Venomous Message

Small rattlesnakes have sunk their fangs into the hands of two South County children in the past two weeks, prompting health authorities to warn people to be on the lookout for the heat-savoring reptiles as long as the warm weather lasts.

John (Cutter) Watkins, 7, was bitten after a friend dared him to pick up a foot-long snake he spotted at his San Juan Capistrano housing complex on Monday, and Melody Morgan, 13, was struck a week before by a 12-incher while leaning down to pick up a ball on the sidewalk of a Laguna Niguel park.

Both children recovered and were released from Children’s Hospital at Mission Hospital Regional Medical Center in Mission Viejo after treatment with antivenin, their physicians said.

“It was just little one,” said Cutter of the snake that bit him.

But the boy’s right hand and arm were still discolored and puffy three days after the bite.

The second-grader, who sports a blond flattop and plenty of little scars and scabs from previous misadventures, agreed he was no match for the “little one”--even if he does ride a bike named Mini Viper, made by the Diamond Back Co.

“Some dares aren’t so good,” he said.

Coming in close succession and toward the end of the traditional snake season, the rattlesnake attacks were described by some physicians as relatively unusual. But one longtime snakebite expert, Dr. Terence Davidson of UC San Diego, said such occurrences are more common in spring and fall because the reptiles are more mobile before and after hibernation.

In any case, the reptiles won’t slither into their burrows for their long winter’s nap as long as the sun continues to warm their coldblooded bodies.

“We’re having extended warm season, and these snakes are taking advantage of it,” said Dick Meyer, a vector ecologist for the Orange County Vector Control District.

Residents in South County should especially be aware of snakes in areas “where there’s a lot of canyons and properties abutting against them,” he said. “The odds and probabilities are that snakes will come out on trails to bask in the sun or look for prey.”

The small culprits in Orange County--less than 6 months old, judging by their size--may actually be roaming around because they “are confused about [the timing of] hibernation,” Davidson said.

Cutter and a friend were riding their bikes Monday afternoon on the paths of their apartment complex, bounded on one side by Interstate 5 and the other by a grassy hillside, when the friend spotted the tiny snake near the grass.

“My friend said ‘Stop your bike’ and I hit the brakes,” Cutter said. “He dared me to pick it up. I did, and it bit me [on the thumb]. It stung bad.”

Cutter’s sister and legal guardian, Wendi Samaniego, and her husband, Gary, took the boy to the hospital within an hour. At first, Samaniego, a nurse, wasn’t certain Cutter had been bitten, but once she saw his arm swell up, she got worried.

“Then I knew it had been a poisonous snake,” she said.

Before his symptoms subsided, Cutter was injected intravenously with 11 vials of rattlesnake antivenin, slightly more than average for a moderate poisoning, his family and doctor said. The serum is made from antibodies produced by horses injected repeatedly with light doses of the venom.

“We thought [Cutter] might lose a limb,” Samaniego said. “They said he could lose his thumb or his hand or he might need skin grafting. He’s just really lucky” that didn’t happen.

The other case occurred just one week before, after 13-year-old Melody Morgan took a drink from a fountain at Chapparosa Park in Laguna Niguel.

The girl’s mother, Diana, said her daughter leaned down to pick up a tennis ball to throw for her dog and was struck by a “baby rattler.”

“It was right there where thousands of kids play soccer and baseball every weekend,” Diana Morgan said.

Melody first tried to suck the blood from the wound, then reported the incident to adults nearby. Her mother took her to the hospital emergency room within half an hour. The girl received five vials of antiveninand was hospitalized for two days.

The physicians who treated Cutter and Melody said the children received medical attention well within the critical four-hour period following the bites. While few victims actually die from a single bite, they said, there is a danger of tissue death, impaired blood clotting and shock, which can lead to serious complications.

“If you lose pieces of tissue in the area of nerves or muscles, you will lose” the use of the nerves or muscles, said Dr. Eric Walbergh, a pediatric anesthesiologist and critical care physician who treated Melody.

Both Walbergh and Dr. Sana Al-Jundi, the intensive-care specialist who treated Cutter, said it is crucial to obtain immediate medical attention for snakebite victims.

“The best thing to do is move the person as little as possible and get them to medical care,” Walbergh said.

If immediate care is not available, Walbergh said, one may want to apply a tourniquet above the bite, making certain to relieve the pressure for five to 10 minutes every hour. He said physicians today tend to discourage sucking blood from the wound, but if no help is available, one can make an X-shaped incision in the area of the puncture wounds until it bleeds freely, suck out the blood and spit it out. This is only useful within the first 10 minutes after the bite, Walbergh said, before the venom has spread through the system.

Both physicians and snake experts said the best prevention is to avoid the snakes in the first place.