Certainly you might think that.

More probable is that a world leader in herpetology (study of reptiles and amphibians) was acutely aware of the state of antivenom production in 1957, spotty for common snakes and near non existent for rare and as yet unidentified African snakes.

Production is slow and low volume, shelf life is limited, the number of variations required for different snakes is large.

Of possible interest, to just scratch the surface:

* https://biomedicalsciences.unimelb.edu.au/departments/depart...

* https://www.abc.net.au/news/science/2025-05-03/universal-ant...

It might counter your apparent notion that the man here could just pop into a hospital and be magically cured.

Something like this likely went through his head. The problem with exotic snakes is that if they are venomous, the likelihood of there being antivenom obtainable within the time that it could serve you any therapeutic use is pretty low. That's true even today. In his case, he was probably documenting symptoms to be thorough at first, and then when he suspected that he had been envenomated, he did the calculus and realized he was already dead.

Envenomation is not necessarily a death sentence. It comes down to immune system response and dosage.

That being said, even today, people foolish enough in the US to own black mambas or cobras are taking significant risks. If bitten and envenomated, they would likely die before antivenom can be air lifted from whatever rare reserves may exist to their location. If one is going to own such snakes, one should be willing to spend six figures on many doses of one's own antivenom, which is only good for 2-5 years and must be replenished, or, to live near a location where such antivenom is stockpiled and be ready to pay to buy replacement antivenom afterward. The assumption should always be that if one owns a venomous snake, it is a question of when, and not if, one will be bit.

I have had a few tame (non-venomous) reptiles over the years. Very gentle things, but sometimes, they bite. The reasons why are numerous: They get scared. They aren't feeling well. They are trying to communicate something. Regardless, they will bite. Getting bitten by a 7 foot male iguana with beefy jowls is not fun. Thankfully, he just nipped me. I still had to clean out the wound and butterfly it.

Seems it would at least be worth a try.