⛑️ Stay safe around venomous animals

Almost every bite and sting happens when someone touches, steps on or surprises an animal. Know what lives around you, give it space, and know what to do if something goes wrong.

Emergency numbers: 112 in Europe, 000 in Australia, 911 in North America, 111 in New Zealand. Poison centres can tell you what to do, call them too.

Avoid bites and stings

1. Never touch, catch or tease a wild animal, even a small one, and even if it looks dead.
2. Look before you put your hands or feet anywhere you cannot see: under rocks and logs, in holes, woodpiles, sheds, letterboxes and under outdoor toilet seats.
3. Wear closed shoes and long trousers in the bush and at night. Use a torch after dark.
4. In scorpion and spider country, shake out shoes, clothes, towels and bedding before you use them.
5. If you meet a snake, stand still or back away slowly. Most bites happen when people try to kill or catch it.
6. At the sea: swim where lifeguards say it is safe, wear a stinger suit in tropical waters in the stinger season, shuffle your feet in sandy shallows, and never pick up cone shells or small octopuses.

After any bite or sting

1. Get away from the animal. Do not try to catch or kill it, but remember what it looked like or take a photo from a safe distance.
2. Call your emergency number, or get to a hospital fast. Do not wait for symptoms: some venoms work slowly at first.
3. Keep the person calm and still. Moving spreads venom faster.
4. Take off rings, watches and tight things near the bite before swelling starts.
5. Do not cut the wound, do not suck out venom, do not use a tight tourniquet, ice or alcohol.

Special first aid for some animals

This is standard first aid advice in the countries where these animals live (for example from the Australian Resuscitation Council). Always follow what the emergency operator tells you.

• Australian snakes, funnel-web spiders, blue-ringed octopus, cone snails: pressure immobilisation. Wrap a firm elastic bandage over the bite and then the whole limb, splint it, and keep the person completely still. A blue-ringed octopus bite can stop breathing: be ready to give rescue breaths.
• Stonefish, lionfish, stingrays, venomous catfish and sea urchins: put the wound in hot water, as hot as the person can stand without burning (test it with your own hand), for 30 to 90 minutes. Get medical help.
• Tropical box jellyfish and Irukandji: pour vinegar on the stings for at least 30 seconds, call for help, and be ready to do CPR. Do not rub the stings.
• Bluebottles (Portuguese man o' war): pick off tentacles, rinse with seawater, then hot water for the pain.
• Bees, wasps and ants: scrape out a bee sting, cool the spot. If the person has trouble breathing, swelling of the face or feels faint, it is an allergic emergency: call your emergency number and use their adrenaline pen if they have one.
• Redback and widow spiders: an ice pack for the pain, and medical help if the pain is strong or spreads.

Venom Wiki is a guide, not medical advice. Rules differ between countries and change over time. When in doubt, call your emergency number.

Our danger levels

Every animal on Venom Wiki gets a danger level from 1 to 5. It tells you how dangerous the animal is to people, not how strong its venom is in a lab. It is our own rating, made from what is known about each animal.

Good to know

Most venomous animals are shy. They use venom to catch their food and to protect themselves. Many of them are useful too: they eat pests, and medicines for pain, blood pressure and diabetes have been made from venom.