

Hell, the garter snake's closest relative is fairly well-known to cause people to bleed out of their orifices... yes I am talking about the Rhabdophis. It just that gartersnake venoms are so MILD, it doesn't have an impact on the average human being... much like tarantulas. Deadly to insects, but not even noticeable to humans.