We have some really venomous and deadly snakes here in Ecuador. Last February something really terrible happened, my husband was bitten by snake, a deadly one. It was normal morning. I was waiting for my husband to come back home from work, he is working in Cuyabeno Reserve as a naturalist guide. Suddenly my phone rang, which was a bit odd, because it was my husband and he called one hour earlier than normal. Cuyabeno area don’t have any mobile phone signal and he calls me when he receives the signal, it’s always the same time because the itinerary for the tour don’t change.

I answer the phone and hear my husband telling me that I shouldn’t worry, everything is fine and he is in a small local hospital because he was bitten by a deadly snake! He told me they had given him antivenom and next they would transfer him into a hospital at Lago Agrio, with an ambulance. Of course I got really worried and went to the hospital to wait him.

Fer-de-lance is one of the most deadly snakes of Central and South America. It was a Fer-de-lance which bite my husband. This picture I took in Manu, Peru.

One hour later he arrived to the hospital. His eyes looked really weird. Later I actually saw on TV a small child bitten by a snake and his eyes looked the same, so apparently it’s some kind of affect from the venom. At the hospital doctor evaluated his condition, they took some lab tests and he got a bed at the emergency room. The lab results showed he still had venom in his blood so they gave him more antivenom. In total he was three days at the emergency getting the antivenom. Every 6 hours they controlled his blood and gave him more antivenom. After his labs were OK doctor gave him a permission to come back home. During the day I stayed with him at the hospital, but for the nights I went back home. At that time I was eight months pregnant. People here believe that staying near to a person who is bitten by a snake can start the delivery, but our baby didn’t want to born then and she stayed one more month in my belly.

My husband was really unlucky to get bitten by a snake. He had finished a tour and was coming back home. When getting up from the canoe he put his hand in the ground to get support and didn’t notice there was a snake on the ground. At first he didn’t even notice the snakebite, he said it felt like a branch touched him. He realized that he had been bitten later when he was standing and noticed that there was a snake on the ground that tried to attack him again. He killed the snake for later identification, which was one of the most deadly snakes in the area, Fer-de-lance. Lucky enough he wasn’t deep in the jungle anymore, but near to Tarapoa, where is a small hospital for emergencies. He found a motorbike and drove quickly to the Tarapoa hospital to get treatment. Because he got the first dose of antivenom less than half an hour from the bite, he didn’t suffer any serious after effects, which can be really bad ones if can’t get treatment quickly.

Even this unlucky situation happened to him, don’t be afraid to travel to the jungle. My husband has worked in the area for many years and this was the first time venomous snake bite him. Also any tourists in his group never has been bitten, and he haven’t heard of such a thing happen to any tourist traveling to Cuyabeno. The Lodges provide wellington boots for the forest hikes.

WHAT TO DO IN CASE OF A SNAKEBITE

Snake that bite my husband was still a baby

What to do in case of a snakebite is important thing to know, as venomous snakes are found all over the world. Lear the basic things you need to know, in a case of an emergency you know what to do.

-Stay calm and try not to move much. If you get into a panic your heart pumps faster and the venom gets to your body faster too, same thing with the physical activities.

-Go to hospital, at the hospital they can evaluate your condition and give you antivenom. Don’t wait, the quicker you get treatment the better your diagnose is going to be

– Don’t apply wraps or tourniquets around the bite

-Support the bitten limb