After NorCal rattlesnake bite, man needs 54 doses of antivenom to survive

[RandySF]

An Idaho man visiting his parents in Oroville thought he had stepped on a sharp sticker plant or thistle when he looked down to see a rattlesnake at his feet instead.

An Idaho man visiting his parents in Oroville thought he had stepped on a sharp sticker plant or thistle when he looked down to see a rattlesnake at his feet instead.

But when Chris showed his wife his leg, she and their young children started “freaking out.”

Chris had just stepped into his parents’ backyard to check the waterline when he was bitten on May 26. The bites happened as California saw a spring increase in rattlesnake activity following a March heat wave this year, with three people dying due to rattlesnake bites and at least 249 bites reported as of early July.




https://www.sfgate.com/northcoast/article/norcal-rattlesnake-antivenom-22337412.php

[bucolic_frolic]

1. Sounds like damn good doctoring

to navigate the schedule, supplies, transfers. He's a lucky man.

[hunter]

2. When I was in college before we went out on botany field trips we'd have a guest speaker who got bit.

His hand was a crumpled mess. The snake had bitten him while he was climbing rocks.

He had a set of slides that showed his progress from the time he was bitten to the partial recovery of the use of his hand. These were even gorier than the pictures in this article.

I think it made a big impression. Nobody was going to be careless in rattlesnake habitat.

I'd been struck at by a rattlesnake before. I was fortunate the snakes fangs did not penetrate my boot but it left a mark.

I've had dozens of rattlesnake encounters and they snakes have always been reasonable. You leave them alone, they leave you alone. They are dangerous when they are surprised or threatened.

Unfortunately for us the snakes are well camouflaged and it's pretty easy to surprise them when we are stomping around carelessly off the trail.

[3Hotdogs]

3. N.J. has northernTimber Rattlers. They are not aggressive. There is a nest of Rattlers about 5 feet from a section of

the Appalachian Trail so I guess about 5,000 people pass by that nest without incident. Snake bites are so rare in N.J. that they make the paper.

SO... that brings us to today'a story.

Our hero was hiking in northern N.J. with his kid and camera. He came across a Rattler, minding its own business, soaking up rays on a rock. Guy wants to get a picture of the snake but the head was in shade so he did what any good photographer would do.

The quote in the news paper, "I wanted to get a better picture so I reached down to adjust the snake."

For his effort, he spent two weeks in hospital and got a $2,000 fine for pestering an endangered species.