Bryce Russell said he was attacked by the venomous snake after he stepped out onto his front porch barefoot while looking for his car keys on August 18.
“I was going to go dirt bike riding with one of my friends so I was looking for car keys and that’s when it gets me,” Russell told CBS Los Angeles. “I was texting him and that’s when it bit me.”
Surveillance footage from the family’s home shows Russell leaping into the air after the snake, which was coiled up underneath a chair on the porch, bites him on the foot.
“I mean they’re tucked up, but you can see where they pop out when they strike,” Russell said of the snake’s fangs.
Speaking to KABC, Russell added: “It didn’t really hurt to get bit, just a prick, but I definitely felt a sense of dread because you could see the venom start to inflame my foot and work its way up.”
Luckily for the 19-year-old, both his mother and sister are nurses and were able to provide first aid until paramedics arrived at the scene.
His mother sprayed the snake with a hose to get it away from the front door so she could go back inside. His 24-year-old sister then picked up a shovel and beheaded it.
Russell said she plans to take the snake’s body to a taxidermist and make a belt out of it.
Russell spent two days recovering at the Corona Regional Medical Center after receiving 24 vials of anti-venom. “My face, tongue and lips were kind of tingling, I guess that’s an effect of the venom,” he said.
“[My foot was] bleeding a decent amount for how small the hole was. I guess the venom kind of messes up your clotting,” he added to CBS.
The family said it is not unusual to see rattlesnakes in the area, but this was the first time that one has come so close to the home.
Following his encounter, Russell gave some advice on what to do if you are bitten by a rattlesnake.
“I certainly wasn’t fun and I don’t want to experience it again, but if it happens just remain calm, call 911 and let the medical professionals take care of it, and you’ll be OK,” he said.
