PUEBLO CHIEFTAIN (Colorado) 02 June 06 Rattler's bite leaves Pueblo teen leery - Jordan Dazzio plans to be mowing his family's lawn with high hunting boots for a while. (James Amos)
Jordan Dazzio isn't going to be watering the flowers on the front porch of his home for a while.
And when the 17-year-old Pueblo youth mowed the front lawn of his Regency Ridge home a day or so ago, he'd only do it while he was wearing his high hunting boots.
And, you can't really blame him.
Jordan was bitten on the knee Sunday by a rattlesnake on the family's front porch.
His mom, Janice Armijo, said Jordan was running out the front door to talk to some friends.
As he crossed the porch, the snake leaped and struck Jordan on the front of his right knee.
"He fell to the ground, I don't know if it was from shock or what," his mother said. "He came in and his knee was bleeding."
Jordan said he knew immediately that he'd been bitten because he saw it happen.
"It was like a nail going into me," he said. "I kind of like jumped up and down, and it made my leg kind of collapse."
His family took Jordan to the St. Mary-Corwin Medical Center emergency room as his knee began to swell and sting.
The rattlesnake's venom also made his tongue go numb, Jordan said. "And my throat was swollen, and it felt like metal was in my mouth, like copper."
Jordan was treated with antivenin, a medication designed to counter the effects of the rattlesnake venom. His mother said it took several hours and that the hospital staff watched Jordan to make sure he remained breathing and his heart kept beating.
When he got home later that night, Jordan wasn't feeling well.
"At first, he was real nauseous and didn't feel good," his mother said. "He just laid around the house a day or two. We kept it (the knee) real clean and used Neosporin (an anti-bacterial ointment)."
Jordan since has made a full recovery, his mother said.
After striking, the rattlesnake retreated to the flowers along the sides of the front porch, she said. But her husband pulled it out with a shovel and rake and killed it.
"He chopped his head off," she said. "It was still trying to . . . Even with his head cut off, you could see his little teeth going."
And it didn't turn out to be much of a snake, Armijo said. "It was a little rattlesnake. . . probably only ruler-sized."
The family had found a small rattlesnake in their garage a few days before Jordan was bitten. Now they're worried - especially Jordan - that even more rattlers may be around.
"There's bound to be more," he said. "They were both babies."
"He wants me to hire someone to see if there's a nest of them under the house," his mother said.
She said the family has warned the neighbors in the area because several families have young children who could be hurt.
Walking outside the Dazzio-Armijo home has become a much more cautious activity for the family.
"I look all over before I go stepping outside," Armijo said. "We have two dogs in the back. I hope they don't get bit."
Jordan said the bite scared him, and he already didn't like snakes very much.
"I don't like snakes one bit," he said. "If I saw one, I'd probably walk the other way."
Unashamed, he said he plans to keep wearing his high hunting boots for a while.
"Yeah," he said. "That'll take awhile to get off that."

Paperboy Note: If any of you kind people have a e-link with Mr Thomas Eimermacher, who I believe is doing the Venomous News for the SHHS website, could you please do me the favour of asking him to zap me a link? Thank you. Wes
Rattler's bite leaves Pueblo teen leery

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