Video at link
Posted on 09/27/2007 8:36:38 AM PDT by stainlessbanner
HOLLYWOOD, Fla. -- A pet store employee was recovering, Thursday morning, from a rattlesnake bite. Store surveillance video showed the man cleaning a western diamondback rattlesnake's cage Wednesday in Hollywood. But, when he tried to move the snake to another cage, it lashed out and bit his hand.
The Florida snake handler was rushed to a Miami-Dade hospital that specializes in snake antivenin. Experts said the rattlesnake bite probably wasn't a feeding response, otherwise the attack caught on tape could have been much worse.
The Strictly Reptiles Company breeds snakes and other reptiles. Employee Tony Cruz was cleaning the cage of the rattlesnake when the snake struck his hand as he was holding the lid as a shield. Cruz raised his hand a little too high and the snake struck.
Five years ago, at the same company, another worker was bitten by a green mamba and he recovered.
"Most rattlesnake bites cause major tissue destruction, a lot of swelling, it causes a lot of pain. Some people say that it's very similar to slamming your finger in a car door," Cruz said.
He is expected to be okay. Had the bite been a feeding response, experts said, the snake would have injected more venom.
Video at link
Damn. And I thought I had a bad day at the office.
They sell rattlesnakes at a PET store?
(And no, I did not watch the video --I HATE SNAKES!!!)
They sell rattlesnakes at a PET store?
Sure. Isn't that where everybody buys their pet rattlesnakes?
Being sold as PETS?????
I used to work for a company that built controllers for cattle fences. There were a few products that could quickly change my outlook on the day, and did so a few times.
Even though I know you meant that in a funny way, don’t you think it’s getting old? Not all Mexicans are, or were, illegals, not even close. Besides, it’s Florida, he could be Cuban.
Just a thought.
I knew a guy who kept a bunch of rattler’s at his house. He was bit many times and one finally got him in the end.
I read somewhere recently that the Eastern Diamondback has a striking speed of 90 mph.
Have no use for snakes — don’t care if they do reduce Bubonic Plague in the southwest. Get rat poison or rat traps or something else besides relying on those ugly critters.
They get too big anyway so they must be eating too much to get to be so big and fat. Snakes are not supposed to be so fat.
Sounds like they breed them for either research, milking or zoos.
Heh, the guy had the presence of mind to recapture the snake and get it in the box after getting bit. Don’t know if I could have done that.
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