TEXAS PARKS AND WILDLIFE DEPARTMENT
POISONOUS SNAKES OF TEXAS
AND FIRST AID TREATMENT
OF THEIR BITES
BULLETIN NO. 31
Originally published February 1950
Revised February 1952
Reprinted May 1960
Revised July 1963; May 1964
Reprinted Jan. 1967
Reprinted Jan. 1969
Reprinted August 1970
By
JOHN E. WERLER
Director, Houston Zoological Gardens
Published by Texas Parks and Wildlife Department
Austin, Texas
TABLE OF CONTENTS
[INTRODUCTION] 4 [PRECAUTIONS AT HOME] 5 [PROTECTION IN THE FIELD] 7 [RECOGNIZING THE POISONOUS KINDS] 8 [THE PIT VIPERS] 12 [THE COPPERHEADS] 13 [Southern] 14 [Northern] 16 [Broadbanded] 18 [Trans-Pecos] 20 [THE COTTONMOUTH] 22 [Western Cottonmouth] 22 [THE RATTLESNAKES] 25 [Western Massasauga] 26 [Western Pigmy] 28 [Western Diamondback] 30 [Timber] 34 [Canebrake] 36 [Banded Rock] 38 [Mottled Rock] 40 [Blacktailed] 42 [Mojave] 44 [Prairie] 46 [THE ELAPID SNAKES] 48 [Texas Coral] 48 [VENOMS] 52 [DIAGNOSING THE BITE] 53 [SEVERITY OF THE BITE] 54 [FIRST AID TREATMENT] 55 [SUGGESTIONS TO PHYSICIANS] 57 [BIBLIOGRAPHY] 61 [FILMS] 62