Snakes grow rapidly till they mature and then continue to grow very slowly till their death. As they grow, they outgrow their skin so they moult the old one after a new skin has formed under it. The snake splits the old skin at the nose and literally crawls out of the old skin. During moulting, the snake stops eating but becomes aggressive.
A bite from a poisonous snake affects either the nervous system (neurotoxic) or the blood vessels (hemotoxic) of human beings. The only cure against snake bite is snake anti-venom. It is made by injecting very small doses of raw venom (about one-tenth of the fatal dose) into a horse and then gradually increasing the dose, making the horse immune to snake venom. The blood of the horse is then drawn, frozen and processed after separating the antibodies and crystallized into a powder. This is anti-venom as we know it.
When a snake bite occurs, the following first aid measures should be taken. Panic should be avoided and the patient should be kept warm and reassured. The wound should be checked to see if it is a poisonous or non poisonous bite. A poisonous bite will have two big fang marks, a non poisonous bite will have many teeth marks.
If the bite is poisonous, the patient should first be immobilized. No alcohol, tea, coffee or other stimulants, nor even painkillers should be given.
The wound should not be washed or cut or the poison swabbed out as this could cause infection and loss of blood. A tight tourniquet can be tied a little above the wound, such that one finger should be able to pass under the tourniquet. The patient should be transported as quickly as possible to the nearest hospital. The tourniquet should be left in place until antivenom is given. But it should be released for 10 seconds every 90 seconds and should not be used for more than six hours. At the hospital antivenom will be given which rapidly subdues the effects of the venom.
To avoid snakes, the following precautions must be taken. Rubbish around the house should be cleared. Rat holes should be filled and rats should be prevented from breeding in and around the house. Long tree branches touching the houses and creepers trailing the porches and window panes should be cut. Good boots should be used while walking through forested area. Avoid stepping over any obstacle when the other side is not visible and use a torch while moving outside the house at night.
Chapter 7: A Vacation within a Vacation
My stay at the Pune Snake Park was to be for about three weeks but I was enjoying the experience so much that I was reluctant to return home. To my good fortune the family decided to spend the Diwali vacation holidaying in Rajasthan and since it was necessary to travel to Mumbai to catch the onward train north, I persuaded my parents that I would come to Mumbai directly from Pune where I would meet them at my grandparents' house in Girgaum. So I got myself a few extra days at the Park and another experience of finding my way around, this time in the big city of Mumbai.
Sujit bought me a bus ticket to Mumbai and dropped me off at the bus station as well. I had earlier received elaborate instructions on the phone from my dad on how I was to get to Girgaum once I got off the bus at Dadar and backup information from my nervous Mum on what I should do in case I got lost. I later learnt that my uncle and family were also put on alert to receive a call from their nephew in distress, which did not happen for I was determined to find my way on my own, and I succeeded in doing so.
The bus left Pune at around 10 a.m. and arrived in Mumbai a little after 2 p.m. I took a taxi, gave the driver the address and watched carefully as the taxi sped away down unfamiliar streets. I could barely recognise the place where the driver dropped me off but I asked around and after wandering about for around 20 minutes, found myself suddenly at the doorstep of the familiar 47/C Khotachiwadi, my paternal grandparents' house. My aunt and uncle were expecting me and so were my favourite cousins, Lucano and Ricardo. An hour later came my parents' anxious call from Goa to find out if I had reached safely. By then I was already in my shorts watching a movie on TV with my cousins.