Re: What does a rattlesnake bite look like?

Hi Christine,
I found a series of pictures taken of  Timber Rattlesnake bite victim. 
These pictures are extremely graphic and very gruesome, they are not for 
the squeamish.  The pictures were contributed by Kevin King. In order to 
see the pictures of an actual rattlesnake bite go to http://userzweb.li
ghtspeed.net/snakes/timber.html

The six pictures involved were taken in a ten minute span from the time of 
strike.  I am not including the pictures because of their graphic nature, 
you will have to go to the internet site to see the pictures.The man, whose 
arm you will be seeing, was the owner and operator of an import/export 
business which dealt with venomous reptiles for different medical research 
laboratories. This gentleman had been bit by all different species of 
reptiles and of course had no ill effect due to the fact he was pretty well 
immune to venom. But on this occasion the snake bite was of a different 
nature. The fang had penetrated the main artery between the thumb and 
forefinger injecting the venom directly into the blood stream. At the time 
of the strike a doctor and a photographer were present, this was normal 
procedure in case of an accident so records could be kept for future study. 
In the series of pictures you will note the doctors incision. If the doctor 
had not been present the man would have died in minutes. 
The second  Picture is of the left hand between the thumb and forefinger 
and was taken seconds after strike, you can see the incision in the thumb 
made by the doctor trying to
bleed out the venom. 
The second picture was taken approx. 2 minutes after strike, the blood 
under the skin tissue immediately started to boil, causing blood blisters 
to form on the hand. 

In the next picture you will be able to see  blood blisters forming up the 
arm due to the venom moving up the blood stream. These blisters were 
popping and throwing blood about the room.
Black spots on the arm are blood blisters that had burst aand there is  
excessive swelling of the hand.

The following picture will show that the Skin on 70% of the arm is 
completely gone. The bone structure from the wrist to the finger tips was 
completely deteriorated and removed. The use of the hand is completely gone 
and scar tissue comparable to a third degree burn covers his arm and hand. 
For a person not immune, as the gentleman in the pictures was, the reaction 
to the bite of a Timber or Pacific Rattlesnake is exactly like you see, 
even though the bite is not in the artery.

Thanks for taking the time to send in a question to the MaDSci network.

June Wingert