A Venomous Snake Just Bit You! Now What?

Copperheads are common in North Carolina. Here’s how to avoid them and what to do if you can’t.

[VonBluesman]

In Louisiana we have hills, flat land, swamp land, and marsh land, poisonous snakes are coral, timber rattler, diamond back rattler, pigmy rattler, copperhead, cottonmouth moccasin, and 2 legged politicians, and an occasional in-law.

[Discophreak]

Legend has it, he is still paying the bill and arguing with his health insurance company about denying to pay for antivenom.

[landetinuti]

The first step is to ask the snake if they are venomous or poisonous and promptly correct them if they answer incorrectly.

[DPR]

I take my daily walk in the dark each morning. Recently I encountered one copperhead right in the middle of the sidewalk. A few days later there was a big one in the grass right next to the sidewalk. I walk in the street now. I'd rather dodge cars than snakes.

[lostinthewoods]

Except for the use of the word poisonous a million times, this was actually really good.

[SHADOWNINE]

I'll never complain about living in the cold again

[QuarrellaDeVil]

This is worth a viewing just for the Hershey's Kisses comparison.

My sole copperhead encounter was with an absolutely beautiful and well-fed broad-banded copperhead near the head of a trail where the warning sign advised of [cue eye-rolling and groaning] "poisonous snakes." I stomped my foot on the ground to communicate to the snake that, hey, I'm passing through, too, and I just gave it clearance for it to finish crossing the trail into the safety of the brush. It never coiled, and simply picked up its pace after I made contact. They're fairly common where I live, and any time I'm working in the yard, I use a sturdy rake to test an area where I'm going to put my hands.

[graemegolding]

I live in Australia where we have 2 of the most venomous snakes in the world. We are taught in first aid to apply a preasure bandage to the limb, if bitten on the limb, call for an ambulance and lay completely still to stop the venom moving. I notice no mention of preasure bandages. Working on the land I had a habit of carrying a 12 gauge shotgun in the summertime. The number of snakes on the farm seem to reduce over the years.

[biggmikern]

I live in Kentucky and was bitten by a copperhead on my left shin. I was given fluids but no antivenom as the doctor told me that they usually don’t give antivenom with copperhead bites and deaths are rare with copperheads. They kept me for hours and watched me then sent me home. The doctor said I’d probably feel sick for a few days and he wasn’t kidding, I was sick for a week

[vlombardi]

Couple points. Simple clarification, venom is injected, poison is not. Typically it’s not injected into the blood stream but into the tissue and enters into the circulation through the lymphatic system. Lymph is not pumped by the heart but through muscle movement. That is why you are better off not to exert yourself. “Applying compression wrap (not a tourniquet) with a pressure between 40 and 70 mm Hg in the upper extremity and between 55 and 70 mm Hg in the lower extremity around the entire length of the bitten extremity is an effective and safe way to slow the dissemination of venom by slowing lymph flow. For practical purposes pressure is sufficient if the bandage is comfortably tight and snug but allows a finger to be slipped under it. Initially it was theorized that slowing lymphatic flow by external pressure would only benefit victims bitten by snakes producing neurotoxic venom, but the effectiveness of pressure immobilization has also been demonstrated for bites by non-neurotoxic American snakes….”
J. Med. Toxicol. (2011) 7:324–326

[x-man]

I recently moved from western NC. I had a green belt with a creek next to my property. I learned over the years that when you see the little toads come out, the snakes will not be to far behind. I once saw a little toad come out from under a piece of plywood that got let on the ground. Lifted it up and there was a small Copperhead, having smorgasbord. The only one I ever saw out on my property. But as you know, it's the ones you don't see...

[greghebert]

I stayed calm, dispatched the snake (Cotton Mouth) took 2 Benadryl’s and headed to the ER with the snake to be ID’d then anti venom. Bitten on the right hand may of 2009, felt like 2 hypodermic needles filled with boiling hot acid, took me a year to fully recover, snakes are a hot mess !!!

[blindkimberly]

Copperheads are so beautiful. We had one I named Isabella. She came every august to have her babies under our home. We respect wildlife here. We have to. All of our neighbors fear wild things. Even the amazing opossum! There has to be at least one safe place for them.

[BST-lmpo]

I was over at a friend's house in PA to help him split firewood. He had a cord of wood stacked on pallets covered with a tarp. While he was getting some equipment ready I was down by the wood pile. He had a big log leaning against the tarp to help prevent the wind from blowing it off. So while I waited I took a heavy stick and started smacking the log thinking that if there was a snake in the wood pile, it would be scared off from all of the noise and commotion.
Well, he came down to the wood pile about ten minutes later and we lifted off the tarp, and sitting right on top of the wood pile was a Copperhead all coiled up! All that smacking didn't seem to scare him one bit! I was surprised to see a snake after all of that banging!
We were eventually able to persuade him to move along!

[motor-head]

*"A Venomous Snake Just Bit You! Now What?"*

You run around in circles waving your arms and screaming hysterically.

[garypollard]

My Grandpa taught me the best thing as I was growing up and hunting with him. He told me never, ever step over a log when out in the woods and never just reach down to pick up anything on the ground. After he told me this we were out in the woods going fishing or hunting one and came across a log in the trail. So I stepped on top of it. Sure enough coiled up just on the other side was a copperhead. I have never forgotten this and that has been 55 years ago. Still kick a board on the ground before picking it up.

[YourUglygod]

I found my brother drunk in the garage, I just kicked him before I picked him up, it worked! thank you!

[fyne.living]

"I've watched enough discovery channel to realize I was bitten by a poisonous snake." - 🤨 Followed by the doctor using the word POISONOUS.. 🤦‍♂️

[thomasbroking]

Wow. Now you're aware. What about the pets that need a drink? Glad you came out ok. Thanks for sharing

[Scorpions]

The best information about that video was the end, where he said kick everything your about to pick up. Especially in N.C.