DETROIT (AP) — An apparent increase in the number of people and pets being bitten by Michigan’s only venomous snake species is stoking fears among some residents in the state’s Lower Peninsula about the small, shy rattlesnake.

The Detroit News reports that the eastern massasauga rattlesnake has had an uncharacteristically busy year, delivering what appears to be more bites than usual.

“Just from my gut, it seems there are more bites than there have been in the past,” said Jeff Jundt, the curator for reptiles at the Detroit Zoo.

The zoo, which carries anti-venom, typically provides the medication once a year to hospitals for use in emergencies. But Jundt said so far this year he’s sent it three times.

State officials don’t track rattlesnake bites, although they are normally rare.

But this year, there’s been a string of them — in Orion Township, Highland Recreation Area and Flushing. At least seven times in the past five months, eastern massasaugas have bitten people or their pets, sending worried families to hospitals or veterinarian offices.

And Poison Control at Children’s Hospital of Michigan has this year received reports of at least four human bites.

None of those encounters has resulted in a death, but experts said the number of occurrences is out of the ordinary.

Logan Coleman’s family was sent into a panic in late August after the 7-year-old was bitten by an eastern massasauga in their yard in Spring Arbor Township, just west of Jackson.

“He came running back into the house yelling, ‘Mom, come out here and see what bit me — you’ve gotta see.’ He was screaming at the top of his lungs,” Kimberly Coleman, the boy’s mother, told The Detroit News.

Logan was bitten on his left index finger and the area was beginning to swell and harden.

A neighbor helped catch the snake in a bucket and the family raced to a nearby clinic where doctors identified the snake and transferred Logan to an Ann Arbor hospital that carried the anti-venom.

The youngster spent one night at the hospital, taking the anti-venom through an intravenous drip. Today, he bears no ill effects from the encounter, but his mother now occasionally patrols the yard when her son is outside.

The venom produced by the eastern massasauga is not a neurotoxin that causes paralysis, as in many snakes, but it damages tissues around the bite site. If untreated, it can be fatal in young or old people, as well as adults in poor health.

The apparent rise in rattlesnake encounters may be due to this year’s warm autumn — the snakes are most active spring to fall.

With warmer temperatures, the rattlesnakes are delaying their fall hibernation and enjoying extra time sunning themselves, said Chris Hoving, the endangered species coordinator with the state Department of Natural Resources and Environment.

The eastern massasauga is Michigan’s only rattlesnake and is found all across the Lower Peninsula in areas that include wetlands. At its largest, it grows to just under 3 feet, making it one of the smallest rattlesnake species.

Hoving said the snake’s defensive rattle produces a higher-pitched sound than humans might expect from a rattler.

“It tends to sound like an insect buzzing,” he said.

Due to the loss of wetlands where the snakes make their homes, the eastern massasauga’s numbers have diminished significantly. It is now protected by law in Michigan and is under consideration for endangered species designation by the federal government.

via Mich. Seeing Apparent Rise in Rattlesnake Bites.

CUYAMACA, Calif — A 67-year-old La Jolla man died from a rattlesnake bite he suffered while wading through an East Country stream as part of a trout study near Cuyamaca Reservoir, it was reported Saturday.

William “Skip” Price, reportedly an avid fly fisherman, was wearing water sandals when he was bitten on one foot by the rattler along Boulder Creek Wednesday, Gary Strawn of Santee, one of five people with Price, told The San Diego Union-Tribune.

Strawn said Price stopped breathing within minutes, and he and others performed CPR for about 20 minutes until paramedics arrived.

A sheriff’s helicopter took Price to Palomar Medical Center in Escondido, where he was declared dead about 1 p.m., according to the county Medical Examiner’s Office.

Strawn, conservation chairman of San Diego Fly Fishers, said he met Price that morning when they and four other fly-fishing volunteers carpooled out Boulder Creek Road, in the Pine Hills area northeast of Cuyamaca Reservoir, to take part in a study of native steelhead trout.

Price was bitten within minutes of starting the survey as he stepped over logs and boulders along the streambed, Strawn said.

Strawn said he never saw the snake, “but it must have been a big one. The bite marks on top of his foot were an inch and a half across.”

via La Jolla Man Dies From Rattlesnake Bite In East County – San Diego News Story – KGTV San Diego.

SAN DIEGO (CBS – It all happened so fast. One moment 67-year-old William “Skip” Price was taking part in a volunteer fishing project, and the next he was fighting for his life.

The rattlesnake attack happened in the East County community of Pine Hills on Boulder Creek Road along Boulder Creek.

“I think we did the best we could, but unfortunately, it wasn’t enough,” friend Gary Strawn said.

It’s a scene he says he plays over and over again in his head — administering CPR to his fellow fly fisherman William Price just moments after being bitten by a rattlesnake.

“You could see the bite marks on the top of his foot, and they were about an inch and a half apart, so that’s a pretty good sized snake,” Strawn said.

William, whose nickname was “Skip”, was walking along the shoreline at Boulder Creek getting ready to collect samples for a volunteer genetic trout clipping project when Gary says what looked like a western diamondback rattlesnake slithered its way onto his foot. Within minutes, the 67-year-old La Jolla man was unconscious and then stopped breathing.

“Wayne kept telling us to keep watching his feet to see if the coloring was coming back and if we could keep his extremities pink instead of blue it meant we were probably getting some blood flow out there,” Strawn said.

The longtime member of the Golden State Flycasters group was airlifted to Palomar Medical Center, but later died. Skip’s widow tells News 8 her husband was a gentle giant whose passion for fishing was only matched by the love he had for his family.

His friends at GSF say Skip was a devoted conservationist and enjoyed teaching local Boy Scout groups how to fly fish.

While the medical examiner has yet to determine the official cause of death, Strawn says he plans to return to Boulder Creek to finish the work Skip started.

“It’s gonna be difficult for me to get up there, but I hope we can continue to do what we can to maintain this great waterway we have,” he said.

via San Diego man dies after being bitten by rattlesnake – San Diego, California Talk Radio Station – 760 KFMB AM – 760kfmb.

Hillsborough County, Florida– The mark left on Jacob Hyatt’s finger is tiny.

The pygmy rattlesnake to blame for it is less than a foot long.

But Hyatt and his parents’ fears right after the snake dug in on Friday afternoon were much bigger.

“I thought I was going to die,” Jacob explained.

“Oh my gosh, when I hear snake and poison and venom, you think your kid is going to die,” described his mother, Teresa.

Jacob was playing with his friends across the street from his house on Indian Rosewood Drive in New Tampa. When he reached underneath a rock sitting by a tree, he didn’t expect to find the snake hiding there.

“It was like a sting,” the third grader said.

Jacob ran inside, his mom called 911, and they spent about 10 hours in the hospital.

Doctors told Jacob he’ll be okay, mainly because only one fang got his finger and the venom didn’t spread.

“It was really scary. You don’t think something that small could kill somebody, but it can,” Teresa said.

Florida Fish and Wildlife officers say bites by that type of snake can be fatal, or end with losing a finger.

The Hyatts say they’ve seen a lot of pygmy rattlesnakes around their neighborhood, which FWC says is common near areas with tall grass and heavy vegetation.

“They’re everywhere and they’re not shy,” Teresa said.

Officers say if you are bit, the best thing to do is get to a hospital right away.

Firefighters killed the snake, but it’s being kept in the family’s freezer as a souvenir.

It’s also a reminder for Jacob.

“Don’t put your hands under anything if you can’t see what’s under it,” he said.

A lesson his parents say he’s lucky he didn’t get hurt worse while learning.

via “I thought I was going to die”; 8-year-old describes poisonous rattlesnake bite | Tampa Bay, St. Petersburg, Clearwater, Sarasota | WTSP.com.

Tampa, FL — Jacob Hyatt, 8, was playing outside his home this afternoon when he was bitten by a pygmy rattlesnake.

The boy says he was bitten by the snake when he moved a rock to grab a rope that was hanging in the tree. He was transported by ground to University Community Hospital where he is listed in good condition.

University Community Hospital tells us that Jacob is their 8th patient this year that is being treated for a snake bite. Last year, the hospital set a record by treating 15 patients.

Jacob is expected to be released later this evening.

via 8-year-old bitten by pygmy rattlesnake | Tampa Bay, St. Petersburg, Clearwater, Sarasota | WTSP.com 10 News.

Orion Township — An Orion Township man walking with his beagle in the woods behind his home was bitten by an Eastern Massasauga Rattlesnake, Michigan’s only venomous snake.

Sgt. Mark Buffa of the Oakland County Sheriff’s Office said the bite happened around 6:45 p.m. The man was taken to Beaumont Hospital in Royal Oak.

“He was treated by an anti-venom we received from the Detroit Zoo, and released,” said hospital spokeswoman Karen LeDuc.

Buffa said the beagle was bitten first and when the man “came up to investigate, he got bit.”

The Eastern Massasauga Rattlesnake is found in a variety of wetlands and woods throughout the Lower Peninsula. It is the only Michigan snake with segmented rattles on the end of its tail and elliptical (“cat like”) vertical pupils in the eyes. The neck is narrow, contrasting with the wide head and body and the head appears triangular in shape, according to www.tamssunshinehouse.com’s page on Michigan snakes. It usually feeds on small rodents and frogs.

The incident Friday marks the second rattlesnake attack in a month. A dog was bitten by a rattlesnake in late September and also was treated by the anti-venom from the Detroit Zoo.

via Oakland County man, dog bitten by rattlesnake | detnews.com | The Detroit News.

TAMPA — Doctors expect an 8-year-old boy bitten by a pygmy rattlesnake Friday afternoon to make a full recovery.

“He only had one fang wound to his hand, and he wasn’t envenomated,” said Will Darnall, a spokesman for University Community Hospital, where the boy was taken. Doctors plan to observe the boy for 12 hours before releasing him, Darnall said.

Jacob Hyatt tried to move a large rock to get his rope untangled from a tree branch, when the pygmy rattlesnake lunged and planted its fang in his right hand, Darnall said.

The Turner Elementary third-grader ran home to 20112 Indian Rosewood Drive to tell his mother he’d been bitten.

When Tampa Fire Rescue arrived just before 4 p.m., paramedics found the snake and killed it before rushing Jacob to UCH-Fletcher.

Jacob’s mother, Theresa, still has the reptile.

She told the hospital that there have been poisonous snakes spotted all over their neighborhood, Hammocks at Grand Hampton in New Tampa, recently.

Darnall said the hospital has treated eight snakebite victims so far this year, compared to last year’s total of 15.

“It’s a good thing he wasn’t envenomated,” Darnall said. “The best-case scenario is not to be bitten at all, but this is the second-best-case scenario.”

via Pygmy rattlesnake bites New Tampa third-grader – St. Petersburg Times.

A poisonous snake bit a 45-year-old man while he was strolling by an Orlando hotel pool.

The Orlando Sentinel reports that the man was bitten on his left ankle by a cottonmouth water moccasin at about 5 p.m. Monday at the JW Marriott Grande Lakes resort in south Orange County. The species is common in and around wetlands in the Southeast, the paper reports.

The resort sits on 500 acres and is bordered by Shingle Creek, the protected headwaters to the Everglades, which is home to abundant wildlife, according to Marriott.

The man – Eric Geisman, 45, of Rhode Island – was in the intensive-care unit at a local hospital, the paper says. He was in stable condition as of Tuesday evening, but the Sentinel says that his family “was not certain about his prognosis.”

“He’s in a lot of pain. We’re not sure what to expect,” said his sister-in-law, Lynn Arruda of Orlando.

The man was bitten while he and his wife were on a walking path near the hotel’s pool and herb garden; he had stepped on the snake, the story says. His left leg became swollen, and about an hour later, he was rushed by ambulance to the hospital.

A fire crew later captured and killed the roughly 2 1/2-foot-long, snake and took it to the hospital, the story says. Geisman by mid-day Tuesday received two doses of anti-venom.

The JW Marriott hotel’s general manager, Jim Burns, was not immediately available for comment, the paper says.

Bethesda, Md.-based Marriott International issued the following statement:

“We are aware of the snake bite incident that took place… As soon as we were made aware of the situation we called 911 immediately; they responded right away. We are concerned for the well being of the guest and we are doing what we can to assist him and his family.

The safety and security of our guests and associates is one of our highest priorities. Whenever we are made aware of a situation where animals may be a threat to guests or approach resort areas we address it immediately.”

In April, a harmless-but-long python snake surprised a guest when the guest found it slithering inside a Hampton Inn hotel guestroom toilet bowl.

via Poisonous snake bites man strolling by Orlando JW Marriott pool – USATODAY.com.

A 45-year-old Rhode Island man was bitten by a cottonmouth water moccasin, a poisonous snake, while strolling near the pool at the swanky J.W. Marriott Grande Lakes resort in south Orange County Monday.

Eric Geisman, 45, of Pawtucket, RI, was in the intensive care unit at the Dr. P. Phillips Hospital, formerly Orlando Regional Sand Lake Hospital.

A hospital spokeswoman said Tuesday evening that he was stable.

“He’s in a lot of pain. We’re not sure what to expect,” said his sister-in-law, Lynn Arruda of Orlando.

Geisman and his wife were on a walking path at the resort, on Central Florida Parkway at John Young Parkway, about 5 p.m. Monday, near the hotel’s pool and herb garden, when he stepped on the snake, Arruda said. He was bitten on the left ankle, she said.

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His left leg was swollen, and he was in severe pain, Arruda said.

He was taken by ambulance to the hospital about 6 p.m. Monday.

An Orange County Fire Rescue crew was called to the hotel, treated him and transported him to the hospital. It left to handle another call, said John Mulhall, agency spokesman, but then went back to the scene, captured and killed the snake and took it to the hospital.

A fire department lieutenant carried the snake into the hospital, said Arruda, so the medical staff could confirm it was a water moccasin.

That species is common in and near wetlands throughout the Southeast.

The snake that bit Geisman, Arruda said, “was probably about 2 1/2 feet long, and it was brown. … It had a whitish-yellow underbelly.”

Geisman had been given two doses of anti-venom by mid-day Tuesday, Arruda said, but his family was not certain about his prognosis.

He and his wife were at the resort for a conference. Geisman works at a hospital’s food service department, Arruda said.

The resort’s general manager, Jim Burns, was not immediately available for comment.

Rene Stutzman can be reached at rstutzman@orlandosentinel.com or 407-650-6394.

Facts about water moccasins:

Species name: Agkistrodon piscivorus.

It is an aggressive, poisonous snake common in the Southeast.

It can be found in and near waterways, swamps and wetlands.

It is a thick, muscular snake with a triangular head that is larger than its body.

It’s called a cottonmouth because when it coils for attack, it opens its mouth, exposing its white interior.

It is typically 24 to 48 inches in length but its colors vary, depending on its age. Young water moccasins can be striped, but older snakes can be all brown or black. All have a stripe through the eye and elliptical rather than round eyes.

It feeds primarily on fish and frogs, mice and other small mammals.

via Snakebite Orlando: Rhode Island man in ICU after being bitten by poisonous snake at Orlando’s J.W. Marriott – OrlandoSentinel.com.

A Pflugerville family is planning a funeral for their toddler who died Wednesday after a rattlesnake bit her.

Kammy Hood and her two children were on a playground near Possum Kingdom Lake west of Fort Worth Tuesday night when 1-year-old Peyton began to cry.

Over the phone, Hood told KEYE TV’s Erika Gonzalez that she ran to the child who was on the steps of a slide.

Hood says almost instantly her baby girl went limp, turned blue and started to vomit. One of Peyton’s ankles was bleeding.

Moments later, she saw a small rattlesnake.  It had already bit the child twice.

The snake was killed and the child was air lifted to Cooks Children’s Hospital in Fort Worth.  She received anti-venom but died early Wednesday morning.

Funeral services for the child will be held in Wichita Falls this Saturday.

via Pflugerville child dies after rattlesnake bite – WeAreAustin.com.