PHOENIX — It’s a sound that can send shivers down your spine — rattle that when you hear it, you’re already too close.
So far this year Banner Health said more than 100 people in Arizona have been bitten by a rattlesnake.
There are 13 different venomous rattlesnakes in Arizona. More than anywhere else in the country according to Cale Morris, the venom manager at Phoenix Herpetological Sanctuary.
“We get these in people’s yards all around the Phoenix area,” Morris said while handling a Western Diamondback.
It’s also the most common rattlesnake that bites Morris said.
“They have a hemotoxin, so that is blood destroying so it causes your platelets to drop. Your blood cells basically burst,” he said.
While Morris has never been bitten, he knows plenty of people that have. When that happens he said there’s really only one solution: rattlesnake antivenom only found at hospitals.
The process to make it is difficult and expensive.
“They have to milk venomous snakes, which is dangerous, and then they have to, over time, inject into sheep, and it actually builds up immunity within the sheep's blood. Then they can take that out of the sheep, and they create an antivenom,” Morris described.
That cost for this life-saving medicine then falls on those who need it.
“I've seen people show me their bills, and it's been as much as $15,000,” Morris said.
That’s just for one vial. The venom manager said depending on the severity of the bite, victims may need just a few or up to 40 for treatment.
According to the Arizona Poison and Drug Information Center, the average cost for hospital visits for a rattlesnake bite was just under $100,000 in 2021.
It also stated some insurance providers do have coverage for these situations. For those who don’t have insurance, they will likely have to cover it themselves.
Morris said if someone finds themselves in a situation with a rattlesnake that is making it's iconic warning sound, to back-up slowly. If you are bit, call 911 immediately and go to the emergency room as soon as possible, even if the wound doesn't hurt.
The longer you wait Morris said, the more damage is done to the body.
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