COMMON OF JHB/PRETORIA Johannesburg and Pretoria have a great variety of snakes with most of them not considered dangerous. Two can inflict painful bites while five species can be considered very dangerous.

VERY DANGEROUS MILDLY HARMLESS DANGEROUS VENOMOUS Has caused Painful bite, but does Not thought Not dangerous human fatalities not require to be harmful to humans

VERY VERY VERY VERY DANGEROUS DANGEROUS DANGEROUS DANGEROUS Rinkhals Snouted - banded phase Spitting Cobra Puff Adder (Hemachatus haemachatus) ( annulifera) (Naja mossambica) Photo Martin Smit (Bitis arietans arietans)

DANGEROUS MILDLY DANGEROUS VENOMOUS HARMLESS Bibron’s Stiletto Rhombic Night Adder Herald or Red-lipped Snake Bibron’s Blind Snake (Atractaspis bibronii) Photo Warren Dick (Causus rhombeatus) (Crotaphopeltis hotamboeia) (Afrotyphlops bibronii)

MILDLY MILDLY HARMLESS HARMLESS VENOMOUS VENOMOUS Short-snouted Grass Snake Spotted Skaapsteker Rhombic Egg-eater Common Brown Water Snake (Psammophis brevirostris) (Psammophylax rhombeatus) (Dasypeltis scabra) (Lycodonomorphus rufulus) Photo Tyrone Ping

HARMLESS MILDLY CAN INFLICT HARMLESS VENOMOUS A NASTY BITE Brown House Snake Aurora House Snake Black-headed Centipede-eater Mole Snake (Boaedon capensis) (Lamprophis aurora) (Aparallactus capensis) (Pseudaspis cana) © Johan Marais African Institute Snakebite African © Johan Marais

JOHAN MARAIS is the author of various books on including the best-seller A Complete Guide to Snakes of . He is a popular public speaker and offers a variety of courses including Snake Awareness, Scorpion Awareness EMERGENCY PROTOCOL and Handling. Johan is accredited by the International Society of Zoological Sciences (ISZS) and is a IN THE EVENT OF A SNAKE BITE Field Guides Association of Southern Africa (FGASA) and DO NOT ww Travel Doctor-approved service provider. His courses are 1 Keep the victim calm, immobilized and ... apply a tourniquet. also accredited by the Health Professions Council of transport the victim to the closest ... cut and suck the wound. (HPCSA). ... use ice or very hot water. hospital without delay. ... give the victim alcohol. ... apply electric shock. 2 If the victim stops breathing, resort to ... inject antivenom randomly. artificial respiration or make use of a Antivenom (if required) must Johan Marais | African Snakebite Institute Bag Valve Mask. be administered by a doctor +27 82 494 2039 | [email protected] 3 Call the Poison Information Centre help- in a hospital environment. www.AFRICANSNAKEBITEINSTITUTE.com line for further advice: 0861 555 777.