Now thats a bad day! (Snake Bites)

Jeramie

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Jeramie Monster Buck

Jeramie

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Man still critical after four snake bites

July 15, 2005

OKLAHOMA CITY --A man remained hospitalized in critical condition after being bit four times by two different snakes. James Cave, 47, was at a garage Sunday about 100 feet away from his home when he felt a sharp pain in his foot, his wife, Gloria Cave, said.

When he reached down to grab his foot, a pygmy rattlesnake bit his hand and his other foot, she said, and he stumbled backward and fell over a barrel, landing on a copperhead snake.

That snake bit him on the right foot, then in the groin, Gloria Cave said.

Within minutes, his mouth was swollen and he was vomiting, she said and their son, Andy, and a neighbor drove him to Shawnee Unity Health Center where he was treated with antivenin and rushed by helicopter to St. Anthony Hospital.

Neil Garrison, naturalist at Martin Park Nature Center in Oklahoma City, said it's unusual for someone to encounter two venomous snakes at one time.

He said the pygmy rattlesnakes, timber rattlers and copperheads exist in patchy parts of central Oklahoma's ecosystem but generally aren't a threat to humans.

Garrison said snakes aren't looking for a fight and don't strike unless they're provoked, stepped on or humans simply get too close to them.

"Don't put your hands and feet where you can't see," Garrison said. "If you venture out in the yard at night, take a flashlight."

Unity Health Center spokeswoman Linda Brown said the hospital has seen a rash of snake bites in recent weeks, and they've kept an ample supply of antivenin stocked to meet the demand.

She said if venom enters the bloodstream it can cause neurological problems, so patients with serious bites are sent to larger hospitals in Oklahoma City.

For the past few days another Cave son, Aaron, has been burning brush and clearing out areas around his parents' home where snakes could be concealed.

A neighbor has been doing the same on his property, Gloria Cave said.

She said her husband and the snakes have lived peacefully together on the property for 20 years and before the snakebites he had refused to kill snakes around their home.

Now, he feels the situation has changed to kill-or-be-killed, she said.

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Information from: The Oklahoman, http://www.newsok.com

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dogdoc Monster Buck

dogdoc

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Re: Now thats a bad day! (Snake Bites)

now that is what you call bad luck! I was brush hogging last week and saw a snake slither out of a brush pile. If I see a snake I'm catching it. Sure enough I caught the thing at it was a young copperhead. Checked out the fangs for a few minutes the humanely disposed of him. Most snakes are good snakes and great for the ecosystem but poisoness snakes get a quick decapitation from me.

todd

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Rut-Nut 6-Pointer

Rut-Nut

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Re: Now thats a bad day! (Snake Bites)

WOW- I thought I had a bad day last week when I found a hornets nest the hard way(4 or 5 stings on the left ear)....................................guess it could have been worse!!!!!!!! I'll take 4 bee stings over 4 snake bites ANY day!!!!!!

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