Mature snakes have control of the amt of venom they inject. Venom production uses a lot of resources so most snakes will conserve. Many defensive bites are dry or nearly dry. I had a pet speckled rattle snake for about 5 years. When I fed him the first time I timed how long it took the mouse to die. It was about 25 seconds if i remember correctly. As time went on it took longer and longer, sometimes requiring multiple bites. The snake was using less and less venom as it knew the mouse could not escape.I always thought that was very interesting. Of course that means his sacs were full and I would be up the creek if I got hit. But that never happened.Oh and glad to hear your buddy is doing fine!
First off, I'm glad the dog wasn't seriously hurt. I'm inclined to think she got a dry bite as a warning.Experiences like this makes you appreciate them a whole lot more. The prevalence of venomous snakes one of the reasons why I don't take my dogs hunting in the jungle anymore. Quote from: superchikn on June 21, 2018, 01:21:26 PMMature snakes have control of the amt of venom they inject. Venom production uses a lot of resources so most snakes will conserve. Many defensive bites are dry or nearly dry. I had a pet speckled rattle snake for about 5 years. When I fed him the first time I timed how long it took the mouse to die. It was about 25 seconds if i remember correctly. As time went on it took longer and longer, sometimes requiring multiple bites. The snake was using less and less venom as it knew the mouse could not escape.I always thought that was very interesting. Of course that means his sacs were full and I would be up the creek if I got hit. But that never happened.Oh and glad to hear your buddy is doing fine!Adult snakes do tend to conserve venom, while younger ones will dump everything they have on the first bite, every time, until they learn to conserve. This has been proven with animals in captivity a long time now over multiple species of venomous snakes.But it's also known that adult snakes in captivity for extended periods do produce less venom, & it's usually of lower potency than their wild counterparts, though it's unclear as to why this happens.Could very well be that the reduced potency is the reason multiple bites were required for your pet to dispatch the mouse.
Sounds like a dry bite. Lucky pup!http://www.snakesandspiders.com/dry-snake-bite/Chris