Have You Seen Africa’s Most Deadly Snake? Its Bite Will Make Your Blood Stop Clotting

In this captivating unboxing video, you’ll get an up-close look at the unboxing of Africa’s deadliest snake—the boomslang snake. This snake’s lethal bite has such a widespread reputation that it even makes an appearance in the Harry Potter series. Professor Severus Snape keeps shed boomslang skin on reserve in his private potion stores, a testament to this snake’s power.

However, even though the boomslang is the most venomous snake in Africa, it’s not the most dangerous. The Mozambique spitting cobra and puff adder pose a much bigger threat. Unlike these outgoing snakes, boomslang snakes are much more shy and bites are relatively rare.

Aren’t Boomslang Snakes Green?

When you watch the video at the bottom of the page, the lovely black color of the snake might make you do a double take. Isn’t this tree snake supposed to be green? Not necessarily. Not all boomslang snakes are the same color; they can switch things up quite a bit.

Boomslang snakes have long slender bodies that can be bright green, olive, black, and even red. Females tend to have dark gray or brick-red bodies, while males have bright green bodies with various color outlines.

Habitat and Prey

Boomslangs rarely venture far from the safety and comfort of the trees. You can find these reptiles spending their time in wooded grasslands and lowland forests. They spend a lot of time finding the perfect place to sun themself high up in the branches. When they’re not soaking up the sun, you’ll find them on the hunt for their next meal. Some of their favorite prey items to seek out include frogs, eggs, lizards, and other snakes. Sometimes they even target small mammals.

The boomslang is a rear-fanged snake with very toxic venom. It’s common for snakes with rear fangs to strike prey multiple times before injecting their prey with venom. It’s also common for these snakes to sort of chew on their food. As they hold the prey in their mouth they can perfectly position their fangs for venom delivery. So, the longer a boomslang chews on a chameleon, the easier it is to kill it.

Opisthoglyphous or rear-fanged snakes usually aren’t dangerous to humans. But the boomslang snake and twig snake are special exceptions. Thankfully, since boomslang snakes are shy, there are only a couple of reported bites per year, and many are dry bites because of the rear-facing fangs. A dry bite is when a snake bite happens, but no envenomation occurs.

Venom Stops Blood From Clotting

One of the reasons boomslang snake bites are so dangerous is because of how the venom prevents blood from clotting. If someone’s bitten, it can take hours to feel the deadly effects. Left untreated, victims can bleed out over the course of hours, and sometimes days.

Another freaky fact is how little boomslang snake venom it takes to kill a fully grown person. The amount of venom is so small you can barely see it with the naked eye. And while an antivenom has been developed, it’s only available in limited quantities.

You won’t have to worry about getting bit from your virtual front-row seat. Just click play below to get an up-close look at this deadly snake.

See the Deadly Snake for Yourself

The photo featured at the top of this post is © Stu Porter/Shutterstock.com