Rattlesnakes are common in West Texas and they are about as authentically Texan as the Texas flag. Regardless how familiar these creatures are to the locals living in these parts, they continue to instill fear, especially when they grow as large as the one pictured above.
If bitten by a rattlesnake, there’s a very small window in which to get treated. Culberson Hospital keeps a small amount of antivenom medicine, but it may not be unusual to run out of the drug before being able to reorder.
That’s why it’s important to avoid being bitten in the first place in case no antivenom is available.
This week news reports surfaced about a man in California who decided it would be “cool†to take a selfie with a rattlesnake. It didn’t go well for Alex Gomez, the 36-year-old who was bitten by the snake.
“That’s just being a fool,†his mother, Deborah Gomez, holding back no punches, told CBS Los Angeles.
“I’m shocked he would have that thing around his neck,†Gomez said. “It could’ve bit his neck and that would’ve been it.â€
