Yikes!! Glad you are OK. How very scary!

God love you !

Isn`t modern medicine wonderful !
One would like to think that the snake would just slither away.............

~~~~~~~D`Ann~~~~~~~~~~~~~

gosh how aweful! I feel for you Rachel! I hope you heal fast and can cope with this experience. I think I would be scared to go out in the yard again :-/

Evelyn

WOW What an experience! I hope you are all better now. I have a horrible habit of going outside barefoot. I have stepped on enough bees and wasps that you would think I had learned my lesson. Now I leave an old pair of shoes at the garage door to remind myself to slip them on before stepping out.

Cindeea I actually had flip flops on that were an inch thick. No sneakers. Yes I am more afraid to let my animals and dd out but life must go on. However dd won't be going out with sneakers and the flip flops are now only for non-gardening use. I will be in BIG BLACK BOOTS from now on!

How scary! We have racers and garter and coral and king snakes and they all do run away. But one time when we first moved here there was a HUGE diamond rattlesnake. He was as big around as my forearm and at least 4 feet long. I was returning from the veggie garden on the lawn tractor and he was on the concrete lip around my house coiled up and in the strike position. My dogs were near him and barking.

Like you Rachel I knew instantly what it was. My instincts took over and I jumped off the tractor and ran in the opposite direction screaming and yelling as though I were hurt. My dogs thankfully left the snake to tend to me. I grabbed them and put them in the house.

That snake did not budge during all this! My sister and brother in law were visiting so I ran screaming in the house (disrupting a golf match on TV of course!) that there is a rattlesnake - there is a rattlesnake!

Husband and brother in law came out and the big guy was STILL there - rattling away and waving his pointy little tongue at us. Lacking a gun (and even if we had one how do you shoot the side of your house?) we got a big trash can and the pool broom and the guys swept him into the trash can and we slapped a lid on it. They proceeded to carry the trash can across and down the street to the cow feild / river where we released him. I was jumping up and down and saying "Careful! Careful!" like a hyperactive 5 year old the whole time.

We never saw another and I hope we never do but I did learn that they stand their ground!

I later took my dogs to rattlesnake aversion training since I was scared they would get bitten. What a waste and how scary. A vet came out with a rattler with his mouth taped shut. The dog wears s shock collar. The handler is supposed to walk your dog by the snake and when it rattles and the dog goes to explore he gets a big shock. Sends the dog in the air.

I did it out of fear for my dogs but it was barbaric and I regret it. I think it was totally ineffective. My dogs kill snakes whenever they see them (I try not to let them see them). I think they remember that and now have a heightened hatred - not aversion - to snakes as a result.

Rachel I think your advice is best - just be aware!

Anita

Rachel,
God bless you. I have never been bitten by a snake.Was it painful or did the venom dull the pain ?
Everyone please be careful,with spiders also.
Felix

I was bit by a garter snake up north once right on the tendons of my wrist. I passed out probably from panic but was fine.
When we lived in PSL my daughter(then 12) was coming in the screen door. We had no idea a Pygmy had taken up residence in the rafters. As she slammed the door it lost its footing landed on my daughters shoulders and slithered down.I grabbed my sons CLAW toy and stuck it in a 5 gallon bucket where it rattled away.I called vets and other places to dispose of it I thought they might be able to use its venom.Everyone of them said just let it loose!
No way I had three kids and pets.I finally put rubbing alcohol in the bucket and a lid on it and he went nite nite.Funny thing,I only had a tiny lot in PSL and we were always getting poison snakes, mostly coral. My kids knew the rhyme
If the head is black,stay back Jack! If the head is red Go ahead
Now that I am on two and a half acres I havent seen anything but my good ole black ones!
I am still on alert especially since I have ponds and a creek. The great white egrets love to eat snakes by the way
my daughter however,,,won't even look at them!
Black snake keeping watch in my garden
{{gwi:184028}}

Thank goodness you're on the mend! I was just going to post my experience yesterday with a snake. IT's a black racer that lives in my yard. I have a piece of vanilla in a large hanging basket under my grapefruit tree. I went to pull a weed out of it and the snake just bolted out of the basket. I don't know who was more frightened, it or me!

Rae, I am so sorry you had this shocking experience, but I'm very glad you knew exactly what bit you, and didn't fool around waiting for medical care.

I was thinking last week that I had never done the ID post on the pygmy rattler, and now I know I need to do it. The pygmy can be quite pugnacious. They are actually far more likely to stand their ground and/or bite than most other snakes. I always think of them as very irritable.

Luckily, they don't have a LOT of venom, and being bitten on an extremity far from the heart, like your little toe, does not normally put your life in danger. However, that hemotoxic venom is nasty stuff that causes tissue death, ulceration, and necrosis. In other words, it's painful and nasty, as you have just found out. I hope you heal quickly and are left with no residual problems.

Anita, rattlesnakes CAN stand their ground and you were wise to get away from the one you saw. Normally, though, when you leave or back slowly away, they will leave in the other direction. They usually don't want to fight. That's why they hiss and rattle and try to look menacing...to chase you away so they can go about their own business.

The canine snake aversion therapy sounds totally senseless and like a waste of time...and yes, barbaric, too. I doubt it works well on many dogs. NOTHING would keep Potter from trying to kill any snake he sees. It's hardwired into his brain, and I just have to get between him and the snake as quickly as I can, and take him away.

Goldenpond, I'm surprised that you had a pygmy rattler up that high...my experience has been that they aren't real good climbers, like rat snakes & racers are. I've seen them three or four feet up in a palmetto or bush, but never in a tree or other high place. I suspect the vets & hospitals get all the rattlesnake venom they need from the professionals. Releasing it in a wooded area would probably have been just fine, though I would certainly not have let it go in my yard, either.

I'll try to put together a pygmy rattlesnake ID post very soon, honest!

Glad everyone has survived all their scares, and Rae, take care of your toe! Hopefully you'll be fully over it all soon.

Marcia

How scary! Just glad to know you're ok and that it wasn't your little girl.

Two of our dogs hunt lizards and have killed garter snakes and a black racer before I could stop them, thank God it hasn't been worse than those poor little guys.

Suzanne

Oh honey!
SO glad you'll be OK!
I garden in my Crocs...the shell that surrounds my beds is way too sharp to walk on barefoot and the stepping stones throughout the yard get way too hot to go without shoes.
Thanks, too, for the reminder...I know I can get a bit complacent at times.
Haven't seen any snakes in or around my yard for about 2 months now. Dunno if its cause its too hot during the day or what, but I know they're there...just not visible.
I'll be more aware after reading your post...thanks!

With the time that all of us spend in our yards, we should be able to identify snakes. I know I'm not and that's not a good thing.
Thanks for the head up.
Barb

My neighbor called us one night to come help with a snake in her yard. She was going to pot some plants so she started to scoop some out of a bag then realized she would need all of what was in the bag so she dumped it out. With the dirt, out came a snake. it crawled between the rocks by her little pond where she had some fish. They did get a good look at it and said it was a Copperhead. We live in Central Florida and supposedly they are not found in this area but we couldn't convince her of that. She called DH to come help hunt for it under the rocks but we weren't home. She hasn't seen it since. DH thninks it might have been some kind of rat snake but she said it looked just like the Copperhead pictures on line.

Felix-

No it hurt, omg did it hurt. I'm not sure how to describe the bite but the best way I can put it is pop-pierce. It was the strangest feeling, not like a bee or wasp. Not even like a sharp puppy nip. I distinctly remember pulling my leg up and feeling his fang pull out.

The initial hurt and I was able to walk on it for a few minutes to get into the house. The pain set in within 5 minutes as my toe started to swell up. Then slowly within 2 hours it had covered the span of my foot under my ankle. The initial antivemon caused it to go down most of the way, but I needed it 3 hours instead of every 6 because they swelling then increased to my the top of my calf.

Marcia, it looks like because we had the anti-venom administered so quickly that I should have no necrosis or anything else. The plastic surgeon was an expert and did her residency in Texas. She said mine looked amazingly well and didn't anticipate any problems.

It is also my understanding that the Pygmy is generally not deadly to a healthy person or child but this is not the case for animals. They had 3 children in this year for the same type bite and all three recovered easily.

Above all keep your eyes open. Do with them what you will but be cautious they are dangerous. Keep your grass (what you have of it) cut VERY VERY short,,, even though ours had been done recently it was high enough for a pygmy to hide in and that is why he was there instead of in my plants.

As for me I'm investing in snake away and big leather boots!

Rae

Mboston, your neighbors were 99% likely to have been mistaken. You are right that we don't have copperheads in central Florida, unless the snake is an escapee from someone's collection. Here is a photo of a true copperhead, followed by a photo of a red rat snake. I suspect that your friends got a very fast look at one of the "splotchy" patterned snakes we have here, and mistook a harmless one for a copperhead. I'm also including a range map for copperhead distribution in Florida. You can see that in the normal run of things, they are only found in a very limited area in the panhandle.

Marcia

Copperhead:

Red rat or corn snake:

Copperhead distribution map:
{{gwi:939464}}

Manature,
I showed her a map similiar to yours and pictures of others that it could be but she was insistent because of the shape of the head as much as the color and pattern. She is not one to kill black snakes or other harmless snakes but if she saw this one again, I know she would kill it or get someone who would.

Since then I have on two occasions seen little "grass snakes" crawling over my bushes and they are patterned and rather pretty. One of my pups almost stepped on one one morning (about 6am) that was on the step outside our pool area. I was half asleep but I certainly took one big step back!

Rae, how very scary! I'm glad you are OK and I thank you for sharing the story with us. I know I needed the reminder because I've gotten pretty casual about shoes. Thanks!

Kate

As our resident lurking herper, Wayne, will tell you, head shape is a very tricky way to ID a snake. They can and do look very different in different positions, and snakes can often flatten their heads and necks, making them look more viper-like than they really are. I'm sure she believes she had a copperhead, but the chances are almost zero. I'd be more inclined to believe it was even a pygmy rattlesnake without the rattle (not an uncommon thing at all) before a copperhead. But obviously, we will never convince HER of this, so it's really a moot point.

Of course, the chances of her finding that particular snake again are probably slim, too. Hopefully if she does see it again, she will have a longer time to view it and be better able to ID it.

I'm going to do that ID post real soon. Maybe even later tonight, if I can finish up what I'm working on here. It may help someone else when they spot a snake in the yard.
(And it may keep the snake safe from being whacked with a shovel, too.)

Marcia

Thanks from me, too for the reminder. I Know we have at least one fairly large yellow rat snake.. and had a 'gathering of some babies early in the spring. Hopefully they were the rat snake babies. Mulch is wonderful.. for my plants, but also for the snakes. I always wear shoes, but am never thinking of snakes.

The confusion above may be about the kind of snake. Water Mocassins can look like Copperheads in many cases--and they are poisonous.

They do have the viper head, much like the copperheads. And, Mary, we do have plenty of Cotton Mouths here in Central Florida, as I'm sure you know.

Here is a link that might be useful:

You guys/gals are a wonderful resource for all sorts of information. I really enjoy reading your posts. I have a pygmy rattler story to share.

My father was bitten on the finger by a pygmy rattler when he was attempting to "dispose of it". He promptly killed it with the shovel, told my mother what happened and drove off in our only car to take himself to the hospital. My mother had to stay home because my sister and I were very young and would be getting off the school bus any minute. When we got home, a neighbor drove us to the hospital.

My father had only made it about 4 miles from where we lived. Both his arms went completely numb and he couldn't steer the car. Luckily this happened in front of the fire station and they took over from there.

At the hospital, they cut a cone shaped chunk out of his finger, and I remember that I could see right down to the bone. It was very clean and neat, but extremely swollen. His entire face, neck, etc., was swollen. He was in the hospital 1 day, but for months afterward anytime something bit him - like a gnat, mosquito or biting fly - he would swell up again just like he did from the snake bite. That went on for about 6 months. His finger healed nicely, they grafted skin from his hip into it. He had no residual health problems from the incident.

Anyway, my point is: Don't mess around. Call the ambulance, don't try to be a hero.

Exactly so, nativemel. Any snake bite can get infected, but if you know for sure you've been bitten by a venomous snake, get professional treatment as fast as you can to avoid complications. Don't attempt any first aid yourself, except to keep the limb below the level of your heart. Some folks now recommend a compression wrap (like with an Ace Bandage) but NOT a tourniquet. But most experts say the best thing is just to get to a medical facility pronto. Most snakebites are NOT fatal, but they can become very nasty wounds, and the sooner you receive proper treatment, the better the chances that you won't have any longterm effects.

Tom, your picture is of a baby cottonmouth and you are very right that it could be mistaken for a copperhead by someone who doesn't know snakes. Of course, ALL of you folks here who read my posts on ID-ing cottonmouths would recognize this one immediately by the dark cheek stripe. Copperheads do not have this, btw. It is diagnostic for the Florida cottonmouth.

There are many things this lady's snake might have been, some venomous, most NOT, but a copperhead really isn't very likely.

Of course, since none of us saw her snake, we could argue the point forever and it wouldn't change her mind a bit. But for future reference to most of the folks on this group, you aren't likely to be menaced by a copperhead in Florida, unless you live in the area shown on the range map above.

Nativemel, glad you dad survived the experience without permanent injury or disfigurement. I'm sure it wasn't fun, though.

Be careful out there, folks. No need to be in a state of alarm, unable to enjoy your yards & gardens. But keep your eyes open and don't do silly things (like reaching under logs or rocks without looking first.)

Marcia