News 8
Snake bites woman at Grandview home 
11:19 PM CDT on Wednesday, July 1, 2009
GRANDVIEW - A quick bite from a snake sent a Grandview mother to the hospital with a swollen left calf Wednesday afternoon.
There are two tiny bite marks on inside of the left heel of Toni Wiley.
"I had gone home to let my dogs out, and the minute I got out the door this sting, like some kind of stab, came at me really fast," she said.
Dr. David Smith, the chief trauma surgeon for Texas Health Harris Methodist Resources, described what came at Wiley after pulling a dead snake out of a box.
"What we have here is a small, dead copperhead,” he said while showing the snake that was killed by Wiley's uncle.
The copperhead's two small fangs caused her entire left calf to swell up to her knee.
"It was very excruciating pain," she said.
Wiley's uncle took the foot-long snake with them to the hospital, which made it easy for doctors to quickly treat Wiley.
Last year, Texas Health had 13 poisonous snake bites for the year. With the warm weather, doctors expect to quickly surpass that number.
"So far for the year, we have admitted eight to the hospital, and we sent one home from the emergency room," Dr. Smith said. "So, that would be a total of nine in six months."
Steve Martin, a Wildlife & Animal Removal Specialist with Trutech, said they too have been swamped with calls.
"Warm weather is going to bring them out,” Martin said.
He said copperheads generally aren't aggressive.
"If you're close enough and it feels in danger, then it would definitely lash out to feel protected," he said.
That's apparently what happened to Wiley.
E-mail dmiles@wfaa.com
