I had a hard time deciding if this should be a standard story or if it should have douche bag somewhere in the title. I do have to give the guy some props because he managed to drive himself to the hospital after being bitten by the eastern diamondback rattlesnake. That’s a picture of him on the right with a 10′ king cobra.
Ray Hunter of Port St. Lucie is still hospitalized nearly two weeks after being bitten by an eastern diamondback rattlesnake.
He said it’s his 44th venomous snake bite, and “definitely the worst.” The 44-year-old man known as “Cobraman” is licensed to possess venomous snakes. He got the rattlesnake from Port St. Lucie animal control officers.
Hunter said he was bitten on the right hand while cleaning his snake cages. Hunter managed to drive himself to the hospital. He’s now is in renal failure, his right arm remains largely swollen.
Check out this excerpt from the “About Me” section of his website Cobraman.net.
In 1991 I discussed self immunizing with snake venoms with Bill Haast (Miami Serpentarium Labs), and have been immunizing ever since. I currently use a mixture of nine diluted venoms in my booster shots. The one side effect of self immunization that is least desirable is that it tends to make you a bit complacent while handling (as those of you who know my bite record would attest to).
Looks Cobraman is going to need to up that booster to 10 venoms if he is going to keep messing around with the eatern diamondback. I wouldn’t put myself in a position to get bite #1 but you think that after bite 10 or 20 you would just call it quits.
