snake science fair 2011-2012 (my final year in high school)

[mustang]

Do you have his lights/heat on a timer? erratic hours can confuse them into not eating. Anyway, if you do have them on a timer, try increasing the day length and/or temperature. It can take a week or two for them to respond to that, but it works sometimes.

aye aye aye i havent had a heat lamp for over a month (its on my christmas list ) and i like my blinds closed a lot but mom keeps freakn opening em. its horrible. anyways ya his scheduals been screwed up...but i think hes just being contrary

[ConcinusMan]

Well who am I to argue with that logic.

Don't make me repeat why I think he's not eating.

Get the light, put it on a timer, and give him about 8 hours of uninterrupted darkness at the same time every night with a temperature drop. I'm 95% sure that will solve the problem. He thinks it's time to brumate, which it is. He will snap out of it if he thinks its spring or summer. It may take a couple of weeks to convince him.

[mustang]

Well who am I to argue with that logic.

Don't make me repeat why I think he's not eating.

Get the light, put it on a timer, and give him about 8 hours of uninterrupted darkness at the same time every night with a temperature drop. I'm 95% sure that will solve the problem. He thinks it's time to brumate, which it is. He will snap out of it if he thinks its spring or summer. It may take a couple of weeks to convince him.

well its been a while, ill try to feed him again

[mustang]

Good books, worth a darn, aren't going to be cheap.

WAHOOO $250 FOR AMAZON!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !! (and i got a venom book allready ordered!)

[mustang]

this book should arive at my door tomarrow!
Amazon.com: Snake Venoms and Envenomations (9781575242729): Jean-phillipe Chippaux, F. W. Huchzermeyer: Books
anyone here got a medical dictionary?

[mustang]

hey guys!!! i need garter snake venom, like soon...can anybody get some, ill pay d shipping...pm me asap!!!!! please...

[d_virginiana]

I don't think garter venom can be collected/milked in the same way people do for venomous snakes...
If you really want garter-saliva though, you can always go piss off a wild one..

[katach]

Wow! What an awesome and fascinating idea! I wish all the luck in world! Congrats on 3rd for this year also.

[chris-uk]

I assume you know about the pubmed journal index? I used to use it a lot a medical school, it's a lot easier to use now it's on the web. Do a few searches on Home - PubMed - NCBI and see what journal articles come up - the cutting edge stuff is published in the journals way before it reaches text books.

On your orignal idea about antivenin in an epipen... biggest problem is preventing the protein from denaturing, most proteins (I believe all snake venoms are proteins, maybe a few enzymes as well) will breakdown when heated, and ambient temperatures over a short time would most likely be enough to denature the antivenin.
I'm happy to be wrong, but I think there's a reason why we don't have antivenin stored at room temp. Let us know what you find.

[d_virginiana]

I'm happy to be wrong, but I think there's a reason why we don't have antivenin stored at room temp. Let us know what you find.

I believe you're right about it denaturing. It would probably need to be kept in some sort of portable freezer-unit like what I've seen severe diabetics carry around for their insulin.
The problem there is that those are very expensive and likely wouldn't be possible to mass produce... Though it might be practical for businesses that work with a lot of venomous reptiles to have on-site.