An ornery and illegal Bronx rattlesnake bit the hand that fed him - putting his owner in the hospital for two days.
The 38-year-old Bronx man, who bought the serpent on the street, was moving the foot-long snake from one tank to another Saturday when it chomped his hand, animal control officials yesterday.
The man, who was not identified, went to Jacobi Medical Center, the snake bite trauma center for the metropolitan area. Experts from the Bronx Zoo shipped over anti-venom serums to help treat him.
The snake was a sidewinder, a small rattlesnake from the Southwest notable for the horns above its eyes. It is illegal to have the venomous snake in the city.
"All rattlesnake bites can be dangerous," said John Behler, curator of the herpetology department at the zoo. "It depends on the health and size of both the rattlesnake and the victim."
Although the man's hand swelled up, he wasn't seriously injured. He told officials he had the snake for more than a year after buying it on a Bronx street.
"The animal had not eaten for several weeks; he had been trying to feed it," said Mike Pastore, head of field operations for New York City Animal Care and Control. "It was in pretty good shape. But when he tried to move it, it got irritable and caught his hand."
Pastore said it is unusual to see people selling snakes on the street, but noted there is an active underground market for dangerous, exotic animals. Pastore brought the snake to a licensed wildlife rehabilitator on Long Island.
Behler said dozens of people have been treated at the trauma unit since it opened in 1980. "It is just not an appropriate pet," Behler said.
Lisa L. Colangelo
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