A woman is recovering after being bitten by a snake outside her mother’s Wildomar home earlier this week.
The woman’s mother, Denise Silva, told KTLA her daughter still has a lot of swelling and is in a lot of pain after the red diamond rattlesnake bit her on her toe.
The daughter, Tonya, was walking up to the home Tuesday when the snake struck.
“She shook her foot and it went back underneath,” Silva explained.
Tonya’s toe immediately started swelling and she went to the hospital.
“We didn’t know if it was a rattlesnake, or if it was not venomous,” Silva said.
Silva’s grandson, meanwhile, fended off the snake until Ryan Jessup of Ryan’s Rattlesnake Rescue responded to the home.
The reptiles are usually docile and won’t strike unless they feel threatened, but this one might have been already on defensive due to an injury it appeared to have, Jessup said. Most likely, it was just looking for some shade.
“With the heat that’s going on, that’s what snakes are doing now, in search of shade, water,” he said. “Don’t be afraid of them, just respect them, keep your distance, always call a professional, don’t handle it yourself.”
Before Tonya was taken to a hospital, her family wrapped her wound with rubber bands as a makeshift tourniquet, but experts say that’s a no-no.
“What that does is traps all venom in one location,” Jessup said, adding that in severe cases, one could lose limbs or cause tissue or nerve damage.
Tim Daly of the California Department of Fish and Wildlife also suggested seeking medical attention right away if you’re bitten by a snake, and to get rings and watches off the bite area as soon and as best as you can.