7 days ago I was bitten on the index finger by a Western Diamondback rattlesnake. My experience, and the dumb stuff I did that led to the bite, might be a good reminder to others, so here it is:
Where I work, we have a huge amount of rattlesnakes that like to lay out on the concrete, to warm themselves. Almost all of them have been younger snakes, approx. 1'-2', and almost always very calm and good tempered.
I have relocated approx. 30 of these snakes, and my usual method was to use a magazine sized manual or catalog, and keeping my fingers covered, just slide the manual under them and slide them into my pillowcase, for transport. Occasionally I also used my ink pin to support the head/neck, and tailed them into a bag.
One particularly nasty 2' I had to finally pin, and one adult definitely had to be pinned, before bagging.
The night I was bitten I had already bagged one juvenile and had him in the pillowcase, when I came across another, that was aggressive from the start. Constant striking, with occasional attempts to get away from me.
I did not have a manual with me, and had some other work I needed to get done, so I ignored the warning signs, and decided to pin this 1.2' rattler with, of all things, my ink pin. Yes, I was that dumb.
Furthermore, I let myself get distracted, by what I can't remember ( possibly reaching to my side to get my pillowcase ), when he tagged me on the finger.
I was fairly sure, because he was a juvenile, that it would not be a dry bite, but I still needed to bag him and relocate him away from the bldg. So I set the pillowcase on top of him to keep him from moving away, and got a catalog to scoop him up with, and got him bagged.
As soon as he bit, the area started burning almost immediately and swelling soon followed.
I wrapped up the work I had in progress, and told a co-worker that I was leaving for the hospital, which was only about 10 min. away. By this time, the swelling was a good bit more pronounced of course, and was midway up my forearm. Time since th bite occured was probably around 30 min.
The hospital stay was routine, several vials of cro-fab, 2 days in the ICU and one day in a private room. My entire arm swelled, I developed quite the bruising from my armpit to my hand, and had quite a bit of discomfort.
Point being, what I did was stupid, especially since I actually did know better. I ignored the warning signs of a snake that obviously had a nasty disposition, and took stupid risks because I was in a hurry.
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