Part 7

If a person receives a great number of stings, a physician should be summoned at once. The victim should be undressed, put in bed, and all of the sting scraped out. All parts of the body that have received stings should be covered with cloths soaked in hot water and wrung out. These applications should be as hot as the victim can endure.

Persons who are supersensitive to bee-sting venom show the following symptoms when stung: the skin over the entire body breaks out in lumpy welts, palms of the hands and soles of the feet itch. This is followed by headache, nausea, and vomiting. Breathing becomes labored and heart action is rapid and weak.

As soon as such symptoms are noted, a physician should be summoned or the victim taken to a hospital. Treatment consists of frequent, small, hypodermic injections of epinephrine in the ratio of one part of epinephrine to 1,000 parts of water. Dr. W. Ray Jones, who developed and perfected this treatment, reports that it is immediately effective and recommends that all commercial beekeepers provide themselves with hypodermic kits and a small supply of epinephrine.

Even persons who are apparently immune to bee-sting venom through having received bee stings during the course of many years of work in the apiary, may suddenly develop supersensitivity. The treatment is relatively simple, may be self-administered, and has already proved effective in treating serious cases of excessive susceptibility resulting from supersensitive persons receiving bee stings.

Experimental use of calcium lactate to counteract “sting shock” indicates a high degree of success. Physicians should investigate “Death by Sting Shock,” p 234, Science News Letter, April 9, 1955. Use of antihistamines or a hormone of the cortizone family has had some success.

Puss Caterpillar (Megalopyge opercularis)

Superficially resembling a tiny, light, golden-yellow kitten, the puss caterpillar is a short, bushy larva of a small gray-brown moth with whitish underwings. When disturbed, the caterpillar rears back on its hind legs and “makes a face.” The species has long been widespread throughout the southern states feeding on the foliage of oak, elm, plum, and sycamore trees. They have been found also in truck gardens and orchards. Recently they have invaded the desert mountains of the Southwest, having been reported by Stahnke as especially numerous in the Globe-Miami area of Arizona, feeding on the foliage of oaks.

Because of their long, silky hairs, children are tempted to touch them. Under the hairs are small protrusions, each bearing a circlet of very small spines resembling tiny porcupine quills. The venom is injected when these spines pierce the child’s skin and the tips break off, producing a burning, itching, irritated, inflamed area. The welts, ranging in size from a dime to a dollar, are sometimes followed by severe muscle cramps and headache. Not lethal, the toxin may cause enough sleeplessness in a child to reduce his resistance to other infections.

Treatment suggested by Dr. Bernard J. Collopy, Assistant Medical Director of the Miami-Inspiration Hospital of Miami, Arizona, consists of immersing the inflamed area in iced water for thirty minutes. Remove for one minute at ten minute intervals for relief from the cold. The skin may blister and peel at the site much as in the case of a first degree burn, but should heal completely in ten days. Some physicians suggest an opiate for relief of pain in severe cases. Cooling lotions may be applied to relieve the itching.

Arizona coral snake (Micruroides euryxanthus)

The coral snake, of which there are two species in the United States, belongs to the Elapine group, which is represented in the Old World by the cobras and other poisonous snakes. These two species, the coral snake of the Gulf States, and the smaller Arizona coral snake whose range extends into the desert lands of southern New Mexico and Arizona, are the only representatives of the Elapine group found in this country.

The Arizona coral is shy and secretive in its habits, timid rather than pugnacious, and it is so rarely seen that little is known of its habits.

The poison mechanism of the coral snake is somewhat different from that of the pit viper group, to which the copperheads, cottonmouths, and rattlesnakes belong. The teeth of the coral are short, and to be effective the coral snake must chew rather than strike its victim.

The Arizona coral snake is so small—rarely reaching 2 feet in length—and its mouth is so tiny, that it would be very difficult for it to bite an adult human. It is conceivable that a small child playing with one might be bitten.

Because of its close resemblance to several ringed or banded snakes of the desert and also to the Arizona mountain kingsnake, or “coral” kingsnake, of the ponderosa pine highlands of the Southwest, a brief description of the Arizona coral snake is indicated. One of the beautifully spectacular snakes of the desert, it is marked by bands of dark red, cream, and black, which encircle the body. Superficially the markings of the Arizona mountain kingsnake and other tricolored ringed snakes appear similar. However, the red of the kingsnake and of others is usually brighter, and the black bands narrower than those of the coral.

Definite identification is provided by the relationship of the colors to each other, the arrangement on the Arizona coral snake being red, cream, black, cream, red, cream, black, cream. The bands of the Arizona coral snake entirely circle the body and its snout is black.

Rattlesnakes (Genus Crotalus, spp.)

Thirty species and subspecies of rattlesnakes occur in the United States, more than half of this number being found in the Southwest. Because they have been killed on sight for years, their numbers have been considerably reduced in densely populated areas. For this reason, together with emphasis placed upon their poisonous characteristics by some writers of western thriller fiction, rattlesnakes are considered by many people to be a serious menace in the thinly populated portions of the arid West.

Where rattlesnakes are found

In the hot desert regions of the Southwest rattlesnakes are usually abroad at night during the summer months, as they have no controlling system for body temperature and cannot endure the heat at ground surface during the hours of sunlight. In spring and autumn they may be encountered in the daytime but during December, January, and February they are in hibernation and are rarely or never seen.

Their food consists principally of lizards and small rodents such as ground squirrels, rats, mice, pocket gophers and young rabbits. They are sometimes found along irrigation canal banks where they go for water, and because they find rodents congregating there for the same reason. Unless surprised, cornered, teased, handled, or injured, a rattlesnake usually will try to remain hidden or will endeavor to crawl away rather than strike. Because they are attracted to places where small rodents abound, they are sometimes encountered around barns and outbuildings. They occasionally enter abandoned structures in search of food or to escape from the heat of the sun.

Protective clothing

Because a rattlesnake may be met at almost any time, except during the winter months, by a person who lives, works, or visits in the desert, he should be ever alert. If hiking or climbing through country where rattlesnakes are known to be abundant, he should wear clothing that will protect him from a possible bite.

Pope states that records kept during 1928 and 1929 show that 98 per cent of snake bites occurred below the knee or on the hand or forearm. When in snake country, the hiker should wear knee-high boots or leggings, and should never place his hand on a rock or ledge above the level of his eyes. In other words, watch your step, and look before you reach! Apparently rattlesnakes may strike at a quick movement and are very sensitive to the body warmth of a nearby warm-blooded creature.

Rattlesnake relatives

Rattlesnakes belong to the group known as the pit vipers, which includes the cottonmouths and the copperheads. The latter do not occur in the desert, so they do not come within the province of this publication. Snakes of the pit viper group are characterized by a noticeable depression, or pit, found almost halfway between the eye and the nostril, but slightly lower, on each side of the head.

Of the several species found in the desert, some, such as the western diamondback rattlesnake have a wide range, while others are restricted to limited areas. Some species attain large size, while others are quite small; some are inclined to be pugnacious, while others are more or less docile. All are dangerous!

It is not within the scope of this publication to enter into a discussion of the many species, so the reader who wishes to pursue that subject further is referred to Klauber’s publication on the rattlesnakes.