9 Year Old Misidentifies A Poisonous Rattlesnake As A Stuffed Animal In Her Grandmother’s Garden. Angelo Owens visited his grandmother’s house in Longwood on Wednesday when he saw something in the corner of her property.
9 Year Old Misidentifies A Poisonous Rattlesnake. “I thought it was a stuffed animal,” Angelo said after approaching it and discovering it was a live snake.
The youngster dashed inside to inform his family of the finding. They thought Angelo had discovered a harmless garter snake until they heard the rattle of a 4-foot diamondback rattlesnake.
“Just a very loud hiss. “You could hear it from two to three houses away — it was loud,” Angelo’s father, Alex Owens, told the site.
Alex said his son’s experience was “scary” and left him “shaking for a while,” thinking about how different the result may have been.
Fortunately for the family, Angelo did not get near enough to the predator, and the family contacted Bob Cross, one of central Florida’s most expert critter catchers.
“He’s a lucky boy.” Had he not gone to fetch his mother, or if he had attempted to pick it up or go close to it… this would have been a different story,” Cross told the publication.
According to the publication, the family initially phoned the Florida Fish & Wildlife Conservation (FWC) agency, but when their personnel came, they informed them they couldn’t deal with dangerous snakes and provided them with a list of persons who could.
The Eastern diamondback rattlesnake, the biggest poisonous snake in the United States, which can grow up to 8 feet long, was safely removed from the property and sent to a reptile facility, where its venom would be collected to manufacture antivenin to save the lives of snakebite victims.
The Owens family is no stranger to Florida’s wildlife, having dealt with coyotes, foxes, and even a bear that once got into their garage — but this deadly predator was a first.
According to the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, the Eastern diamondback rattlesnake is most often found in open-canopied pine woods that periodically fire, although it can be found in a variety of environments.
Its bite may be brutally painful, and its venom, known as hemotoxin, damages red blood cells and causes tissue damage.
The diamondback rattlesnake is said to be a superb swimmer, with yellow or tan skin and prominent black, brown, and cream diamonds along its back.
The deadly snakes will also utilize flora for protection, depending on camouflage to disguise themselves while looking for food.
In September, an Amazon driver was hospitalized in critical condition after being bitten by a large rattlesnake while delivering a box in Florida.
The vehicle failed to see the massive Eastern diamondback coiled up at the front entrance of a house in Pam City.
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