If an SC copperhead snake or rattlesnake bites you and you have no cell service, here’s what to do

Let’s say you’re hiking in Jones Gap State Park enjoying a beautiful spring day and then you feel something hit you, something like a rubber band snapping on your leg.

Your leg starts burning and throbbing.

Snake bite.

Venomous likely because a harmless snake bite feels more like a paper cut. They have no fangs.

You pull out your phone to call for help and see you have no cell service.

Swelling, tenderness, and bruising starts up your leg.

Should you panic?

Wildlife biologists say no. Chances are you’re not going to die. There have been seven deaths due to snake bites in almost 100 years, and one within the past 10.

There are things you can do before you make your way as soon as possible to a medical facility.

First determine what bit you. Copperheads are the most prevalent venomous snake in South Carolina, but rattlesnakes pack more serious venom. SC DNR says on its website bites from copperheads in the United States in the past 40 years have resulted in no deaths.

There are 38 species of snakes in the state and six are venomous.

In addition to copperheads, there are cottonmouth (not found in the Upstate, but in and around Lowcountry swamps, streams, floodplains, and other wetland habitats), pigmy rattlers, eastern diamondback rattlers, timber rattlers and coral snakes (also found on the coast and the Midlands.

If you see it, don’t try to kill it or pick it up. That will likely result in another bite, biologists say.

Guidelines for snakebites

• Use the satellite text feature on your cell phone to connect with 911. Emergency text via satellite should come on your screen.
• Don’t drink or eat anything including alcohol, stimulants or medicine.
• Do not run, but stay still and calm. This will keep your heart rate down, slowing the spread of venom.
• Remove constrictive items like jewelry or clothing from around the bite.
• Keep the snake bite high or at a neutral level to help reduce swelling.
• Clean the wound with water and soap if you have it.
• If you have to walk out, walk slowly and calmly, keeping the bitten limb as still as possible.

What not to do after a bite

• Do not cut the wound or try to suck out the venom.
• Do not apply ice.

SC snake bite deaths

Wikipedia lists seven people in South Carolina who have died of snake bites, most of them from rattlers.

• Wayne Grooms, 71, died 15 minutes after a rattlesnake bit him in the Santee National Wildlife Refuge on June 12, 2016.
• Percy Miller Jr., 13, from Bluffton, bitten by a rattlesnake around June 4, 1958, and then died six days later at a nearby Ridgeland, South Carolina hospital.
• Elouise Orr, 9, was bitten by a rattlesnake at her Ridgeland home June 15, 1954. A doctor said treatment began an hour after she was bitten and she died 10 hours later.
• Elbert L. Thornton Sr., 67, was bitten working on a farm in Beaufort on July 30, 1952, and died the next day at a Ridgeland, SC hospital.
• Ace Hargrove was picking blackberries on his farm near Clio June 20, 1937 when a rattlesnake bit him, according to a newspaper account, but his death certificate said he was bit by a pilot snake, which was once how people referred to copperheads and cottonmouths.
• Katie Adelle Rhode, 25, walking down steps of her St. George home when she was bitten by a rattlesnake Aug. 13, 1936. She died about 15 hours later at a hospital in Summerville.
• Rebecca Nimmons, 19, was killed by a rattlesnake in Pickens County July 1928. Precise location and date were not listed.