Hiker’s foot swells ‘like a giant sausage’ after copperhead strikes on Texas vacation
A Colorado man’s vacation to Texas turned into a cautionary tale after a copperhead snake bit him in the woods around Austin, local outlets report.
“I thought I knew pain,” Jay Middleton told KXAN, explaining that he’s broken many bones in the past, and even was hit by a car while riding a bike, but never experienced agony like the copperhead’s bite.
One of the most common venomous snakes in the U.S., copperheads deliver doses of hemotoxic venom to prey, and perceived threats (i.e. humans who get too close). The flesh-destroying venom can certainly be fatal if left to run its course, but most victims will have “plenty of time” to seek proper medical attention before that happens, McClatchy News previously reported.
Middleton was walking along with his wife when he felt a stinging sensation, he told KXAN. He looked down and spotted a snake slithering underfoot during the July 31 hike.
“I turned to say something to my wife about it and she’s like, ‘Oh look, a snake.’ And I’m like, ‘I know. It’s a Copperhead. It just bit me,’” he told the TV station.
Fighting through pain and fear, Middleton struggled to keep a calm and steady heart rate, and thereby slow down the venom spreading to the rest of his body.
“My entire foot looked like a giant sausage, like I couldn’t even get a finger between my toes,” he said, KXAN reported.
Help arrived, strapped him onto a board and hauled him to a hospital for treatment, Middleton told KVUE.
It would be another three weeks before he could fit his swollen foot into a shoe — something he admits he should have been wearing in the first place.
“If you’re in snake country, you should not be hiking in sandals — running shoes at the minimum,” Middleton told KVUE.
In addition to close-toed shoes, experts recommend wearing long pants when in wooded areas, McClatchy News reported.
Around 7,000 people are bitten by venomous snakes in the United States every year, according to the Texas Department of State Health Services. In Texas, about 1 to 2 people die each year from venomous snake bites.