What To Do If A Rattlesnake Bites You

My leg one week after the bite.

The chances are very remote that you will ever be bitten—unless you decide to pick up or handle a rattlesnake. 

But it pays to know what to do.

If The chances are very remote that you will ever be bitten—unless the perfect storm happens, as it did for me a year ago when I stepped on a rattlesnake while photographing wildflowers, this is what you need to know. 

Most people who receive a legitimate bite from a rattlesnake (not from doing something stupid like handling one) do not hear the snake rattle before being bitten.

They may rattle. They may not. Snakes blend into their surroundings as their first line of defense. So, most people don’t even realize what has happened when they are first bitten.

When bitten, you have just received two injections of poison venom. The venom is already in your bloodstream. Stay calm.

You’ll feel the effects in 1-2 minutes.

The most important thing is to stay calm. Move away from the snake. The snake will probably be rattling by now. It will be just as interested in getting away from you as you are from it. 

Step away from the snake. Get a safe distance, sit down and relax.

You have some time. 

Dial 9-1-1 immediately. If you have a cell phone, which I highly recommend when hiking, use it. Better yet, call someone who will dial 9-1-1 from a land line. You will get a faster response. 

Don’t attempt to identify the snake. Here in the Bay Area, there is only one kind of dangerous venomous snake, the Northern Pacific rattlesnake. Don’t waste your precious time catching, touching, or killing the snake—let it go its way—get yourself to a hospital. 

Don’t apply a tourniquet. This can cause or speed up a condition called compartment syndrome, which is a horrible thing.

Don’t cut the site of envenomation (the bite site). Don’t try to suck out rattlesnake venom. This is old school and just doesn’t work. It’s like trying to suck out an injection at your doctor’s office. You can’t. And doing so can cause a terrible infection. 

Don’t ice it. Keep the area of envenomation immobile. You can also wash it with soap and water if you want but do not ice it.

Loosen your clothing in the area of the bite. I was bitten in the ankle so I took off my shoe and my sock. I had to, because my foot swelled up very fast. 

Keep the site of envenomation below your heart. You’d like to keep the venom out of your heart as long as possible. 

Move into the shade if you’re not already in it.

Find someone with a black sharpie or a pen. Write the time of envenomation next to the wound. That will be the first of many black sharpie marks on whichever extremity you were bitten. This is how they keep track of the swelling.  How quickly and how much you swell are indications of how much venom you received.

Don’t eat or drink anything. The EMT’s will insert an intravenous needle. They will take you to a hospital. Make sure the hospital they take you to has antivenin.

Make sure the hospital mixes the antivenin before you get there. It can take up to 40 minutes to mix up a vial of antivenin, and you will probably need several. The sooner they start, the sooner it will be ready for you. And sooner is better.

Make sure the hospital is in contact with poison control.

You are now in the hands of professionals. Relax and enjoy the drugs.

Comments

[Nancy]

Well, we did a couple of things right and a couple of things wrong. We did not call 911. We were at Big Sur, and it took 1 1/2 hours to get to the hospital in Monterey. We didn't have a cell phone with us. When we were miraculously picked up by a car driving down a gravel road next to where I was bitten, they drove us to our car and we drove to the hospital. After reading your ambulance experience, I was very grateful we just drove to the hospital. Another thing wrong we did was to put ice on the bite. My husband knew to keep my leg lower than my heart, even though I really wanted to raise it because it was so much less painful to have it up. And we pretty much did the rest of it right, like staying calm. It helped knowing we'd have such a good story afterwards!

[chigiy]

Hey Nancy,
I guess it doesn't matter now whether you did it right or wrong and yes, you got it almost all right, you are here, all in one piece and like you said, you have a great story to tell. Thank you for sharing your story.

[zz]

I appreciate the information..thankfully, I haven't seen anything like that in my own garden. The worst thing, if I can even call it worse, was a swarm of bees in a tree.

I guess they had made the tree their hive.

[chigiy]

I just saw a swarm of bees in a tree by my son's school about 3 hours ago. There are guys that will come out for free to take your bees away. They will not kill them. Just contact your local apiary. Good luck.

[cindy~my romantic home]

I'm taking this all in! We saw a baby rattlesnake on the trail last weekend while we were hiking up by Mt. Hamilton!

[Vickie]

I remember reading this story as you were going through it. Have you had any lasting effects?

[chigiy]

Hey Cindy,
Yes, It is very snakey weather. Be careful out there.

Hi Vickie,
I don't have any lasting effects. When I do stupid things sometimes I blame it on the snake, but people are starting to question that excuse.