Clay Davenport
Cerebral Nomad
It was just another cool Friday evening two weeks ago in Atlanta when Chad Williams, 17, and his brother, Tyler, 19, went to a nearby pond to release two water turtles.
As the two were ready to release their shelled friends, Chad noticed a small tan and brown patterned snake -- just barely a foot and a half long -- coiled in front of the pond.
No stranger to the area's snakes, Tyler picked it up by the tail and threw it a short distance. Then Chad decided it was his turn to get a closer look at their new acquaintance.
Moments after picking up the snake by its neck, it bit Chad's thumb, and the Williams brothers finally noticed the breed of their attacker: a rattlesnake.
"We thought it was just a rat snake," said Chad, looking back on the incident.
His brother, who had his baseball bat with him from when the two had been playing catch earlier, struck the rattlesnake in the head just before it was about to make a second strike, and killed it.
"My thumb got huge," Chad said. "My hand got the size of a softball, and (the swelling) crawled all the way up my arm. It hurt bad."
Chad was taken by ambulance to William Newton Hospital. Once there, he said, he began to break out in a rash, which qualified him for an overnight stay.
The next morning, doctors had him transported to Wesley Medical Center in Wichita, where he was given 10 vials of anti-venom.
Chad was treated and released that Sunday afternoon, but he said the swelling did not totally dissipate until the following Tuesday.
"Be vigilant" when dealing with snakes, said Tom Swan, regional fisheries and wildlife supervisor for the Kansas Department of Wildlife and Parks.
"Most of the snakes people encounter will be nonpoisonous, non-harmful."
Still, Swan said that although the chance of crossing paths with dangerous snakes is slim, he warned that the more you look for them, the more you will find.
"I've only encountered a rattlesnake once or twice in a 24-year span," he said. "But if you are a kid overturning rocks or pieces of tin, you'll find them."
However, if a snake crosses your path, Swan said, there is a way to tell if it is poisonous.
"The best way (to tell) is to look at their eyes," he said. "You don't have to be that close either."
Swan said to look at the dark part of the snake's pupil. If it is round, the snake is nonpoisonous. If it is more like a vertical slit, then the snake is known as a "pit viper," according to Swan, and is poisonous.
"You can see it real easy," he said. "It's the most reliable way (to tell)."
When asked which practice is best to use if one is in the vicinity of a poisonous snake, Swan had a simple and obvious answer:
"Leave it alone. It's the best policy."
Chad has learned his lesson, although, not exactly the easy way.
"Just take every precaution," he said. "And know what snake it is."
Chad's description of the rattlesnake matches the Massasauga breed, common to the area, according to Swan, along with the Timber rattlesnake. The Copperhead snake-- not a rattler, but also venomous-- can also be found in south central Kansas, Swan said.
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As the two were ready to release their shelled friends, Chad noticed a small tan and brown patterned snake -- just barely a foot and a half long -- coiled in front of the pond.
No stranger to the area's snakes, Tyler picked it up by the tail and threw it a short distance. Then Chad decided it was his turn to get a closer look at their new acquaintance.
Moments after picking up the snake by its neck, it bit Chad's thumb, and the Williams brothers finally noticed the breed of their attacker: a rattlesnake.
"We thought it was just a rat snake," said Chad, looking back on the incident.
His brother, who had his baseball bat with him from when the two had been playing catch earlier, struck the rattlesnake in the head just before it was about to make a second strike, and killed it.
"My thumb got huge," Chad said. "My hand got the size of a softball, and (the swelling) crawled all the way up my arm. It hurt bad."
Chad was taken by ambulance to William Newton Hospital. Once there, he said, he began to break out in a rash, which qualified him for an overnight stay.
The next morning, doctors had him transported to Wesley Medical Center in Wichita, where he was given 10 vials of anti-venom.
Chad was treated and released that Sunday afternoon, but he said the swelling did not totally dissipate until the following Tuesday.
"Be vigilant" when dealing with snakes, said Tom Swan, regional fisheries and wildlife supervisor for the Kansas Department of Wildlife and Parks.
"Most of the snakes people encounter will be nonpoisonous, non-harmful."
Still, Swan said that although the chance of crossing paths with dangerous snakes is slim, he warned that the more you look for them, the more you will find.
"I've only encountered a rattlesnake once or twice in a 24-year span," he said. "But if you are a kid overturning rocks or pieces of tin, you'll find them."
However, if a snake crosses your path, Swan said, there is a way to tell if it is poisonous.
"The best way (to tell) is to look at their eyes," he said. "You don't have to be that close either."
Swan said to look at the dark part of the snake's pupil. If it is round, the snake is nonpoisonous. If it is more like a vertical slit, then the snake is known as a "pit viper," according to Swan, and is poisonous.
"You can see it real easy," he said. "It's the most reliable way (to tell)."
When asked which practice is best to use if one is in the vicinity of a poisonous snake, Swan had a simple and obvious answer:
"Leave it alone. It's the best policy."
Chad has learned his lesson, although, not exactly the easy way.
"Just take every precaution," he said. "And know what snake it is."
Chad's description of the rattlesnake matches the Massasauga breed, common to the area, according to Swan, along with the Timber rattlesnake. The Copperhead snake-- not a rattler, but also venomous-- can also be found in south central Kansas, Swan said.
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