When most people think of deadly snakes, they think of snakes like black mambas, cobras, the inland taipan, or maybe even the death adder.
Many people don’t realize just how dangerous the puff adder is.
Are puff adders dangerous? Yes, puff adders are dangerous. They are responsible for more snake bite fatalities than any other African snake. Puff adders often live in close proximity to humans, and have a cytotoxic venom that is capable of killing a person in 1-2 days if left untreated. These things make puff adders one of the most dangerous snakes in the world.
What other things make them so dangerous? Is their venom more potent than that of other snakes?
Are there just so many of them that they win by way of numbers?
Is there a lack of antivenom?
In this article, I’ll explore everything that makes this snake one of the most dangerous on the planet.
Puff Adders Have A Wide Range
Puff adders are considered more dangerous than many other snake species simply because they are in contact with humans more often.
The fact that they are one of the most common snake species found in Africa, and one of the most wide spread, increases the risk to humans.
Puff adders live everywhere in Africa except for in the rain forests or in the Sahara Desert.
They aren’t afraid to live near humans either.
Puff adders are often found in heavily populated areas where rodents are attracted to easy food from left over human trash and refuse.
You are just as likely to be bitten by a puff adder in the city as you are in the wild.
How Aggressive Is The Puff Adder?
The puff adder is considered extremely aggressive.
In fact some puff adders in captivity never seem to calm down. They puff up, hiss and strike whenever approached for the entire time they’re in captivity.
These snakes will not go out of their way to attack you though.
Puff adders are ambush hunters.
They do not seek out and hunt down their food. Instead, they prefer to find a place where prey is likely to be, and then they sit and wait.
If you leave this snake alone, it will simply continue to sit and wait for food to come by.
If they feel threatened however, watch out!
Puff adders prefer to strike first and ask questions later!
Disturbing them in any way can have dire results!
The puff adder is pretty well known for having an extremely mean disposition.
How Fast Does A Puff Adder Strike?
There are numerous legends and myths surrounding how these snakes strike.
How fast do puff adders strike? Puff adders have one of the fastest striking speeds in the world. A puff adder strike can reach you in as little as 50-90 milliseconds, whereas the blink of an eye lasts an average of 220 milliseconds. That’s fast! Not THE fastest perhaps, but they can certainly strike faster than you can blink your eyes!
Quick Fact
There’s a myth that these snakes have fangs in their lower jaw and can strike backwards. This of course is not true.
These snakes are however, capable of striking forward, to the side and even straight up in the air. They can also spin around and bite whatever is behind them, so don’t try to catch them by the tail!
This myth probably came from the fact that these snakes strike and then immediately resume their defensive posture, which is usually coiled with their head hanging downwards.
This makes the snake look as if it is attempting to bite with its lower jaw.
Will A Puff Adder Chase You?
I hear this question with surprising frequency, not just in regards to the puff adder, but into pretty much every snake out there.
Will a puff adder chase you? No, puff adders do not chase people. There are numerous myths that puff adders can launch their entire body at you and then chase you down. The truth is these snakes prefer to just hold their ground.
As with most snakes, the puff adder can strike a distance of about half its body length.
It is a powerful strike though, and the momentum may scoot their entire body forward a few inches, but they can not launch forward and strike you from a few feet away.
They are also a slow moving snake. Surprisingly slow in fact, considering their remarkable striking speed.
Their power comes from potent venom, a highly aggressive nature and a fast strike, not from any willingness or ability to chase you down.
What Kind Of Venom Does The Puff Adder Have?
The puff adder has a cytotoxic venom which is known to destroy tissue.
What Does Puff Adder Venom Do To You?
The venom of the puff adder is one of the things that makes it so dangerous.
How does puff adder venom work? The cytotoxic venom of the puff adder starts acting immediately with severe pain, bleeding and swelling in the area where you are bitten. Symptoms vary from person to person based on factors such as the severity of the bite, and how fast you receive medical treatment.
If left untreated, many people will begin to see the following symptoms.
Puff adder venom symptoms
- Hemorrhaging, bruising and internal bleeding spreading from the bite.
- Edema may occur. This is when fluid begins to accumulate under the skin.
- Blood clotting in the blood vessels cause muscles to stop working and limbs to become flexed and immobile.
- Necrosis starts to set in which is where your tissues begin to die.
- People who die from puff adder bites are usually a result of gangrene from lost digits or limbs, blood loss due to internal bleeding or lost limbs, or from blood clots forming throughout the body.
Keep in mind that these results are for someone who leaves the bite untreated. With proper medical treatment and antivenom, most people make a full recovery with little to no long term damage.
How Fast Does Puff Adder Venom Take To Act?
It usually takes between 15 minutes and two hours for puff adder venom to begin to show signs beyond the initial pain and swelling.
People who go longer than two hours have usually received a dry bite, which means they received no venom from the snake.
Death from a bite left untreated can result in as little as 1-2 days.
What Is The Mortality Rate For People Bitten By A Puff Adder?
This is what people really wonder when asking how dangerous the puff adder is.
How likely are you to die from a puff adder bite? Despite puff adders being responsible for the most snake bite deaths of any snake in Africa, the mortality rate is surprisingly low. In fact the mortality rate for a puff adder bite may be as low as 15% for bites left untreated, though some reports place that number closer to a little over 50%.
Seeking medical help right away brings the mortality rate down dramatically.
Are Juvenile Puff Adders Deadlier Than Adults?
This is another false belief that a lot of people share.
Despite many myths, exaggerations and misconceptions, juvenile puff adders are NOT deadlier than adults.
What people often believe:
Many people believe that juvenile snakes have more toxic venom in order to better protect themselves.
You may have also heard that baby snakes can’t control their venom glands as well as adults, and so deliver more or even all of their venom in every bite.
Others have even suggested that babies haven’t learned to keep venom in reserve for hunting, and so give you everything they have is a single bite.
None of these are true.
For starters, the toxicity of a snakes venom is determined by a multitude of factors including their diet, environment, stress level, weather and temperature and many other things, but age is not one of them.
Additionally, puff adders are born completely self sufficient and independent.
They have complete control of the muscles that work their venom glands from day one.
And there is no scientific evidence supporting the theory that snakes “learn” to hold back venom for future use.
The true danger in a puff adder bite lies in the amount of venom they inject.
Juvenile puff adders have smaller bodies, smaller heads and therefore smaller venom glands. They don’t have as much venom as adults, which means they can’t inject as much.
What Makes The Puff Adder So Dangerous?
As we said, these snakes are ambush hunters.
The puff adder is a fat bodied snake which grows to approximately three feet in length. This may seem pretty long to some people, but consider the fact that they are coiled up as they wait for their food to approach.
We’ve also shown that they are extremely aggressive, and will attack at the slightest provocation.
Couple that with the fact that the puff adder is comfortable living in highly populated areas and you have a recipe for disaster.
Most people stumble upon these snakes by accident.
They might walk too close to a coiled up, camouflaged snake and not even know it’s there!
Rather than just staying still and hidden like some species, or slithering away to hide like others; the puff adder will almost always take the offensive and strike.
Usually repeatedly.
The final point is how much venom these snakes inject in a single bite.
Puff adder venom is not extraordinarily toxic. In fact it takes approximately 100mg of venom to kill an adult human.
It takes anywhere from nearly 2mg to as much as 7mg to have a 50% chance of killing a mouse. Compare that to the black mamba which only needs around .32mg to do the same thing.
A single puff adder bite however, contains an average of 150-350 mg of venom.
Conclusion
Puff adders are not the most venomous snake in Africa.
They aren’t the deadliest, the fastest, the biggest or anything else like that.
Puff adders are however, one of the most dangerous snakes in all of Africa.
They cause the most fatalities in Africa because they are the most common venomous snake, they live in populated areas and they inject a lot of venom when they bite.
These things make the puff adder one of the most dangerous snakes in the world.