Now this little rascal you wont find just anywhere. The irascible Berg Adder
Limited to wet cool mountains in the of Southern Africa its a rare opportunity to see one. But best leave it at seeing them.
In the exuberance of youth I took some home and decided to tame them... Bad Choice... the books mean it when they use the words "highly irascible" and "never tamed". But kids being kids I decided to try.
That is where I learned first hand that snake handlers are the ones most likely to be bitten by their captives. I also got to experience first hand the effects of a very unique neurotoxin.
This little adders venom is not life threatening but knocks out the facial nerves in humans.
By JonRichfield , CC BY-SA 3.0, Link
I lost my sense of smell, taste, eyelids were paralised, my eyes could not adjust to light, and I could not squint inwards... each eyeball stared straight ahead resulting in a blurred triple vision.