There is a lot of old woman tales. Snakes usually bite you on the lower limbs and the venom takes time to distribute through your body. Tree snakes venom attack your blood if you die it is because of bleeding, Puffadder and gaboen adder attack your musles and is very very painfull. The rest, Neorotxic venom, attacks your nervous system and you die when you cannot breath anymore.

The bigger the snake the more venom he will inject in your body. Mambas ( neorotoxin) can become very big, the reason for the pressure bandage is to slow the spread of the poison. The poison is spread through your blood circulation system, by slowing down your circulation you slow down the spreading of the venom.

The best way to administer anti venom is intravenious, the problem is if you are alergic to the anti venom the symptoms apear a lot quiker.

Snake bites are always to be taken seriosly. I've had many encounters with snakes in the bush, but if you are careful and wakey you won have a problem. Treat them with respect and they will do the same.