Rattlesnake in Attic Bites Homeowner in Neck

A 64-year-old man stuck his head through a trapdoor into the attic of his home Friday to check on mouse traps and came face-to-face with a rattlesnake, which bit him on the front of the neck, critically injuring him.

The snake, which was on the same level as the homeowner’s head as he peered into the attic, lunged for the man’s neck “so fast, he probably didn’t even know what happened until it was too late,” said Capt. Ron Hamilton of the Los Angeles County Fire Department.

The man was identified as Donald L. Mathews. He was listed in critical condition Friday at Antelope Valley Hospital.

Mathews was alone in his home in the 40000 block of 107th Street West in the Leona Valley, a remote mountain area just west of Palmdale, when he was bitten.

He called 911 and was airlifted to Antelope Valley Hospital about a half hour after the 1:30 p.m. incident, Hamilton said.

“We told him to sit down, calm down and relax so the snake’s venom wouldn’t run through his body,” said Hamilton, who said Mathews was agitated and perspiring when paramedics arrived to treat him.

“He was coherent, but we don’t know how much venom was injected.”

Hamilton said it was the worst snake bite he had seen in 23 years as a county firefighter because of the man’s age and the location of the bite.

The 1 1/2-foot-long snake was captured by an Animal Control officer Friday evening, said Mathews’ wife of 37 years, Betty.

“It was a very unhappy snake,” Betty said after she witnessed the reptile’s capture in her home.

Her husband had a severe reaction to the bite, causing his face, neck and chest to swell dramatically, and he was placed in intensive care, Betty Mathews said.

“We have had six or seven snakes on our property over the past 19 years that we lived here,” she said. “But never one in the house. Never.”

Snake authorities say that more than 95% of human rattlesnake bites strike arms, legs, feet or hands. It is rare for humans to be bitten indoors, authorities say, although a 20-month-old girl was bitten on the finger inside her Santa Clarita home two years ago. She survived.