Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Just read in my local newspaper (here in Fayetteville, NC) that Lloyd Hood, 44 from Dublin, NC., passed away earlier this week possibly within minutes of getting bit in his left arm (from anaphalactic shock) while attempting to catch a four foot timber rattler . . . He wasn't too far away from his car, but never made it back in time to get medical aid. . . .

A sad loss for all of us. My heart goes out to his family . . .

Zee

NOTE TO SELF: Start packing an epipen or two (or at least Benadryl) in my field herping kit.

A lot of people know the risk of anaphylaxis and keep epinephrine or benadryl on hand at home for their captives, but how many people actually carry it with them in the field...something to think about.

Good Idea...

I keep harping about this, I hope it sinks in...

Keep benydryl at minimum, epipens if you really want to be safer..

Al
-----
If you give somebody a match and they can keep warm for a while.
If you light them on fire, They will be warm for the rest of their life.

FAYETTEVILLE OBSERVER (N Carolina) 08 October 05 Bladen County man dies from apparent snake bite (Matt Leclercq)
Dublin: A Bladen County man whose body was found Thursday at a racetrack in Dublin had apparently died of a rattlesnake bite two days earlier, authorities say.
Lloyd Hood, 44, and a friend were walking through a wooded ravine next to the Dublin Motor Speedway when Hood saw the 4-foot snake and tried to catch it, investigators said. The friend, who hates snakes, went back to his car and waited. Hood never emerged from the woods. The friend told investigators he honked his horn and tried to find Hood but eventually left, filing a missing person report the next day.
A sheriff's deputy searched the racetrack Wednesday, but it wasn't until the next day that the track's owner found Hood's body near a concession stand, said Chief Deputy Phil Little. Hood's left arm appeared swollen and gray with marks consistent with a snakebite, Little said. An autopsy is scheduled for today. Little said investigators do not suspect a crime.
Fatal snakebites are extremely rare. The State Center for Health Statistics said Friday that it had no records of deaths from venomous snakes in North Carolina. Of about 8,000 bites in the U.S. each year, only about six are fatal because victims can usually seek treatment within the critical first hour after a bite, according to the N.C. Division of Parks and Recreation.
Early fall is peak season for bites, Little said, because snakes are hunting before hibernation. But in most encounters with people, snakes are more interested in getting away than attacking, said Sean McElhone, a ranger at Jones Lake State Park in Elizabethtown.
"The only time they'll really try to strike you or bite you is if you walk right on top of them," McElhone said.
In perhaps a quarter of bites, snakes don't inject victims with venom, he said. But approaching a den or nesting area is more dangerous, because snakes are more likely to aggressively defend their turf, he said.
Hood, an avid hunter and outdoorsman, lived in a mobile home on N.C. 410 on the edge of Dublin, near Bladen Community College. He sold credit-card machines out of his home, said his brother, Andrew Hood, who lives on the same property.
Andrew Hood said he never realized his brother was missing until deputies knocked on his door Thursday evening. The deputies took him to Bladen County Hospital to identify the body.
"He just couldn't say no to people," said Andrew Hood, recalling how his brother often lent neighbors his phone or did favors for friends. "He'd give every stitch of clothes for you - he'd run naked through a cornfield for you."
On Friday, Hood went to the track - gated and empty except during weekend dirt-track races - to see where his brother had died. Jim Mintz, a friend of theirs who is also their landlord, went along. The pair reasoned that after the snakebite, Hood must have stumbled toward the roadway before collapsing, perhaps from shock. The racetrack is isolated, surrounded by woods a few miles off N.C. 87.
"The specifics are not going to change anything," Andrew Hood said, shaking his head in the drizzle. "What happened, happened, and it's really not going to help me to know."
Lloyd Hood never had children, relatives said, but four youngsters in the family called him grandpa. Five-year-old Shianne Willett was supposed to spend this weekend with Hood, said her mother in Fayetteville. He loved to take Shianne on walks, go fishing and play in the yard.
When Shianne learned her grandfather was dead, she told her mother she wanted to die too so she could be with him.
"He loved them dearly," said Shianne's mother, Karen Willett. "These grandkids were his No. 1 priority."
Bladen County man dies from apparent snake bite

"Hood's left arm appeared swollen and gray with marks consistent with a snakebite, Little said"

Although allergic reaction to venom is of concern. It is seemingly causing a panic in this and other forums.

To those who keep venomous snakes this is certainly something to discuss with your physician in the least or carry an epi-pen at the most. (however, you need to be able to identify the symptoms of a true allergic reaction)
It does not change the fact that snake venom is very efficient and does cause death. Sometimes very rapidly.

Loss of consiousness is a very common problem immediately following a bite, specifically a rattlesnake bite and more specifically Timbers/Canebrakes. However, dead tissue does not swell, it bloats.

Until or unless an autopsy report says otherwise. It would be a safe bet to assume the poor gentleman died of snake envenomation. An allergic reaction likely could/would have caused death before the tissue was overtly affected.

This allergy is an extremely rare occurence, specifically to someone not priorly exposed to the protein.

T-

but a lot of the people on this forum are exposed to rattlesnake venom while working with their captives, or like me, while finding them in the field. I don't currently carry epinephrine with me into the field, but will certainly be looking into getting some for my herping first aid kit.

It is of course important to know the symptoms of true anaphylaxis and not inject epinephrine too hastily. However, being that anaphylaxis can be a very real possibility to anyone who works with venomous snakes who produce copious amounts of venom and like to "share" it with their handlers, having an epipen on hand can be a lifesaver...I truly hope that I'll never have to use it, but I'd feel better having it JUST in case.