Although rattlesnake bites are unusual this time of year in Arizona, just last month a man nearly lost his left hand after he was bitten by a rattlesnake while checking the water valve his yard. Luckily he got to the hospital in time to save his hand after receiving multiple rounds of anti-venom and intensive care.

“This is certainly the low season for rattlesnake envenomations, but that doesn’t mean it doesn’t occur. It still can happen, and remaining vigilant even though this is a colder time of year when we don’t see it as commonly, it still can happen,” the doctor commented. If you’re bitten by a rattlesnake, doctors advise you to seek medical treatment immediately. They warn against taking measures in your own hands, such as using a tourniquet or trying to suck out the venom yourself.

In this case, the victim, Tom, drove himself to the emergency room, but made one major mistake— he applied a tourniquet. “I got the wise idea to put a tourniquet on it so I could drive and try to keep the poison out of my arm,” he said. “When I got to the hospital, they took the tourniquet off and said that I shouldn’t have done that. That’s not what you do because I super concentrated all that venom just in this part of my hand and arm.” 

Living in a rattlesnake country, Tom is used to checking his yard for black widows and rattlesnakes, but he didn’t see anything that day and never heard a rattle. “As he bit me, I could feel it going into my arm. It just ran up into my bloodstream and started to climb up through my flesh,” he said. “I could just feel the poison starting to turn into like an ache. If you bumped it or touched it or tried to move it, it was like the worst burning you ever felt.”

Treat all snake bites as medical emergencies. Call 911! Not all hospitals will have anti-venom on hand, so do call for emergency help immediately so anti-venom can be located as soon as possible. Your recovery will largely depend on how quickly you get treatment, the amount of venom, where the bite occurred, and your overall state of health and strength of immunity. When treating venomous snake bites, the list of what NOT to do is longer than the list of what to do. Experts agree you should NOT apply suction, heat, pressure or tourniquets, and you definitely should not administer Benadryl, aspirin, steroids, or antibiotics. Do not elevate the bite either. What SHOULD YOU DO if a rattlesnake bites you? As difficult as it might be, try to relax while someone gets in touch with emergency services. Relaxing will slow your heart rate so that not as much venom is pumped throughout your body. Also avoid hiking or other physical activities. Because swelling may occur, remove rings and other constricting items.

Maximize rattlesnake safety by understanding more about them:

• Rattlesnakes are pit vipers, meaning they hunt by sensing heat and use their tongues for a sense of smell.
• As they are cold-blooded animals, rattlers are most often found out in the open April through October.
• Rattlesnakes can be found throughout most of the U.S., but not in Alaska or Hawaii.
• Rattlesnakes rattle when they feel threatened. This is a warning for you to stay away. However, rattlesnakes are not naturally aggressive.
• While you should always get treated om a hospital setting with anti-venom if you are bit, know that not all rattlesnake bites are venomous.
• Rattlesnakes do NOT always rattle their tails, which is why it is always important to stay visually vigilant and not listen to music when hiking in rattlesnake territory.
• Although they tend to prefer drier habitats, rattlesnakes are actually very good swimmers.  They generally only swim if they're trying to get from one spot to another, but some snakes get tired while swimming and may look for a place to rest in the water, another common way to accidentally acquire a snake while boating or even laying on an inflatable in the water.
• Use the buddy system when enjoying the great outdoors. Should the worst happen, one person can get help while the other stays immobile.
• Wear snake gaiters or snake chaps to help protect yourself. Not only do they provide protection against snake fangs, but also against painful thorns, briars, sticks, cacti needles, and more.

Snakes love warmer days. As reptiles, their body temperature mirrors air temperature, so it’s common to  begin seeing many more snakes already this year. In fact, the Scottsdale Fire Department was dispatched to a hiking trail last week to remove a 77-year-old male male suffering from a rattlesnake bite. He was transported to the hospital. Also recently, a Phoenix man was bitten by a rattlesnake while out riding his bike. He pedaled himself to the nearest emergency room and received treatment. Most Arizona emergency departments and hospitals have anti-venom. But there's only a couple of hospitals that have medical toxicologists that specialize in this care. A hospital in the Phoenix area with a toxicology referral center sees 50-75 rattlesnake bite patients annually. Of those, 5-10 people die from the bites. Anyone who gets bit by a rattlesnake should get anti-venom as soon as possible. Wherever the bite is, is where most of the damage is going to occur. And that means breakdown of muscle and skin, as well as a lot of edema and swelling. Each person’s experience will depend on how much venom is injected.

Regardless of the state in which you live, if you work, hike, fish, hunt, prospect for gold, metal detect, ride ATVs, etc. in rattlesnake country, and there is decent numbers, you’re likely going to encounter some snakes this year. Keep in mind that snakes of many species are through hunkering down now that the weather is warmer, making human encounters more likely with ALL types of snakes. You might even see snakes in more northern areas where you’ve not seen them before. “It may have something to do with climate change,” says a wildlife ecologist.  “There has been a lot of range expansions of a lot of animals and plants with climate change, and if that continues, they may end up moving north.” For example, Timber rattlesnakes have been found as far north as Red Wing, Minnesota. They find shade under logs and other hidden enclosures during hotter periods of the year.

If you’re wondering how to deal with snakes you might find in your own backyard, keep in mind that nonpoisonous snakes are harmless. They eat mice, rats, and other pesky rodents you don’t want around. Having them near the house is a good thing. When disturbed, these harmless snakes usually just slither away. They prefer to avoid contact with humans. Because you never know what type of snake you might encounter, wear gloves when weeding ground cover around the house. Wear snake gaiters or snake boots when hiking or working around timber.

To avoid accidental encounters with snakes, watch where you place your hands and feet when roaming fields and woodlands, especially in rocky areas. Poisonous pit vipers such as copperheads and rattlesnakes have triangular heads, vertical pupils, and prominent heat-sensing pits between the eyes and nostrils. These characteristics can be difficult to see from a distance, but don’t take a chance — keep your distance.  If the snake is within five to six feet of you, make slow movements and move in the opposite direction of the snake. Though copperheads are more common and widespread than rattlesnakes, their bite is much less dangerous. That’s because copperheads are smaller, they deliver less venom, and their venom is weaker than rattlesnake venom. Generally, rattlesnakes are considered the most venomous and the most likely to cause death. Treat any snake bite seriously whether you know for sure what bit you or not!  Two (sometimes just one) puncture wounds identify a venomous snake bite. Keep calm and get to the nearest hospital as quickly as possible.

In the warm deserts, rattlesnakes are most active from March through October. In the spring, they are active during daylight hours. As days become increasingly hot around early May, rattlesnakes become more active at night and spend the day in a spot of shade or a cool shelter. Don’t take a chance! Be vigilant and take precautions such as wearing snake bite protection in the form of snake gaiters or snake boots to be safe in snake country— whether that be in the desert or the woods.