The venom is so potent that even a scratch could cause serious symptoms. The snake's haemotoxic venom is slow-acting and may take 24–48 hours to produce serious symptoms. Symptoms include internal and external bleeding, headaches, nausea, sleepiness and mental disorders.
Because the venom is not fast acting, victims may not realize that they are at serious risk and require immediate medical assistance. Although records show that less than ten people have died from boomslang bites worldwide, this ought to not be taken lightly.
Since eight to twenty vials of polyvalent antivenom is required to treat a patient with a symptomatic snake bite and only one or two vials of monovalent antivenom are required to treat a Boomslang bite, treating a patient for a Boomslang bite is actually more cost-effective.
Drop for drop, the boomslang has the most potent venom of any snake in Africa, and the amount of venom that it requires to kill a human is so small that one can barely see it with the naked eye. There are seldom more than one or two boomslang bites a year in South Africa, and the victims are often snake handlers.
In 1957, herpetologist Karl Schmidt died after being bitten by a juvenile boomslang, which he had doubted could produce a fatal dose. He made notes on the symptoms he experienced almost to the end. D. S. Chapman reported eight serious envenomations by boomslangs between 1919 and 1962, two of which were lethal.
Its venom yields is around eight milligrams (black mambas yield around 300 milligrams) and the amount of boomslang venom needed to kill an adult human is around 0,07 milligrams (black mambas need about 15 milligrams).
Without treatment it can take 7 to 15 hours for a Black Mamba bite to kill you. The sooner a person is treated after the bite, the better his chances of survival. A Black Mamba antidote is administered where necessary, but some people may be allergic.
The inland taipan (Oxyuranus microlepidotus) is considered the most venomous snake in the world with a murine LD 50 value of 0.025 mg/kg SC. Ernst and Zug et al.
Black Mamba (Dendroaspis polylepis)
Perhaps the most feared snake in Africa is the Black Mamba. They are Africa's largest venomous snake and can grow to between 2.5 (8.2 feet) and 4.5 meters (14 feet), though 2 meters is more the average.
The black mamba is Africa's deadliest snake. Untreated, its bite has a fatality rate of 100 percent, making it a killer among killers on a continent where it is thought that nearly 20,000 people die of snake bites each year, and the residents of Swaziland in southern Africa have suffered losses for generations.
If there's a family of snakes you don't want to anger, it would be the vipers. While these snakes don't always have the most deadly bites, they have the most painful ones. Van Wallach of the Harvard Museum of Comparative Zoology has had several viper bites; the worst one, he said, "came from an African bush viper.
The key differences between green mambas and boomslangs lie in their size, appearance, color, and venom. Green mambas are generally heavier, longer, and deadlier than boomslangs. Looking at boomslangs and how slender and pretty they are, it can be difficult to believe that they are as deadly as they actually are.
The boomslang snake lives a long life depending on several factors. In the wild, they are known to live around eight years, and they can live a year or two longer in captivity where they don't have to worry about predators, and if well-kept.
Black mambas are shy but aggressive, and if cornered, the snake may rear up and threaten with an open mouth and a slightly expanded or flattened neck (or hood) before striking. Black mambas can strike repeatedly, injecting its deadly neurotoxic venom which causes difficulty in breathing within half an hour.
The name 'boomslang' is Afrikaans for 'tree snake'. The snake is usually found in trees and shrubs, hence the name boomslang. The Afrikaans name has also been adopted as the official English name of this snake. A boomslang is a slender snake with large eyes on a large blunt head that is distinct from the neck.
Since the black mamba is commonly recognized as one of the fastest snakes in the world, the fact that it can reach speeds of up to 12 miles per hour shouldn't be shocking.
Even more impressive, Australia is home to 20 of the 25 most venomous snakes in the world, including all of the top 11. The world's most venomous snake, the inland taipan is found nowhere else on Earth. It is also called the fierce snake, and carries enough venom in a single bite to kill around 250,000 mice.
They have elongated coffin shaped heads with dark eyes and the interior of their mouth is usually black in colour. The Boomslang is a long slender snake, that has keeled scales, which give the body a rough appearance. Their heads are noticeably pointed and they have large eyes.
The saw-scaled viper, Echis carinatus, is considered the deadliest snake in the world, according to Britannica. This type of snake is said to be responsible for "more human deaths than all other snake species combined." The venom of the saw-scaled viper is not as lethal as other snakes, but it is far more aggressive.
Saw scaled vipers may lead to the most fatalities of any snake when looking at worldwide totals. The Indian saw-scaled viper is a very dangerous snake because it is very small, envenomates over 75% of all its bite victims, and has a high level of aggression.
Over distance they slow down to 7 MPH (12 KPH). However, the average human run speed over distance is 6 MPH (10 KPH). Thus, you cant outrun a Black Mamba. Still, Black Mambas are extremely shy and will do everything they can to avoid people.
Even the quickest snakes, such as the black mamba, only travel at speeds of 18 miles per hour. This is far slower than the average person. Most of the time, you can outrun a snake, as humans can outpace even the quickest snake.
Stories of black mambas that chase and attack humans are common, but in fact the snakes generally avoid contact with humans. Most apparent cases of pursuit probably are examples of where witnesses have mistaken the snake's attempt to retreat to its lair when a human happens to be in the way.