SUN-SENTINEL (Fort Lauderdale, Florida) 06 July 08 Worker in garden center in Pines bitten by pygmy rattler (Sallie James)

Pembroke Pines: A 42-year-old man working in a garden center at a Wal-Mart Supercenter was bitten Sunday by a pygmy rattlesnake, officials said.

The victim was taken to Memorial Hospital Miramar, where he received antivenin for the bite, said Miami-Dade Fire Capt. Ernie Jillson, in charge of the agency's Venom Response Team. The man, who was not identified because of privacy laws, is expected to recover, Jillson said.

The juvenile pygmy rattler bit him on the right hand at the store in the 100 block of Southwest 184th Avenue shortly before noon. The venom response team was contacted about the bite and responded, Jillson said.

The Miami-based team keeps 43 different types of antivenin in stock, for treatment of everything from cobra and rattlesnake bites to coral snake bites. Pygmy rattlers are one of six venomous snakes in Florida.

At least a few hundred people were bitten by snakes last year; two died

Snake facts by the numbers Someone at the scene in Pembroke Pines killed the snake before rescue workers arrived. Members of the antivenin unit identified it, Jillson said.

Bites from pygmy rattlers are painful, but are rarely fatal, and they do not always require antivenin. The bite can cause tissue damage.

The rattlers range in size from 6 to 22 inches long, and usually spend their time hidden among leaves and grass, or sometimes in potted plants in garden centers.

They can be very hard to spot. The snakes have a row of mid-dorsal spots and a bar that runs from the eye to the base of the mouth, varying from black to brownish red. They also have an orange or reddish-brown dorsal stripe. In young snakes, the tip of the tail is yellow.

There have been other cases of pygmy rattlers biting customers or workers in garden centers at home improvement stores in Broward County.

Although most snake bites occur when people are bothering snakes, Jillson said, "this is a legitimate bite where the individual was just doing his job."
Worker in garden center in Pines bitten by pygmy rattler

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