UF Animal Forensic Conference 2024: Venomous Reptiles with Robert O'Horo

DrG: 00:00:05

Our next guest is Robert O'Horo and he's going to be talking

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to us about venomous reptiles.

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Thank you very much for being

here and welcome to The Junction.

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Robert O'Horo: Well, thanks for having me.

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DrG: Can we start by telling us

your background, uh, your education

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and where you're at right now?

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Robert O'Horo: Sure.

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Uh, I'm a retired lawyer.

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I went to law school, practiced law

for about 10 years, uh, decided I

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wanted to do something different.

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Ended up taking a job with Florida Fish

and Wildlife 18 and a half years ago.

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I'm an investigator for Florida

Fish and Wildlife now for about

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the past 10 years, uh, focusing in

the, uh, Captive Wildlife Division.

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DrG: Excellent.

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So this is a topic that is kind of creepy

for me because I am afraid of snakes.

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So I guess the main question

is, what is the difference

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between venomous and poisonous?

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Robert O'Horo: Well, I'm not

a trained biologist, but I

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do know that answer to that.

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So, uh, poison is something you ingest.

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Um, so if it's, uh, a mushroom,

it's going to be poisonous.

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Uh, certain frogs , if you were to ingest

them, they're poison dart frogs because

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they're poisonous, they secrete a poison.

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Venomous is usually something

that's injected, uh, like a

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sting, or fangs from a snake

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.

DrG: What are the most common snakes that we're going to find in the, in the U.

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S.

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that are venomous?

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Robert O'Horo: Um, I would say our

rattlesnakes are the most well known.

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Uh, there's about 32

species of rattlesnakes,

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throughout the United States.

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So most states, not all, but most

states have at least one rattlesnake.

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Um, and so that's pretty common.

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Uh, we've got the cottonmouths and, and

copperheads, which are found more in

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the eastern part of the United States.

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DrG: Now, does the venom differ

between snakes or do they all

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do kind of the same thing?

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Um,

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Robert O'Horo: Uh, no, there's

quite a bit of difference.

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Uh, and there's people that have

spent their careers analyzing

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venom, and how it differs.

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So it differs among, um, the

families of venomous snakes.

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So there's, you know, the elapid family,

which is the cobras and the coral snakes.

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They have a particular type of

venom, uh, neurotoxic that tends

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to, to work on the nervous system.

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And then of course you've got

the rattlesnakes and some other

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snakes that have venom that acts

more to digest tissue and flesh.

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And then, of course, there's all of these

snakes that have a mixture and there's all

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different types of, of venom components.

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There's like certain toxins

that affect the heart.

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Um, some snakes have that, some don't.

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Um, so it's, it's extremely complex.

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Um, I'm certainly not an

expert in, in that complexity.

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And there's, there's people that

have spent their entire life, uh,

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researching, analyzing and categorizing

the different types of venoms.

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DrG: So when somebody gets bitten

by one of these snakes, is the

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venom like universal or are there

different types of antivenom?

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Robert O'Horo: It really depends.

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So we've done something

here in the United States.

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We've created, , or a company

has created, polyvalent.

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anti venom for viper bites

here in the United States.

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So if you're bitten, for example,

in Florida, whether you're bitten

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by a cottonmouth, a copperhead, an

eastern diamondback rattlesnake, or

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a, uh, a pygmy rattlesnake, you're

going to get the same anti venom.

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So if you go to a hospital and

you've got swelling and two, you

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know, snake bite marks, two fang

marks, and you can't identify the

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snake, it's okay because you're going

to get the anti venom that works.

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And the way they do that is when

they create the anti venom, they

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use venom from all of those snakes

to create the plasma that they're

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going to create the anti venom from.

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So that's a little bit different with

coral snakes that requires a particular

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antivenom specific to coral snakes.

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But once you get outside of

the United States, um, there's

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probably, you know, over 600

species of venomous, uh, reptiles.

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There's all kinds of anti venoms

and usually, you know, in those

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situations, you need to know

what you've been bitten by.

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Um, there are other countries that

are producing anti venoms that are

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also polyvalent for their area.

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Um, but, you know, it's,

it gets complicated.

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DrG: I've always heard about being

able to look at, like, the snake's eyes

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to determine if it's venomous or not.

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Is that true?

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And also, like, what kind of things

do people need to pay attention

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to, to identify the type of snake

to see if it's venomous or not?

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Robert O'Horo: So, that can be, that can

assist you in making an identification,

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but I wouldn't lean on eye shape, mainly

because if it's a, if it's a venomous

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snake that has an elliptical pupil, if

it's If it's dark out and the pupils

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dilated, that's going to appear round.

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Um, so, and there are snakes that are

non venomous that have elliptical pupils.

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So, that's not, I mean, I

wouldn't, I wouldn't favor that

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as my primary go to warning.

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But, and plus you usually have

to be pretty close to see that.

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Um, I would just become familiar with

the snakes in your area where you live,

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uh, because, you know, we do have a lot

of diversity here in the United States.

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Although we have 32 rattlesnake

species, give or take, um, they

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don't all occur in one place.

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So if you live in Utah, there's a

handful of snakes you should know.

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Uh, if you live in Florida, there's

six that you should know, um, if

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you're going to be outdoors and

recreating and things like that.

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DrG: I've been in some cruelty cases,

cruelty investigations that are out in

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the wild and they they'll tell us these

are the snakes that are in this area.

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And I'm certainly not going around

looking for these snakes, but how

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aggressive are these snakes like do.

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Do you have to worry about just

walking around minding your own

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business and them coming out of

your, out of their way to bite you?

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Robert O'Horo: No, not here.

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Uh, at least in the United States,

it seems like most of our snakes

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are pretty defensive in nature.

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Um, I've had a lot of experience, uh,

with Eastern diamondback rattlesnakes,

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and I would say every single one that

I've approached has tried to get away.

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And I'll often hear stories of

people who stepped right next to

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one and the snake didn't bite.

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Now, if they had stepped on it, they

probably would have been, been bitten.

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But, um, yeah, we just don't seem to

have any snakes that go out of their way.

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I the cottonmouth has had a

reputation for chasing people.

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Uh, and they sometimes do come towards

people, but usually it's because they're

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trying to flee to where they perceive

safety is, and you're just in the way.

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Um, so I tell people if a cottonmouth

is coming straight at you, get off

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the X, move, and chances are it will

continue on its way, on its path.

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Um, there are snakes in other

countries that aren't quite like that.

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I've dealt with some cobras myself

that when they get agitated,

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they will come after you.

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And when you do get off the X, they

will change course and follow you.

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Um, and black mambas have

been known to do that.

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So there are snakes in the

world that are aggressive, but

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I don't think we have any here.

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DrG: So if somebody is going to be going

to a different area and wants to become

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acquainted with what kind of snakes to

expect, what, what resources are out

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there to be able to find that information?

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Robert O'Horo: So if it's the United

States, the DNR, uh, Department

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of Natural Resources for that

particular state, almost all states

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have a really good web page.

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Um, and, you know, there's a lot

of good resources online now.

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Um, I would just try to make sure you

get, get it from some reputable source,

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whether it's the DNR in that state or, or,

or something, not just a random web page.

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DrG: Great.

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Well, thank you so much for

being here and for sharing this

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information and for what you do.

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Robert O'Horo: Well, thank you.

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I appreciate it.