Copperhead bites Alabama woman twice as she walks dogs, she says. ‘Can’t move my toes’
_fitted.png "A copperhead bit Raela Wells twice while she was walking her dogs last week, she says.")
Raela Wells was walking her dogs in Alabama before going to bed on Wednesday, Sept. 7, when she felt a strange sensation. She had stepped on a snake.
“A Copperhead bit my right foot twice. Tap tap,” she wrote in a post that night. “Feels like 100 bee stings, 1,000 fire ant bites, and a bad case of foot asleep tingles all in the same place and moving up my thigh... Need prayers.”
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Wells was taken to Ascension St. Vincent’s St. Clair hospital in Pell City, Alabama, where she was admitted into the intensive care unit. She stayed in the ICU until she was moved to a regular room as doctors continued to care for her after the bites Saturday, Sept. 10, she said.
On Monday, Sept. 12, Wells was released from the hospital, but she was still uncertain how to best treat her bites, she told McClatchy News in a Facebook message.
“They let me go home,” Wells wrote. “I’m free!! And I can see my baby!!!!”
In Alabama, copperheads are mostly found in forested areas, but they can also be found in floodplains, along streams and in hedge rows, according to the Alabama Department of Conservation and Natural Resources. The snakes can grow to just over 4 feet long, but the average adult copperhead is typically around 2 feet.
Copperheads are not known to be aggressive, not attacking unless they are stepped on or otherwise provoked, the department says. Their venom attacks the blood and muscles, but it is considered the least toxic venom among venomous snakes found in the United States and is rarely fatal.
Wells was bitten by an adolescent copperhead, she told McClatchy News. While adult copperheads can control the amount of venom they release, adolescents “just give you everything they got,” Wells said.
An X-Ray ensured that there was no fang left in Wells’ foot, she said.
While Wells does not need surgery, she continues to struggle with nerve pain.
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“I still can’t move my toes,” she wrote in an update on Saturday.
By Sunday, Wells said most of the redness and swelling had turned into bruising, but she was still in pain.
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Wells has an appointment at the University of Alabama Birmingham Comprehensive Snakebite Program scheduled for Tuesday, Sept. 13. She hopes to get more insight into how to treat her bites, she told McClatchy News.
“Hopefully I’ll get some answers from the experts,” she said. “I want some awareness on what to do after a snake bite.”
This story was originally published September 12, 2022 at 11:37 AM with the headline "Copperhead bites Alabama woman twice as she walks dogs, she says. ‘Can’t move my toes’."
