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MIAMI HERALD (Florida) 22 December 05 Hollywood man bitten by snake, possibly a cobra (Wanda J. DeMarzow)
A 43-year-old Hollywood man is at Memorial Regional Hospital being treated for a possible poisonous snake bite. The anti-venom unit is still looking for the brown snake and has not yet confirmed the type of snake. Miami-Dade's anti-venom unit responds to all snake bites in South Florida.
Officers from the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commisison went to the site to look for the snake but did not find it. They said it would have been too cold this morning for a snake to muster the energy to bite someone and then escape.
Angel Santiago was pulling up weeds around 8:45 a.m. Thursday at his home at 2247 Washington St. when something bit him on his arm. The man, who Hollywood Fire Rescue has not identified, saw two puncture marks on his right arm and his brother spotted a brown snake slithering away.
Hollywood Fire Rescue arrived at the home and rushed the man to the hospital.
Miami-Dade anti-venom unit Lt. Al Cruz, with other members of the unit, arrived at the hospital a short time later to try and identify the type of snake that bit the man by the puncture wounds on his forearm.
Several anti-venom unit members and Fish and Wildlife officers and Hollywood police rushed to the home on Washington Street to try and find the snake so they can treat the man with the appropriate antivenom serum, said Hollywood Fire Rescue Fire Inspector Robert Hazen.
But preliminary tests at the hospital found no venom in the man's system, Hazen said.
http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/13466437.htm

NBC6 (Miami, Florida) 22 December 05 Man In Hospital After Snake Bites Him - Experts Need To Identify Reptile To Administer Antivenom
Hollywood, Fla.: Doctors at a local hospital are closely monitoring a man bitten by a snake. The problem is, no one knows what kind and that is delaying doctors from giving him a life-saving treatment.
Relatives said 37-year-old Angel Santiago was bitten on the forearm Thursday while tending to the garden outside his home.
"He always comes out in the morning and looks at the plants and he puts water on them," Chelmys Irsula said.
According to snake experts, the reptile that bit Santiago is not from South Florida.
"He was having atypical symptoms, meaning it's unlikely it was a snake that is native to Florida," Al Cruz said.
Cruz and his team responded to the scene and searched everywhere for the snake because without identifying it, they can't administer the antivenom.
"We have the largest antivenom bank in the country, possibly even the world. Unfortunately, when it's a snake that is not from here, we need to know specifically what kind it is," Cruz said.
Santiago is in Memorial Regional Hospital in good condition. Doctors said they plan to keep him there until they determine he is OK to leave.
http://www.nbc6.net/news/5616512/detail.html

I know someone who was there with Fish & Wildlife. The "victim" kept on changing his story and nobody believed he was bitten. He received no A/V as a result of this and was also asymptomatic. He will get a free ride to the "rubber room" and maybe charged for submitting a false police report.

Al
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"Snakes in Peru are not there for decoration, they really bite people."

Professor David Warrell, Omaha 10/21/05

His story was bogus, and further tests showed no venom in the man system. Also, he just had the "fang marks" on his arm. Even the area surrounding the bite was not even red or swollen. It appears that this man made quite the nice story up.

MIAMI HERALD (Florida) 23 December 05 Hunt fails to turn up cobra man claims bit him - Hollywood man was reportedly bitten by a cobra Thursday, but authorities couldn't find the snake or any sign the man suffered a poisonous bite. (Todd Wright)
Fire Rescue workers, wildlife officers, police and TV crews al converged on a Hollywood apartment building Thursday, all chasing rumors of a huge cobra that had bitten a man working in the yard.
The emergency workers rushed the man to the hospital and literally beat the bushes as the TV crews carried the scene live on the noon news.
The only thing missing: a snake.
After hours of searching, no reptile was found, and resident Angel Santiago showed no sign of having been poisoned, leaving some searchers speculating that he had made his own puncture wounds and concocted the story of the snake.
Meanwhile, Santiago watched the events unfold on TV at Memorial Regional Hospital, where nurses patched up the two small holes in his right forearm. He felt fine and sipped on vanilla coffee while he watched the news.
''There's no symptoms of any poison in his body. No swelling. No nervous problems. There's zip,'' said Skip Trubey, an investigator for the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission. ``I think he's faking it frankly, but the next 24 hours will tell.''
At the time of the bite, around 8:45 a.m., it was about 50 degrees, usually too cold for snakes -- which are cold-blooded -- to muster up the energy to strike.
Others said Santiago would have been close to death because of the potency of cobra venom.
Santiago, 43, contends he was the victim of a snakebite.
He said he was picking up debris from shrubs in front of his apartment at 2247 Washington St. when he felt something ''hit'' his hand.
When he pulled his hand away, there was blood seeping through two small puncture wounds.
Santiago said he ran inside and told his brother, who told him to go to the hospital.
Santiago said the skin around the wound began to bubble and he felt a tingling in his arm.
''I knew right then it wasn't a bee,'' he said from the emergency room at the hospital.
Hollywood Fire Rescue arrived at the home and rushed Santiago to Memorial Regional.
The Miami-Dade Fire Rescue Antivenin Unit, which handles snakebites throughout South Florida, inspected the wounds and determined the marks came from the fangs of a cobra.
Soon after, about 15 people poked bushes, lifted ladders and rattled garbage cans in the small courtyard of the apartment complex attempting to flush out the snake.
No luck.
Fire Rescue inspectors even went door to door to make sure none of Santiago's neighbors were illegally harboring an exotic poisonous snake.
No dice.
Fire Rescue Inspector Robert Hazen said he saw the bites on Santiago's arm just above his wrist and initially believed that a snake was in the area. ''It was a textbook bite,'' he said. ``But where is the snake?''
But the perfect bite mark doesn't necessarily mean the presence of a venomous snake, Trubey said.
Trubey, who also inspected Santiago's forearm, said the marks could have easily been caused by two pricks of a pin or the big two-pronged fork you'd use when carving a Thanksgiving turkey.
The real signs of a venomous bite are the body's reaction to the venom.
If a cobra had bitten Santiago, swelling would have occurred almost immediately and would have spread to his upper arm.
But that would have been the least of his problems.
Cobra venom attacks the nervous system and almost instantly starts to shut it down. Victims often have trouble breathing within 15 minutes of a bite and can die within an hour if not treated with antivenin.
Santiago said he was breathing fine, but fearful that the snake could still be waiting for him when he returns home.
He joked he would try to watch the Discovery Channel at the hospital to increase his knowledge of cobras. Santiago still believes he is the lucky survivor of a venomous bite. ''It was a snake,'' he said. ``I got two fang marks to prove it.''
Hunt fails to turn up cobra man claims bit him

"The Miami-Dade Fire Rescue Antivenin Unit, which handles snakebites throughout South Florida, inspected the wounds and determined the marks came from the fangs of a cobra."

Wow, those guys are good. I wonder if they can tell what kind of cobra it was, as well.