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Rattlesnakes attack Northern California toddlers

June 11, 2015

Northern_black-tailed_rattlesnakeTwo Northern California toddlers have suffered rattlesnake bites in the past week, and veterinarians are warning state residents that the drought is bringing the venomous snakes closer to humans. [ABC 7]

Two-year-old Ishneed Kaur was bitten Tuesday night while playing in the backyard of her Pittsburg home. The snake unexpectedly attacked and bit her in the foot, Kaur’s grandfather said.

A helicopter airlifted Kaur to the hospital after fire crews arrived. Kaur is currently in stable condition at the intensive care unit of the Children’s Hospital in Oakland. Doctors are optimistic she will go home soon.

Over the weekend, a rattlesnake bit 4-year-old Vinny Caramazza while he was walking on a Folsom bike trail. The toddler’s mother, Jaclyn Caramazza, then tried to suck the venom out of her son’s foot.

“The mama bear instinct in me decided to suck the venom out because apparently that’s what Bonanza does,” Jaclyn Caramazza said.

Jaclyn Caramazza is currently nine months pregnant. Luckily, the venom did not spread to her or her unborn son. The pregnant mother is now instructing other mothers to call 911 right away and not attempt to suck out the venom, if their children are ever bitten by rattlesnakes.

After trying to suck out the venom, Jaclyn Caramazza rushed her son to the hospital. Vinny Caramazza spent two days at the hospital and then returned home to finish recovering.

A rattlesnake also made a recent appearance in the yard of a Walnut Creek resident.

Veterinarians say Californians may see more rattlesnakes this summer, particularly near water sources. Animals are being more concentrated around the water sources, wildlife veterinarian Guthrum Purdin said.


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Snakes like shady cool places like under boat trailers for example. Some get up inside jet pumps and in the crevices of trailers wheel wells ect. and lay eggs. Those mussles that multiply by the millions and plug water pipes get transported much the same way.


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Here’s a little idea: let’s quit having toddlers. When we don’t have toddlers to drag around, we don’t have to look for affordable cookie-cutter houses that are affordable because they are in rattlesnake country and our precious little toddlers don’t get nipped in the kneecaps by rattlesnake fangs. Let’s quit reproducing – let’s move back into our diseased cities, and die out nobly. Won’t you please join me in the Voluntary Human Extinction Movement (VeHEMent)? Thank you.


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Well I had a different experience with one out at Naci and I’m read up on them. They are pretty and they have thier place in nature but when they are imported to a different region they could blend in, it could be bad. Especially for whoever steps on one because it blends in with thier lawn. Mojave Green venom IS highly potent and Im just putting a word of caution out there for whatever good it does.


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Some time back (April?) TV news interviewed a boy who was given 40+ bottles of the anti-venom at Cottage Hospital Santa Barbara. The roughly 8 year old ended up fine after several days in Cottage, but the $ 500,000+ hospital bill featured in the news left his family finances in shock. I replayed the DVR clip to make sure I heard the figure correctly. The clip showed a bill print out of $ 200k+ for medications. Scarier than the snakes.


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The cost of antivenin drugs is directly related to supply and demand. I have no doubt that the supply level may be carefully orchestrated to keep the cost in the stratosphere.

And yes, the headline is a bit misleading, snakes DON’T attack. Snakes rarely bite humans without a reason of being scared, protecting themselves, or mistakening you for prey.


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But bites do occur. I have not heard since Boy Scouts in the 70′ the admonishment to hike 30′ apart. The rattlesnake will alert and be inclined to flee the first threat and attack the second. And don’t step into an area where they might be hiding (rocks, fallen logs). Aside from that they are very afraid of you. Mojave Greens are more dangerous. More potent venom and a bad attitude, and relatively new to SLO County.


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Everybody out and around the Nacimiento lake and San Antonio lakes should be extra cautious. Mojave green rattle snakes get brought up by southern california vacationers and thier boats. These are the most deadly and aggressive species having both a compound neuro-toxin and hemo-toxin venom. The color green makes them blend in with grass and shrubs.


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I’ve dealt with greens in the Mojave dez. Didn’t act any different than every other rattler I’ve handled. Most don’t like to be snared. Some are surprisingly mellow about it. Greens are good looking animals.


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“Snakes On A Boat”?


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Glad the kids will be ok.


The drought is bringing all kinds of things out of their natural habitats.


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The entire planet is the natural habitat of the serpent – Man is the one out of his habitat. Where is Man’s natural habitat? Back in the pond.


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They used to cruise down to the houses on Wilding Lane in SLO to off gophers. Once in a while one would be sunning itself in a driveway and it would be a screaming Telegram-Tribune headline.


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I already accustomed to our water boards making venomous mis-snakes. Nothing new.


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Really….”suck the venom out”….

On second thought can I try that the next time I’m bit by Big Government?


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Yep, really — if you haven’t had the benefit of modern first aid techniques — i.e. those taught for the past 45+ years. When I was a kid in Boy Scouts, outdoor first aid kits included a razor blade and small suction cup for opening up the bite wound and sucking out the poison from a rattlesnake bite. Less than 10 years later, that all changed. Like many other “old wives tales,” many people don’t get the updated information and some of them pass on the old misinformation.


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Snakes Attack!!! Good grief.


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Exactly, more like snakes defending themselves. I lived out by Nacimiento for years; when we were building our home we had a tall pile of sheet rock, which my child, my spouse and I walked around and took one sheet at a time into the house to hang, over a period of about three hours. When we got to the last piece we discovered three rattlesnakes sleeping under the stack. No “attacks”, we just walked away and left them alone. Rattlesnakes aren’t vicious, they simply defend themselves. It’s up to us to be aware of our surroundings and watch for them.


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If you can hang and nail-off a tall pile of sheet rock in three hours, dude, you got me beat even in my younger days! A San Antonio Lake area friend told me he encountered one in the crawl space under his mobile home, and that it displayed a forward move when he threw something at it. (Confined space obviously). He tells the story that he discovered that he can crawl in reverse toward the access point at a considerable clip.


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I don’t know of an animal that does not warn you numerous times before it bites in self defense.


Humans are in a hurry, don’t pay attention, have ear buds in, and then say the snake “displayed a forward move”. Was it a strike at the person or was the snake just trying to get the heck out of there and a human was in its way?


Enjoy nature, and also know how to heed her warnings. Right now with this drought I watch everything when hiking. Bells in shoe laces so bears hear you coming, don’t surprise animals, watch, listen and smell for them.


Spring is a dangerous time and snakes are out and about sunning themselves or just looking for food. Humans are not considered a food source, but get to close to them and you could end up bit.


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