"Snakebite in Your Own Bed"

**AJE** · 05-03-2007, 08:40 PM

A family’s worst nightmare! Even more so a Bizarre Puzzle as to what this was and how this happened.
~Manitowoc County Wisconsin~

Two nights ago a Valders High School Teen went to bed for the normal school night. Sometime during the night, while she was sleeping a snake slithered up her warm bed in between the sheets. She must have moved in her sleep and thus she was bitten. Her scream woke up the entire family. All we know is this snake is dark colored and about 22inches… before an appropriate identification was done the family dog had a midnight snack.

The logistics behind this attack is cloudy, but I can say that she’s displaying some symptoms’ of snake envenomation. She has fang marks which are about 1 1/4 inch apart on her mid portion of the back which from what I was told is now raised slightly and has some sort of “rash”. She did come to school today but only survived a few hours, she appears to have lost her skin hue and which has been replaced by clammy white and bright rosy cheeks. Her motorized functions were slightly lethargic and she’s now having problems with her kidneys.

I don’t know but this sounds really weird and yes I’m really concerned for the lady. If she had been bitten by a venomous serpent it’s defiantly in a weird spot except for the fact that this area of the body gives off the alot of heat. I don’t know but the “normal” garter snake has a roll of teeth not fangs. Wisconsin does have two species of rattlesnakes, but this reptile didn’t have any noticeable rattle. Here in the United States the copperhead, coral and water moccasins don’t carry these extra rattle perks to give better identification.

My family has both seen and had near death experiences while traveling across the US with several varieties of venous snakes, so I first hand know what they look like and how they behave. Since these encounters with the serpents, I have been doing my research on especially what to do with envenomation. Knowledge is the key to life saving “what if”. I tell you I’m so stumpt on this unfortunate experience. My first thoughts of bats or someone doing a tarantula joke was quickly ruled out. Nope it was a snake. So the question is what was this snake?

We really don’t know how this snake got into the girls room, but it certainly did. It’s possible that the serpent hitched a ride while the family participated in the National Pigeon Tournaments which are all over the US. But this too is just a hunch.

My prayers are going out to this young woman. Some kind of snake attacked her but what? Anyone who is a herpetologist, please do feel free to give feedback until then I will update as it comes.

**CarolsCritterCare** · 05-04-2007, 05:21 PM

WOW!! Strange indeed. I wonder what type of snake it was. Isn't there different anti-venom depending on what snake it was?

Does not sound like she is doing to well :?:

Too bad the dog disposed of the snake before they could identify it.

I wonder what coarse of treatment she is receiving.

Carol

pk · 05-27-2007, 10:45 PM

any updates yet?

Lauri · 07-22-2007, 02:43 PM

The student is fine and fully recovered. At least physically she is ok. I saw her and she reluctantly told me the story in slightly more detail, as well as showed me her scars. She has two, 3/8" + raised scars located well over an inch apart on her lower right side back. No indication of anyother teeth marks which would have been indicative of a nonvenemous snakebite. The ER physcian did skin scrapings to look for any venom and those were clear of any poison. Apparently this snake decided not to kill the body that was keeping it warm!

Where did it come from? Who knows. The teenager sleeps upstairs and lives with just her parents in the house so it was not a bad joke. Perhaps it was an exotic snake that shipped in with cargo from Asia. It is a small world. Ever go to Hobby Lobby? Everything there is MADE IN CHINA. If it had just eaten and slithered into a cargo box prior to being shipped it could have survived until it arrived at its destination. Another thought is that it was someone's exotic "pet" that either escaped or was released and found its way into this home.

Reminds me of the time we were traveling in Washington State, stopped at a motel chain to rest for the night and when we opened up the bed, there were several species of spiders in between the sheets. We covered them back up and left for a cleaner motel.

pk · 07-22-2007, 10:16 PM

Quote:

Reminds me of the time we were traveling in Washington State, stopped at a motel chain to rest for the night and when we opened up the bed, there were several species of spiders in between the sheets. We covered them back up and left for a cleaner motel.

I would have ran so fast out of that room! That would keep me from wanting to sleep anywhere in that motel! lol

Seems to me this reminds me of another story that AJE wrote about when camping one time and her 'mom' lol was lifting a tent off the car was it and a huge spider was on top and the screams could be heard all over...lol lol

I hate SPIDERS!! Everyone in a ten mile radius would have heard me! lol

pk

KateOYM · 09-14-2007, 02:21 PM

You and me both pk! Spiders are needless to say the only thing that scares me... no matter how big or what color. Icky!!

**AJE** · 03-24-2008, 08:16 PM

Man bit by stowaway snake in luggage
Victim in stable condition after being treated; rattlesnake destroyed

McLEAN, Va. - Maybe he heard a faint rattling around in his luggage, but he surely never assumed the sound came from a stowaway snake sealed in his bag.

Alas, that's what happened to Andy Bacas, an Arlington man who was taken to the hospital Monday after being bitten by what authorities believe was a juvenile canebrake rattlesnake.

Bacas, a rowing coach at Yorktown High School, told fire and rescue personnel that he reached into his luggage Monday morning after returning from a team trip to South Carolina when he felt a sharp pain. That's when he saw the nearly foot-long snake and quickly slammed the luggage shut with the snake inside, said Chief Ben Barksdale, spokesman for the Arlington County Fire Department.

Man bit by stowaway snake in luggage - News - MSNBC.com

Lauri · 03-24-2008, 08:40 PM

AHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

**CarolsCritterCare** · 03-26-2008, 07:13 AM

Stumbled on this story looking for something else and remembered the thread here....

Woman Dies After Snakebite In Church, Kentucky Woman Killed After Being Bitten During Serpent-Handling Service - CBS News

Quote:

A woman died after being bitten by a snake during a serpent-handling service at church, police said.

What religion handles reptiles as part of the religious ceremony?

Turns out Snake handling is a misdemeanor and punishable by a $50 to $100 fine in Kentucky...

**CarolsCritterCare** · 03-26-2008, 07:16 AM

Careful Wal-Mart shoppers..........

Victim Making Demands Of Wal-Mart After Snake Bite - News Story - WFTV Orlando

Quote:

A Brevard County man is taking on Wal-Mart, after he was attacked by a poisonous snake inside one of its stores. He is warning shoppers about a problem, which has sent more people to hospitals than you might ever think.

An employee was able to catch the snake and give it to paramedics.

pk · 03-26-2008, 08:25 AM

I noticed this article is from the Florida area. Does it say anywhere if other parts of the country had this happen where a snake is in the garden center inventory?

pk · 03-26-2008, 08:41 AM

Checking around some I noticed an article that mentioned at least 7 other incidents happened in Wal-mart's garden centers in the area through out the years. But it also stated that pygmy rattlesnakes are poisonous snakes that are native to Florida and other parts of the South. Only found one other mention of it happening in Texas but it stated that the man claims he was bitten by the snake but no marks were found.

I'm thinking that any garden center in parts of the country where rattlesnakes are prevalent are places you should be extra careful. It's not just Walmart Garden Centers?

It surely is a thought though and I know just to be careful I am going to look before I stick my hand into plants at garden centers this Spring. One never knows..a snake, a spider....

ONEZ48 · 03-26-2008, 09:46 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by pk

I am going to look before I stick my hand into plants at garden centers this Spring. One never knows..a snake, a spider....

Including Wal-mart. I prefer not to be bitten.

**AJE** · 03-26-2008, 06:39 PM

Hi all, actually finding a snake in the neighborhood gardening sections of any state is fairly common especially the southern. I remember one year while visiting our Grandmother in Orange City, Florida... having her tell us that a 4 foot Eastern Diamondback Rattlesnake took refuge in a True Value Greenhouse... the store had to call in assistance from snake experts to remove the serpent. Now mind ya this store was located in the middle of the city. For many areas of Florida it seems one city goes right into another. A metropolis, in my eyes. Scary stuff; but you have to stop and think if we Humans continue to encroach our urban sprawl on the habitat of wildlife we would have such encounters less frequently. So my off beat point is watch where your hands/feet go even when you’re in the boundaries of your local retail shop picking up a treasured plant.