I have talked about Crotalid or pit viper envenomations here.
Elapids or coral snakes are different from the Crotalids in a
number of significant ways. Coral snakes are generally shy and
docile, and they do not attack unless deliberately provoked.
Fewer than forty percent of Elapid bites result in significant
envenomation. Fatalities are rare. Coral snakes have very short
fangs in the front of a small mouth. The small mouth and fangs
make it hard for a coral snake to bite anything other than a
finger, toe, or fold of skin. Pit vipers strike and release, but
coral snakes hang on and chew. And while Crotalid venom causes
rapid tissue necrosis, Elapid venom slowly attacks the central
nervous system. These differences mean that you treat a coral
snake bite differently than you would a pit viper bite. In
particular, for Elapid envenomation, - the use of a Sawyer
Extractor appears to be of little benefit, and - the use of the
Australian pressure-immobilization technique has become accepted
as a standard treatment.