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Posted on 05/02/2025 6:16:57 PM PDT by E. Pluribus Unum
NEW YORK (AP) — Tim Friede has been bitten by snakes hundreds of times — often on purpose. Now scientists are studying his blood in hopes of creating a better treatment for snake bites.
Friede has long had a fascination with reptiles and other venomous creatures. He used to milk scorpions’ and spiders’ venom as a hobby and kept dozens of snakes at his Wisconsin home.
Hoping to protect himself from snake bites — and out of what he calls “simple curiosity” — he began injecting himself with small doses of snake venom and then slowly increased the amount to try to build up tolerance. He would then let snakes bite him.
“At first, it was very scary,” Friede said. “But the more you do it, the better you get at it, the more calm you become with it.”
While no doctor or emergency medical technician — or anyone, really — would ever suggest this is a remotely good idea, experts say his method tracks how the body works. When the immune system is exposed to the toxins in snake venom, it develops antibodies that can neutralize the poison. If it’s a small amount of venom the body can react before it’s overwhelmed. And if it’s venom the body has seen before, it can react more quickly and handle larger exposures.
Friede has withstood snakebites and injections for nearly two decades and still has a refrigerator full of venom. In videos posted to his YouTube channel, he shows off swollen fang marks on his arms from black mamba, taipan and water cobra bites.
“I wanted to push the limits as close to death as possible to where I’m just basically teetering right there and then back off of it,” he said.
But Friede also wanted to help. He emailed every...
(Excerpt) Read more at apnews.com ...
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Practice makes perfect!
I’ve heard rattlesnakes make good stew.
Its nice to have a hobby.
What do his neighbors think if one of his "pets" escaped into the neighborhood?
Dogs, cats, children, adults, wildlife: beware of weirdos.
“I wanted to push the limits as close to death as possible to where I’m just basically teetering right there and then back off of it,” he said.
I think I’ll pass if they want people to sign up for the human trials.
[[I’ve heard rattlesnakes make good stew.]]
I find that their cooking skills are mediocre at best
they have no hands after all
At least he is not in Florida. Pythons are taking over the Everglades.
I came here for the snake jokes (and wasn’t disappointed).
When I was growing up, we had snake handling churches in East Tennessee. They’d hop around holding big rattlesnakes — and sometimes got bitten. This video is from Kentucky, but it was the same in the Tennessee churches:
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=7OcoUyXiuU0
LOL !!! but they can use their rattle as a timer.
Rattlesnakes do taste like chicken.
I had my first taste of Rattlesnake in 1953, in Canada on the French River.
I killed the snake with a large flat stone.
I was 13 and, with my twin brother was on a thirty day canoe trip with our Uncle, a teacher who organized two Summer trips per year for 8 to 10 boys.
Most of the boys were in High School but my brother and I were going into 8th grade in the fall. We slept in Pup Tents or Jungle Hammocks depending on availability. Transportation was 16 foot Peterborough Canoes. There were 10 of us including Uncle Ken and a College Student helper.
We fished for our dinners and portaged from lake to lake just south of Sudbury, Ontario and then return up the French River. Bedtime was early or else risk being tormented by black Flies or Mosquitoes.
The trip was challenging for all but, when I look back on it, the trip was a “one of a kind,” that couldn’t be done again. July 4th will be the 72nd anniversary of my trip
Venom not poison.
I live in Florida, my Dad moved us here in 61. My brothers and I would play out in the woods, rattlesnakes were usually avoided, moccasins are territorial and usually we just killed with a hoe. As more people moved to the state, and they released unwanted pets, we now have a non poisonous snake problem with pythons and constrictors. supposedly even anaconda’s are loose in the glades. Nile monitor lizard and they just found evidence of a crossbreed Nile and American crocodile strain. We used to have a guy Named Ross Allen in Florida who captured wild animals and kept a serpentarium to provide venom to hospitals to make antivenom. My great fear, finding a 12 ft black mamba in the back yard. Keep the exotic animals in zoo’s. Definitely not in my back yard.
“ He would then let snakes bite him.”
I had a nasty fly bite me last year.
So there is that.
;)
I might have liked that as a teen. I grew to hate the outdoors later on, mosquitoes being only one of the reasons. Sounds like you had a great time though!
In the 60’s I lived probably less than 5 miles from Bill Haast’s serpentarium on South Dixie Highway
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