and liver are back to normal. My finger is
still a bit numb and healing, but other than
that it’s pretty good. It’s funny you ask about
the research; I signed documents to allow my
blood to be used by a research group that
spoke out against me on one of the news
reports. I’m all for supporting research
though, because it’s important to learn what
we can about these snakes and the impacts of
the bites.
Mitchell: Do you have any other advice or
comments for people interested in keeping
elapids? There are certainly many younger
keepers out there that aspire to keep elapids.
1.
2.
news. To be honest I lost it - I was really aggravated. I
knew they’d show it all incorrectly, which is exactly
what happened. I don’t even know how they got wind of
it; I’d be interested to know who told them. The police
even came to check my house and animals out to make
sure that I wasn’t doing anything illegal or unsafe. My
dad found it a bit concerning, not because we were doing
anything wrong, but because the police wanted to move
the snakes when they didn’t have appropriate training. A
friend of mine, local snake handler David Farrimond,
was called out to check and secure the situation and
prevent any injury to the police.
Mitchell: Are there any lasting effects on your body
from the envenomation? Is your incident contributing to
the research record?
Nathan: I actually got results back on my recovery and
I’m back to ‘good ol’ Nathan’! I went back to work a few
days after being released from hospital and my kidneys
Nathan: Don’t rush into it is the most
important thing. I think people should take it
slow. A lot of younger guys see the older
blokes with all the cool snakes and they want
them now. I think it’s important people get
proper training and learn good handling with-
out getting complacent. I see a lot of people
free-handling online and I think lots of young
keepers get the wrong idea about elapids
from that - there isn’t really enough respect. I
was tempted a lot to free-handle before the
bite, but now I understand just how much
impact one bite can have. I mean, when I
woke from the coma I was told I was hanging
on by a hair. I couldn’t be bumped or have
blood taken otherwise they think I would
have bled to death internally. A lot of people
think the doctors will fix you up and you’ll be
fine after a bite, but it’s pretty serious and
something you can only appreciate when it
happens.
Mitchell: How do you feel about the reptile
community’s response to your envenoma-
tion? Overall from my perspective it seemed
incredibly supportive!
Nathan: I was really surprised about how much positive
stuff came out of it - I wasn’t expecting anything like
that. There were only a few of the old boy venom keepers
and people that don’t think that venomous animals
should be kept that said negative things. I think what a lot
of people didn’t realise was that I could have died from
the bite. They told my father a day into my coma that I
could quite likely die in the next 48 hours. I bet the
people that said nasty things wouldn’t feel too great if I
had died. With that said, the positive comments were
much more overwhelming. I had people from across the
world sending me words of support and well wishes.
Like, I had people from Jordan and the UK messaging
me.
Mitchell: How do you feel about the media representa-
tion of the incident? What impact do you think the sensa-
tionalism and media excitement over it will have for
Queensland keepers and the wider herp community?