# Is a snake's venom dealt to itself?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-a-snakes-venom-dealt-to-itself/732246>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [September 22, 2015, 10:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-a-snakes-venom-dealt-to-itself/732246 "2015-09-22T22:52:16Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![obbn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/d6d6ee/32.png) [@obbn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/obbn)\
**Post date:** [September 22, 2015, 10:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-a-snakes-venom-dealt-to-itself/732246/1 "2015-09-22T22:52:16Z")

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Hello Everyone,

If a snake is bitten by itself or say another of the same kind, is that venom going to kill the snake? Or are they immune to their own type of venom?

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**Author:** ![Ornery\_Bob](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/da6949/32.png) [@Ornery\_Bob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ornery_Bob)\
**Post date:** [September 22, 2015, 11:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-a-snakes-venom-dealt-to-itself/732246/2 "2015-09-22T23:16:10Z")

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[Wikipedia on venom immunity:](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Snake_venom#Among_snakes)

“The question whether individual snakes are immune to their own venom has not yet been definitively settled, though there is a known example of a cobra which self-envenomated, resulting in a large abscess requiring surgical intervention but showing none of the other effects that would have proven rapidly lethal in prey species or humans.”