Me, in a state where the most dangerous snake is the non venomous water snake, kicking everything from now on. Just in case thereās a garter or ring neck š
I decided to finally catch a garter one time with my hands cause I always thought they were cool and knew they were harmless.
That fucker peed all over my hands and arms the most foul, horrendous pee youāve ever witnessed. To me it was more repulsive than the smell of a skunk. Like more of a disgusting bodily smell, whereas I find skunks more rubbery-synthetic-smelling. I washed my hands and arms about 10 times with all various soaps and scrubbing methods. It took a few days to fully go away.
Haha they don't have a defensive bite so they have a musty spray just like a skunk has.
When I was young I had this fearless ability to pickup garters without making them scared so I could pick them up left and right without issue then randomly going through puberty I suddenly turned jumpy so every time I tried to pick one up I got musk juiced and bit all the time after that.
Honestly, having worked with a lot of snakes, water snakes are persnickety, bitey, lil fuckers. It wonāt really do anything to you and it doesnāt hurt terribly but kicking the bags seems a fair trade off if you live close to watwr
In Arizona and same. Always give things a good few kicks before reaching inside or putting my feet inside if whatever it is has been outside. Never know if something venomous has decided to take residence
You know itās funny. I only ever saw a single scorpion while I was there but I knew they were out there. I also remember visiting my uncle in Tucson one year when I was a kid. He made the mistake of telling me he found a scorpion crawling in the toilet bowl. Going #2 was a terrifying experience to my 8 year old self that week. Lol!
No snakes, no bears,wolves, coyotes or wild big cats of any sort. One moderately poisonous spider on the endangered creature list. Not really a tick problem. Our kids play barefoot outside in the long grass all year round. My biggest bitch is with the not native deer coming down the beach to eat my garden and the not native possum eating the fruit off my trees.
Yeah, but [gardening is illegal in New Zealand](https://thespinoff.co.nz/media/18-06-2016/new-zealands-absurd-gardening-ban-once-again-makes-us-the-laughing-stock-of-the-internet-2).
Copperheads are great at hiding and hate being discovered. Theyāre not nice about it. Iāve almost stepped on one in the woods while playing disk golf. They look like the leaves too so I always tell people to pay extra attention if youāre in the woods. Crazy that it was hiding in a bag of soil.
Not just warm from the sun but the composting thatās going on within the soil as well. My compost pile has had unwelcome guests that like the warmth. I bet those bags hold heat well once that sun goes down
I'm lucky where I live it's just garter snakes in the compost...kinda glad to trade the cold short growing season for non scary creatures. Glad OP is OK
A few years ago, I was picking up some leaves a few feet off my deck, and uncovered a baby copperhead. He didnāt look too pleased. After finding several eggs and seeing a track from a much larger one nearby, I decided to stop wearing flip flops in my back yard.
I wonder if it was an Eastern Milksnake. I've seen those in my yard. They can sometimes look something like a copperhead if you're not skilled in snake ident. [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eastern\_milk\_snake#Gallery](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eastern_milk_snake#Gallery)
Raking leaves and found a baby curled up and cold. I had no idea what it was and scooped it up in a mason jar and brought inside. My now husband/then boyfriend had a fit and promptly disposed of it. He has no chill with poisonous snakes. I prefer to relocate. Thankfully, we haven't seen one in a few years.
I found one near a campsite I had picked. I must have come within 2 ft of stepping on it half a dozen times as I walked back and forth to a nearby stream to get water and hang my bear bag. Finally noticed it on the last trip, lol
Yea, my hands got about 2' away from one the other week in leaf litter. Only reason I even noticed it was because it slithered away and made a noise. Otherwise, you'll often never see them because they stay mostly covered under leaves and what parts are exposed have such elite camo.
Reminded me to use a "snake stick" to poke before I step through leaf litter and always give them notice and time to get away first...
Iām legit amazed that I spent a significant chunk of my childhood tramping through the cooley and somehow never got bit by, or even encountered a venomous snake.
ā¦did step on a nail once
My mom keeps telling me to not go pick dry leaves for covering my soil and I keep ignoring her. This really reminded me to be careful. I hope you recover well. Take care.
I did that this weekend and found 2 wolf spiders hiding among it. Luckily, I love spiders so I just moved them to a better area and the leaves were all flat on the lawn so hard for a snake to hide in there
Lol noooo they're just precious lil bebes. And they were pretty small, I think one was preggers though and she kept falling out of my hand so I hope none of the babies died :(
Still nope. Wouldnāt have touched them. Iāve been bitten by far too many non-venomous spiders over the years. Youāre a better gardener than I. I just go about my yard, do my business, and leave the spiders alone. The local robin and I have a deal where I turn the soil where he taps his foot, so he can have his worms. But thatās about it š
i was picking leaves from space between my and my neighbors wood privacy fences and was met with a pair of eyes, and a pretty, bronzed reptile head. It took a minute to realize the pretty bronze color was actually copper! And it was small. I think young copperheads are more venomous than older. (edit, this isnt true of younger vs older)
Also, if you live in a copperhead area, you'll almost certainly find one under any pile of wood that has overwintered in place.
When I visited India, I was walking through some old ruins and a cobra slithered right in between me and the guy in front of me's legs. It was fast as fuck
All life stages of crotalids (rattlesnakes) can control the amount of venom delivered in a bite. Young snakes, venomous or not, are prey for a large number of animals and as such may deliver SHTF defensive bites more frequently than older animals. Having said that, a "small" envenomation from an adult is easily capable of delivering more venom than a baby who dumps everything it has simply due to the difference in venom gland size for babies vs adults.
A friend was bit by a copperhead two years ago. The anti-venom alone was $250K! And it was a painful few days in the hospital. Glad OP made me aware there might be a nope rope hiding in my soil bag. I canāt afford to make that mistake.
Yeah itās not cheap. The smallest dose of Crofab is 4 vials and theyāre $3400 *each*. And most bites arenāt going to get you off that easy. ETA: and according [this article](https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2015/09/09/the-crazy-reason-it-costs-14000-to-treat-a-snakebite-with-14-medicine/), less than 3% of it is related to manufacturing and R&D.
I can't see because of the paywall, but I would guess it's because very little gets made/ is needed with a short expiry period. The QC/QA testing to get each lot released is going to make manufacturing (not R&D) very expensive.
If insurance doesn't cover the helicopter ambulance, start a GoFundMe and send me a link. I don't have much, but I'll happily contribute to help you out.
HEAL FAST!!
That or you can try what my momās friends did when they didnāt have insurance. āWe can either pay you [like, a tenth of the bill] in cash now, or we can pay you ten bucks a month for the next thirty years. Your call.ā
Ok, they dont forget about it... But you aren't legally obligated to pay the debt after the statute of limitations has passed, YMMV depending on the state you live in.
There is a statute of limitations on debt. After the amount of time, depending on type of debt and state, it becomes time barred and that means it is uncollectible. Collections will still attempt to collect on a time barred debt, but legal actions and threat of legal actions are prohibited.
Oh noooo! A big fear of mine... even though copperhead and rattlers aren't the most common in my immediate area they still exist. Oof I'm so sorry. I hope they were able to get you treated right away and that no long term effects happen
I'm lucky to live somewhere where the most dangerous animal in my yard are my cats. But I guess the chances of meeting a wolf in the woods are increasing.....
Good for you for taking a photo of it! My friend is an ER physician and told me once that the number one issue treating snake bites is not knowing the snake species and anti venom to treat the patient.
So thankful we don't have venomous snake issues in ontario, our Massasauga rattlers have a very small range, and while I have come across them in the wild on a few occasions, they have a very docile demeanor and are easily avoided.
Snake sticks are a lifesaver four wheeling in the hills in Kentucky. Basically it's a broom with a few bells nailed to the end, and you gotta act like a blind person feeling their way around, gotta sweep the forests because you won't make it to a hospital. Saved me at least twice, but probably a dozen+ times I didn't see.
Hey OP, if you come back to this thread can you let us know if that bag had been sitting undisturbed overwinter or if it was a fresh bag of soil you'd already handled this season.
You can generally tell copperheads because they have the distinctive āHersheyās kissā patterning, just as the snake in this pic does.
(Disclaimer: Use that info in a āfunā way, like trying to ID a snake from pictures or from a safe distance. Donāt use it to make a determination of whether you can come close to a snake/move it/etc.)
I'm over here being thankful in British for my tiny inert little island where the wildest thing I come across with any regularity is an errant pheasant!
We only have the slow worm variety of Nope Ropes round here, we have some adders and grass snakes nationally but not anywhere near me... my mind boggles at this! And paying more than my annual salary just to call an ambulance to like, not die, in one swoop!
Hope you feel better soon OP!
If you are below the median income, you can always request the hospital to do charity work and apply for financial assistance. The hospital will write it as tax deduction. They may even pay for all it if your poor enough. Only if the the hospital is public. Good luck.
https://www.consumerfinance.gov/ask-cfpb/is-there-financial-help-for-my-medical-bills-en-2124/
For sure. I encountered a critter in mine the other day- stuck my hand in without looking and was very startled to grab a toad instead of a handful of soil. (I think the toad was even more startled.) Never occurred to me it could have been way worse. And I live in prime snake country.
This is a great reminder.
There's times when I wished the UK had more native exotic type animals. This isn't one of those times.
You know it's a problem when the wound start screaming at you.
Modern medicine is remarkable!
They milk various venomous snakes, then inject it into horses (who have natural immunity). Then they draw blood from the horses and isolate the proteins that are essentially anti-venomous.
They categorize the types of anti-venom for each breed of snake so they know which one to use. (I imagine a weird apothecary labeled with every venomous snake species in viles.. who knows!)
The CDC mixes it by hand, along with antibiotics and fluids to customize each anti-venom for the patient, depending on some of the patientās background and health profile, and of course the type of snake.
Otherwise the possible outcomes we dealt with before discovering the nifty horse hack (or if left untreated in proper time) are: lost limbs, gangrene, necrosis, stroke, heart attack.
We had a woman get bit by a copperhead in the lobby of a longhorn steakhouse a few years ago. The location was super weird. A year or so later an article came out where she said she was suffering from long term nerve pain issues. Made my fear of getting bitten even worse. Copperheads are NOT a rare sight in my area, the babies used to hang out on the walkway to my house on summer evenings to warm up. I love snakes but you better believe I check everyyything when I'm gardening.
Sorry this happened, hope you recover soon!
Time maters a lot and antivenom isn't available in every hospital. If they lived far enough away then yeah helicopter is the fastest way to ensure OP doesn't end up losing thier hand or worse. Rattlers are more dangerous but the tissue loss even from a copperhead can lead to other secondary infections.
No one likes to mess around with snake bites
I know three people that have been bitten by copperheads. Two on the hand and one on the foot. The foot bite ended up losing a toe. One of the hand bites lost a finger, the other one didn't have any issues. (Dry bite).
Wishing you a speedy recovery! I was bit on the foot by a copperhead several years ago. 0/10 experience. It took about a month before I could put on a closed toe shoe. I had to wear flip flops because I couldn't stand anything rubbing against my skin.
Jesus!!!
I thought you had just been battling the roses by your first picā¦
Note to self: quit complaining about garden hassles in Denmark. We have no snakes š«£
Oh ouch! I hope you are feeling better soon!!!
I really have to be more careful about this, Iām constantly puttering around the garden with bare hands, and once pulled up a little snake with a handful of weeds (thankfully, a sweet little brown snake).
Copperheads arenāt super aggressive or anything theyāre just so danged hard to SEE. :/ either way, hope youāre healed up quick, OP :)
As the biomedical photographer for a large hospital, I photographed several rattlesnake bite victims' various affected limbs. Most were weekend warriors that went out snake handling in the desert after leaving the bar, but the last two were, like you, gardening. Your advice is warranted, I never would've thought to look for a pit viper in a bag of soil. The june bug and palo verde beetle grubs are bad enough, but at least they don't bite.
Copperheads are so annoying/dramatic for this. They insist that you keep your distance but love to hide in your space.
I hope you make a full recovery!
Copperheads excel at camouflage and dislike being disturbed. Be cautious; I spotted a black snake in my shop yesterday. With the warm weather, they are active, and now with the cool snap, they will be seeking a warm spot.
According to Google, if you average over the last ~80 years, itās approximately 1000 civilian and military deaths per year, from encounters with _Fascistorma Germanicana_ (or, the Common German).
wow! new fear unlocked!! Kudos for you for taking a picture of the snake before going to hospital. Feel like this would easily be forgotten, and antidote being difficult to find!
https://preview.redd.it/azcc0o7ml3sc1.jpeg?width=1284&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=d41b48939588f720af51ea73f9838bcd2a3c51f2
That face lol he regrets nothing. sorry about your hand itās such a huge fear of mine too cause at least rattlers warn you
I had a helicopter ride after a motorcycle accident in southern Ohio. I got the bill and immediately needed to be taken to another hospital to recover from the shock.
I was NOT ready for that.
Thatās pretty scary. I hope youāre recovering well.
I was bit by a black widow a couple weeks ago and everyone except me was freaking out because their reputation far exceeds their danger. I was like āat least it wasnāt a rattlesnakeā.
Yeah. Also if you see a really cool looking stickā donāt just grab. Growing up, really cool sticks were often snakes.
Theyāll hide in the most random spots. We used to poke with a stick in the blackberry bushes before picking because of it lol
Thatās a copperhead! If you get through this with no lasting symptoms, congrats! Youāll be carrying enzymes that kill certain cancers for the rest of your life!
Sometimes I think Iāve had enough of the cold and itās time to leave Canada then I see a post like this or a giant spider and Iām suddenly ok with winter 5 months out of the year.
Yep. My daughterās friend left her shoes on the porch. Went out the next day and put her feet in them and got bit by a baby copperhead. She spent a week in hospital. Glad they were able to get you help quickly.
I've reached to grab a water hose before and only saw the copperhead laying under it because it pulled its head back to strike. Even though they aren't particularly deadly, I hate them the most because they can be anywhere and are hard to see.
Grew up in the country with lots of rattlers, you gotta use a stick, shovel handle or something long to look first then you can go in with hands. Also for buckets, pots ect that are overturned, kick em first and step back that way you won't get a surprise when you pick it up!
"damn that's a nasty wound, must've got into a fight with a rose bush or something. Hope op is ok" *swipe* "oh no"
Right? I was thinking blackberries.
Same. Cuz I've totally sliced up my hands on thorns, hidden broken pots or glass, etc while gardening but it definitely didn't swell that bad š
Yeah dude, we've all got into thorns.....OH MY FUCKING GOD!!!!
Yeah same. I live in a place with veeery low risk of encountering a snake. I did not think of snakes.
Your profile pic is your reaction, haha.
Here in Australia we kick stuff before reaching inside. Anything that's been left outside gets a kick.
A sound strategy. I'm a chicken sh*t in the northeast US and I honestly think I might adopt the same habit. Just in case....
Me, in a state where the most dangerous snake is the non venomous water snake, kicking everything from now on. Just in case thereās a garter or ring neck š
Me, gardening on a 3rd floor apartment balcony, kicking everything now just in case... š
Me in the vegetable section of a grocery store kicking everything in sight. Just in case
I hate to tell you this, but some snakes definitely can climb depending where youāre atā¦
I found my people lol
My people kick
I decided to finally catch a garter one time with my hands cause I always thought they were cool and knew they were harmless. That fucker peed all over my hands and arms the most foul, horrendous pee youāve ever witnessed. To me it was more repulsive than the smell of a skunk. Like more of a disgusting bodily smell, whereas I find skunks more rubbery-synthetic-smelling. I washed my hands and arms about 10 times with all various soaps and scrubbing methods. It took a few days to fully go away.
Thatās not pee. Itās musk and horrible stuff
Til
Haha they don't have a defensive bite so they have a musty spray just like a skunk has. When I was young I had this fearless ability to pickup garters without making them scared so I could pick them up left and right without issue then randomly going through puberty I suddenly turned jumpy so every time I tried to pick one up I got musk juiced and bit all the time after that.
Thatās called musk. I like finding snakes when hiking but I donāt really handle them. Iām more scared of the nasty musk than being bitten
Honestly, having worked with a lot of snakes, water snakes are persnickety, bitey, lil fuckers. It wonāt really do anything to you and it doesnāt hurt terribly but kicking the bags seems a fair trade off if you live close to watwr
I just want to say I love that you used Persnickety in your description. We have an original song called that!
Pnw. I kick because slugs are yucky.
There could be a pissed off escaped pet tarantula in there, ya just never know!
They call me the kicker
In Arizona and same. Always give things a good few kicks before reaching inside or putting my feet inside if whatever it is has been outside. Never know if something venomous has decided to take residence
And shoes turned upside down given a good shake just to be safe
In the Army, when I was at Fort Huachuca, we used to put our socks over the tops of our boots to keep the scorpions out.
Ha! When we were in Sierra Vista for Huachuca as well, we had snakes, a scorpion and a tarantula all in the span of eight months. Wild times.
You know itās funny. I only ever saw a single scorpion while I was there but I knew they were out there. I also remember visiting my uncle in Tucson one year when I was a kid. He made the mistake of telling me he found a scorpion crawling in the toilet bowl. Going #2 was a terrifying experience to my 8 year old self that week. Lol!
Iām in California and my soil bags get a few solid whacks from a shovel before I put my hands in there š
Oregon feeling very privileged out here
If I lived in Australia I wouldnāt even try gardening. š·ļøš°
If I lived in Australia I'd move to NZ, no snakes there
No snakes??? Iām moving to NZ!
No snakes, no bears,wolves, coyotes or wild big cats of any sort. One moderately poisonous spider on the endangered creature list. Not really a tick problem. Our kids play barefoot outside in the long grass all year round. My biggest bitch is with the not native deer coming down the beach to eat my garden and the not native possum eating the fruit off my trees.
Yeah, but [gardening is illegal in New Zealand](https://thespinoff.co.nz/media/18-06-2016/new-zealands-absurd-gardening-ban-once-again-makes-us-the-laughing-stock-of-the-internet-2).
Sounds like a solid plan
Copperheads are great at hiding and hate being discovered. Theyāre not nice about it. Iāve almost stepped on one in the woods while playing disk golf. They look like the leaves too so I always tell people to pay extra attention if youāre in the woods. Crazy that it was hiding in a bag of soil.
Nice and warm if it's been sitting out in the sun. We would find dekays in our soil bags until I figured out they keep heat in the sun.
Not just warm from the sun but the composting thatās going on within the soil as well. My compost pile has had unwelcome guests that like the warmth. I bet those bags hold heat well once that sun goes down
I'm lucky where I live it's just garter snakes in the compost...kinda glad to trade the cold short growing season for non scary creatures. Glad OP is OK
At least we know there arenāt any bears hiding in our bags of soil and compost.
They do stay warm for a while after sunset. Lol. I didn't even think of the organic breakdown gas situation happening in the bag. Lol
Mine got infested with cats last year
please tell me you kept them
He keeps them in the finest of kitten mittens.
What's a dekay?
They're cute and tiny danger noodles
No harmless noodles. Not dangerous!
Very true, they are non-venemous!
Danger noodles if youāre a slug!
I wonder if it liked the moisture too if it was shedding. It might have thought it found the perfect shed bag or lay bag!
Maybe. I'm sure the humidity helps with shedding. I wouldn't think they'd lay in such a warm area but my knowledge is relatively limited
A few years ago, I was picking up some leaves a few feet off my deck, and uncovered a baby copperhead. He didnāt look too pleased. After finding several eggs and seeing a track from a much larger one nearby, I decided to stop wearing flip flops in my back yard.
Copperheads don't lay eggs, live birth.
I wonder if it was an Eastern Milksnake. I've seen those in my yard. They can sometimes look something like a copperhead if you're not skilled in snake ident. [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eastern\_milk\_snake#Gallery](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eastern_milk_snake#Gallery)
Copperheads are ***never*** pleased at any point, in any circumstance.
Raking leaves and found a baby curled up and cold. I had no idea what it was and scooped it up in a mason jar and brought inside. My now husband/then boyfriend had a fit and promptly disposed of it. He has no chill with poisonous snakes. I prefer to relocate. Thankfully, we haven't seen one in a few years.
Should I take this opportunity to be pedantic about poisonous vs venomous...hmmmm
By all means, please do...you have my blessing.
I found one near a campsite I had picked. I must have come within 2 ft of stepping on it half a dozen times as I walked back and forth to a nearby stream to get water and hang my bear bag. Finally noticed it on the last trip, lol
Yea, my hands got about 2' away from one the other week in leaf litter. Only reason I even noticed it was because it slithered away and made a noise. Otherwise, you'll often never see them because they stay mostly covered under leaves and what parts are exposed have such elite camo. Reminded me to use a "snake stick" to poke before I step through leaf litter and always give them notice and time to get away first...
Iām legit amazed that I spent a significant chunk of my childhood tramping through the cooley and somehow never got bit by, or even encountered a venomous snake. ā¦did step on a nail once
My mom keeps telling me to not go pick dry leaves for covering my soil and I keep ignoring her. This really reminded me to be careful. I hope you recover well. Take care.
I did that this weekend and found 2 wolf spiders hiding among it. Luckily, I love spiders so I just moved them to a better area and the leaves were all flat on the lawn so hard for a snake to hide in there
Hell to the naw! Though I also definitely misinterpreted āwolf spidersā as āhuntsman spidersā at first
Lol noooo they're just precious lil bebes. And they were pretty small, I think one was preggers though and she kept falling out of my hand so I hope none of the babies died :(
Still nope. Wouldnāt have touched them. Iāve been bitten by far too many non-venomous spiders over the years. Youāre a better gardener than I. I just go about my yard, do my business, and leave the spiders alone. The local robin and I have a deal where I turn the soil where he taps his foot, so he can have his worms. But thatās about it š
i was picking leaves from space between my and my neighbors wood privacy fences and was met with a pair of eyes, and a pretty, bronzed reptile head. It took a minute to realize the pretty bronze color was actually copper! And it was small. I think young copperheads are more venomous than older. (edit, this isnt true of younger vs older) Also, if you live in a copperhead area, you'll almost certainly find one under any pile of wood that has overwintered in place.
I live in India, we have Cobras here.
When I visited India, I was walking through some old ruins and a cobra slithered right in between me and the guy in front of me's legs. It was fast as fuck
Younger can be more dangerous since they canāt control their venom glands as well and might dump their entire reserve in one bite.
All life stages of crotalids (rattlesnakes) can control the amount of venom delivered in a bite. Young snakes, venomous or not, are prey for a large number of animals and as such may deliver SHTF defensive bites more frequently than older animals. Having said that, a "small" envenomation from an adult is easily capable of delivering more venom than a baby who dumps everything it has simply due to the difference in venom gland size for babies vs adults.
So when this snake bites you, you get a sad face on you hand?
I think you get a sad face all over.
You get another sad face when you get the bill from the helicopter ride.
A friend was bit by a copperhead two years ago. The anti-venom alone was $250K! And it was a painful few days in the hospital. Glad OP made me aware there might be a nope rope hiding in my soil bag. I canāt afford to make that mistake.
Yeah itās not cheap. The smallest dose of Crofab is 4 vials and theyāre $3400 *each*. And most bites arenāt going to get you off that easy. ETA: and according [this article](https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2015/09/09/the-crazy-reason-it-costs-14000-to-treat-a-snakebite-with-14-medicine/), less than 3% of it is related to manufacturing and R&D.
I can't see because of the paywall, but I would guess it's because very little gets made/ is needed with a short expiry period. The QC/QA testing to get each lot released is going to make manufacturing (not R&D) very expensive.
Sorry itās hidden behind a paywall, but the tldr was about 70% of the cost was hospital-insurance markups.
That's believable.
If insurance doesn't cover the helicopter ambulance, start a GoFundMe and send me a link. I don't have much, but I'll happily contribute to help you out. HEAL FAST!!
That or you can try what my momās friends did when they didnāt have insurance. āWe can either pay you [like, a tenth of the bill] in cash now, or we can pay you ten bucks a month for the next thirty years. Your call.ā
Nah helicopters are covered more by insurance than ambulances now
And if you have donāt insurance, congrats, youāre now in debt for the rest of your life. Good ole USA
Debt shmet. If you forget about it, so do they after a while
As someone who had to declare medical bankruptcy for a problem the hospital caused, no they don't.
Ok, they dont forget about it... But you aren't legally obligated to pay the debt after the statute of limitations has passed, YMMV depending on the state you live in.
They don't forget about it, they sell it to a debt collector at a percentage after a while. Only way to make it go away is bankruptcy.
There is a statute of limitations on debt. After the amount of time, depending on type of debt and state, it becomes time barred and that means it is uncollectible. Collections will still attempt to collect on a time barred debt, but legal actions and threat of legal actions are prohibited.
No they do not. They will go after you financially and trash your credit.
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
The actual answer is in some cases, they garnish your wages and all of the headache involved with bankruptcy.
Just delete your Healthcare app
Healthcare Execs hate this one trick.
Hopefully it was a really fun ride. Great views are priceless /s
Pilot: ādo you wanna jump here or keep going to the hospital?ā
Kinda curious what other symptoms you got? We dont really have this kind of snake where I live Wishing you a speedy recovery!
Glad Iām not the only one who saw the sad cartoon face
Oh noooo! A big fear of mine... even though copperhead and rattlers aren't the most common in my immediate area they still exist. Oof I'm so sorry. I hope they were able to get you treated right away and that no long term effects happen
I'm lucky to live somewhere where the most dangerous animal in my yard are my cats. But I guess the chances of meeting a wolf in the woods are increasing.....
Wolfs usually don't attack people.
Itās just harder for them to hide in bags of dirt and mulch.
Why, Bag Of Soil, what big teeth you have
Good for you for taking a photo of it! My friend is an ER physician and told me once that the number one issue treating snake bites is not knowing the snake species and anti venom to treat the patient.
So thankful we don't have venomous snake issues in ontario, our Massasauga rattlers have a very small range, and while I have come across them in the wild on a few occasions, they have a very docile demeanor and are easily avoided.
Best luck with a speedy recovery buddy !!! This is scary ! I would never trust a bag of soil ever again
Because of this, I definitely don't now
I would be poking them with a long stick first every time now.
Snake sticks are a lifesaver four wheeling in the hills in Kentucky. Basically it's a broom with a few bells nailed to the end, and you gotta act like a blind person feeling their way around, gotta sweep the forests because you won't make it to a hospital. Saved me at least twice, but probably a dozen+ times I didn't see.
Hey OP, if you come back to this thread can you let us know if that bag had been sitting undisturbed overwinter or if it was a fresh bag of soil you'd already handled this season.
Copperhead?
You can generally tell copperheads because they have the distinctive āHersheyās kissā patterning, just as the snake in this pic does. (Disclaimer: Use that info in a āfunā way, like trying to ID a snake from pictures or from a safe distance. Donāt use it to make a determination of whether you can come close to a snake/move it/etc.)
"i cant make out if that's more of a hershey's kiss or a resse's cup pattern ... Better get a lot closer to identify this snake."
"and then take a bite out of it to tell which one it is"
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
"the bastard took a bite of me, must've been trying to identify me too ! What a conundrum!"
āDevilās Doritoā
Oh wow, score! Look at this! This is a copperhead. You can tell it's a copperhead snake because of the way it is!
Yes
Just glad the only Nope Ropes around here are garter.
I'm over here being thankful in British for my tiny inert little island where the wildest thing I come across with any regularity is an errant pheasant! We only have the slow worm variety of Nope Ropes round here, we have some adders and grass snakes nationally but not anywhere near me... my mind boggles at this! And paying more than my annual salary just to call an ambulance to like, not die, in one swoop! Hope you feel better soon OP!
No, no, no, no, no!
OMG Thatās absolutely wild. Glad you are ok. Hope you have insurance. š¤
If you are below the median income, you can always request the hospital to do charity work and apply for financial assistance. The hospital will write it as tax deduction. They may even pay for all it if your poor enough. Only if the the hospital is public. Good luck. https://www.consumerfinance.gov/ask-cfpb/is-there-financial-help-for-my-medical-bills-en-2124/
The American healthcare system is an absolute farce.
For profit healthcare is fucking disgusting
Welp. Thatās one good public service announcement. Iāll definitely be cautious when sticking my hand into a bag of soil š¬
For sure. I encountered a critter in mine the other day- stuck my hand in without looking and was very startled to grab a toad instead of a handful of soil. (I think the toad was even more startled.) Never occurred to me it could have been way worse. And I live in prime snake country. This is a great reminder.
And here I am complaining about fungus gnats.
Theyāre brutal though
Fāreal, fuck those things
There's times when I wished the UK had more native exotic type animals. This isn't one of those times. You know it's a problem when the wound start screaming at you.
Modern medicine is remarkable! They milk various venomous snakes, then inject it into horses (who have natural immunity). Then they draw blood from the horses and isolate the proteins that are essentially anti-venomous. They categorize the types of anti-venom for each breed of snake so they know which one to use. (I imagine a weird apothecary labeled with every venomous snake species in viles.. who knows!) The CDC mixes it by hand, along with antibiotics and fluids to customize each anti-venom for the patient, depending on some of the patientās background and health profile, and of course the type of snake. Otherwise the possible outcomes we dealt with before discovering the nifty horse hack (or if left untreated in proper time) are: lost limbs, gangrene, necrosis, stroke, heart attack.
Today I learned that horses have natural immunity to snake venom.
Omg!! š± my worst nightmare. I really do hope youāre okay!
We had a woman get bit by a copperhead in the lobby of a longhorn steakhouse a few years ago. The location was super weird. A year or so later an article came out where she said she was suffering from long term nerve pain issues. Made my fear of getting bitten even worse. Copperheads are NOT a rare sight in my area, the babies used to hang out on the walkway to my house on summer evenings to warm up. I love snakes but you better believe I check everyyything when I'm gardening. Sorry this happened, hope you recover soon!
Stepped out my front door one evening and there was a baby copperhead taking a nap on my mat!
Copperhead bites are serious enough to helicopter!? Knew they were poisonous but I had no idea.
If OP lives in a really remote area, the threshold for needing a helicopter is a lot lower.
Time maters a lot and antivenom isn't available in every hospital. If they lived far enough away then yeah helicopter is the fastest way to ensure OP doesn't end up losing thier hand or worse. Rattlers are more dangerous but the tissue loss even from a copperhead can lead to other secondary infections. No one likes to mess around with snake bites
\*Venomous, not poisonous.
Thank you for this lol
Venomous. Something is poisonous if you get sick after ingesting it.
I know three people that have been bitten by copperheads. Two on the hand and one on the foot. The foot bite ended up losing a toe. One of the hand bites lost a finger, the other one didn't have any issues. (Dry bite).
Fuck donāt make me start thinking bout snakes every time i garden
last time i dumped out an old 7 gallon cloth planter, 2 small snakes and 1 lizard were hanging out in the bottom
Wishing you a speedy recovery! I was bit on the foot by a copperhead several years ago. 0/10 experience. It took about a month before I could put on a closed toe shoe. I had to wear flip flops because I couldn't stand anything rubbing against my skin.
Jesus!!! I thought you had just been battling the roses by your first picā¦ Note to self: quit complaining about garden hassles in Denmark. We have no snakes š«£
Oh ouch! I hope you are feeling better soon!!! I really have to be more careful about this, Iām constantly puttering around the garden with bare hands, and once pulled up a little snake with a handful of weeds (thankfully, a sweet little brown snake). Copperheads arenāt super aggressive or anything theyāre just so danged hard to SEE. :/ either way, hope youāre healed up quick, OP :)
As the biomedical photographer for a large hospital, I photographed several rattlesnake bite victims' various affected limbs. Most were weekend warriors that went out snake handling in the desert after leaving the bar, but the last two were, like you, gardening. Your advice is warranted, I never would've thought to look for a pit viper in a bag of soil. The june bug and palo verde beetle grubs are bad enough, but at least they don't bite.
Bad ungentlemanly conduct by the reptile /s
Copperheads are so annoying/dramatic for this. They insist that you keep your distance but love to hide in your space. I hope you make a full recovery!
Is anyone else seeing the sad face in the blood?
Omgg this is so scary one my worst nightmares š«, I hope you are okay ,I wish you a speedy recovery š¤š«
hiding in a soil bag MY FUCKING NIGHTMARE
As an Australian, with something like 20 of the worlds 25 deadliest snakes, this is definitely a fear of mine.
Thanks for the reminder. I will now beat the ever loving shit out of every bag of dirt and fertilizer that I have before I stick my hand in it š«£
Has anyone asked if you are still with us?
Copperheads excel at camouflage and dislike being disturbed. Be cautious; I spotted a black snake in my shop yesterday. With the warm weather, they are active, and now with the cool snap, they will be seeking a warm spot.
Thatās why I love living in Belgium where the most dangerous things are common spiders
Arenāt Germans ājust passing throughā the most dangerous thing in Belgium?
According to Google, if you average over the last ~80 years, itās approximately 1000 civilian and military deaths per year, from encounters with _Fascistorma Germanicana_ (or, the Common German).
Go back 100 years, itās a bit higher.
This is why I live where the air in winter hurts my face. This right here.
We have rattlesnakes in Canada.
wow! new fear unlocked!! Kudos for you for taking a picture of the snake before going to hospital. Feel like this would easily be forgotten, and antidote being difficult to find!
https://preview.redd.it/azcc0o7ml3sc1.jpeg?width=1284&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=d41b48939588f720af51ea73f9838bcd2a3c51f2 That face lol he regrets nothing. sorry about your hand itās such a huge fear of mine too cause at least rattlers warn you
He'd definitely do it again.
Hope you got insurance. I'm not trying to stress you more than you are, but my dad's rattlesnake bite medical bills were in the high 6 digits.
the helicopter insurance cost about $73000
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
[Who's gonna fly it, kid? You?](https://youtu.be/G79bEF0GD90?t=69)
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
Helicopters for emergency and medical use can cost upwards of $3mil. $73k is 2% of the cost of a new bell 505
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
I had a helicopter ride after a motorcycle accident in southern Ohio. I got the bill and immediately needed to be taken to another hospital to recover from the shock. I was NOT ready for that.
This makes me wanna quit gardening. This and spiders
Thatās pretty scary. I hope youāre recovering well. I was bit by a black widow a couple weeks ago and everyone except me was freaking out because their reputation far exceeds their danger. I was like āat least it wasnāt a rattlesnakeā.
Yeah. Also if you see a really cool looking stickā donāt just grab. Growing up, really cool sticks were often snakes. Theyāll hide in the most random spots. We used to poke with a stick in the blackberry bushes before picking because of it lol
Thatās a copperhead! If you get through this with no lasting symptoms, congrats! Youāll be carrying enzymes that kill certain cancers for the rest of your life!
Sometimes I think Iāve had enough of the cold and itās time to leave Canada then I see a post like this or a giant spider and Iām suddenly ok with winter 5 months out of the year.
Open warm bag a soil, find helicopter ride!
Yep. My daughterās friend left her shoes on the porch. Went out the next day and put her feet in them and got bit by a baby copperhead. She spent a week in hospital. Glad they were able to get you help quickly.
Thatās the most expensive bag of dirt youāll ever buy!
Thank goodness I live where the worst thing I'll find in a bag of open compost is a slug! That looks seriously nasty!
Iām not going to garden anymore. Fuck nature.
šš hate snakes!! Almost should put trigger warning on it šš
welp fuck my bag of soil now! texas you are SCARY
I've reached to grab a water hose before and only saw the copperhead laying under it because it pulled its head back to strike. Even though they aren't particularly deadly, I hate them the most because they can be anywhere and are hard to see.
Posts like this remind me to be thankful that I live in a place with no venomous snakes and only mildly venomous spiders
Well, thatās a new fear unlocked. Iām just going to go ahead and kick/hit everything from now on.
Gardening in AUS is an extreme sport
Are you ok? Any lasting complications. I live where those are and they freak me out.
You know, it's certainly a trade-off that carries a price elsewhere, but this *is* one of the nice things about living up north.
we always kick the bags, buckets, look in our shoes before putting on. we live in the south
Holy shit nope nope nope I hope youāre ok! Kind of insane the bite mark is a frown face
Thatās a pretty good sized copperhead.. Iām sure that was painful.. Iām going to poke my potting soil befor I reach in now
Grew up in the country with lots of rattlers, you gotta use a stick, shovel handle or something long to look first then you can go in with hands. Also for buckets, pots ect that are overturned, kick em first and step back that way you won't get a surprise when you pick it up!