Take to the Trees! A Pictorial Guide to Hammocking
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Not true. Their venom is as toxic as a Timber rattlesnake and contain haemotoxins, neurotoxins and cytotoxins. They are just too small to deliver fatal doses. Any bite should be treated as serious.
Case records regarding all patients treated in Swedish hospitals during 1995 for bites by the adder, were studied. A severity grading was applied. Possible dropout was fewer than 10 patients. The results...... A total of 231 inpatients were treated for adder bites in Sweden in 1995. Children less than 10 years old were overrepresented and there was a slight predominance for males (cos we like to poke them with sticks). Maximum severity of envenomation was none in 11%, minor in 47%, moderate in 29%, and severe in 13% of the cases. A few patients with initially minor or moderate symptoms eventually met the criteria of severe envenomation. Less commonly reported features were pulmonary edema, generalized plasma leakage, seizures, deep venous thrombosis, compartment syndrome, numbness and paraesthesia, and myocardial infarction. Treatment included antivenom in 42 patients [ovine in 30 and equine in 12 cases]. Systemic symptoms resolved during or shortly after the antivenom infusion. Extensive edema involving the trunk occurred in 5% of the cases in 1995, whereas 14% of the patients had extensive swelling in 1975. Conclusions. Incidence and other epidemiological data were similar to those 20 years ago, whereas the clinical course was more benign. It seems reasonable to believe that this is due to the introduction of effective antivenoms an improvements in medical procedures and transport and communication lines.
Biological and biochemical activities of adder (Vipera berus) venom. Characterisation of several toxic effects of its venom in the mouse, as well as of in vitro enzymatic activities was performed. Vipera berus venom displayed in vitro proteolytic, fibrinolytic, anticoagulant, and phospholipase activities. Significant local tissue-damaging effects, including edema, hemorrhage and myonecrosis, were observed. The local edema was characterized by rapid onset, reaching a maximum after 0.5–1 hr, and with dose-dependent persistence. The hemorrhagic potency was measured by a skin test, giving a minimum hemorrhagic dose value of 3.2 μg. The venom also induced a moderate local myonecrosis, evidenced by histological evaluation of injected tissue (gastrocnemius), and by biochemical parameters (increase of plasma creatine kinase activity, and decrease of muscle residual MTT. Characterization of the venom by SDS-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis revealed 10 (reduced) or 11 (unreduced) main protein bands, which were further analyzed in relation to mol. wt and relative concentration by densitometry. A rabbit antiserum to V. berus venom recognized all main venom bands by immunoblotting. This antiserum cross-reacted to a variable extent with several crotaline (rattlesnake) venoms, as assessed by enzyme immunoassay.
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How do you mean they are too small to deliver fatal doses??? some of the adder pics ive seen they've been mahoosive!
Glad you edited that Jonathan - otherwise I might not have fully understood it! 
I guess the point is don't mess with them?
I guess the point is don't mess with them?
They are quite small compared to other vipers and rattlers. Their venom glands aren't as big either. They are also relucant to release venom in defensive attacks as it requires valuable energy to produce and they need it to hunt. Alot of times they don't even release any venom (dry bite). A big adder in the Spring (venom matures and gets more potent in the glands if unused for long periods) giving a full dose, would be very nasty. Toxicity and the chances of greater venom doses increase as you get further south in Europe too. There are also variences in toxicity within regions and juveniles venom is very potent.
Glad you edited that Jonathan - otherwise I might not have fully understood it!
I did go off on one
Apologies.
