Ouch! Back when I lived in Maryland an acquaintance of mine got bitten by a baby copperhead. Or was it a baby pygmy rattlesnake?
He said it was like getting stung by 1,000 yellow jackets. Painful as all get out. Might not kill you but he said he entertained the idea of cutting off his hand to stop the pain.
Sounds like your son is on the mend, though, so that is good news. Perhaps your doc was reluctant to go the antivenin route because of possible allergic reactions?
There are just too many bad things lurking that can be where putting your hands without looking might not be a good idea. Black widow spiders come to mind, and they aren't any joke, neither. I imagine rattlesnakes aren't rare in your area, and they would me much more potent than a copperhead. At the very least, wear thick GLOVES. Yeah, hindsight, I know...
We have too many scorpions around here, so both Connie and myself tend to put on thick gloves whenever we are messing around with chores that require moving things that haven't been moved in a while. Heck, Connie found a scorpion in a plastic Walmart bag in the old reptile building just yesterday, in with some odds and ends in that bag. That was certainly unexpected, but like I said, they seem to be pretty common around here. She never thought about putting on gloves then, so lucky she didn't get stung.
Anyway, hope your son doesn't experience lingering pain from the bite.