A teen accidentally stepped in a rattlesnake pit while searching for a signal on her cell
Vera Oliphant, 16, was searching for a signal on her cell phone outside of San Diego when she accidentally stepped into a rattlesnake pit. The teen had been visiting her uncle and was trying to get a signal to call her mom. She was walking up a hill when she heard the rattling. Oliphant said, “I ran backwards and I stepped into a pit of snakes.”
Oliphant went on to say, “My body instantly started going numb.” The 16-year-old was bitten on her right foot at least six times, first by the mother and then the five babies.
She somehow hobbled back to her uncle’s house where she was rushed to the hospital. After 24 vials of antivenom to neutralize the toxin from the bites, four days in intensive care and two weeks at home on crutches to nurse her swollen foot, the teen is on her way to recovery.
Oliphant told ABC News, “The doctors told me that I need two to three months to completely recover from the bites. But I will feel a weird sensation when stepping on my right leg for years.”
The teen is all the wiser after going through this painful experience. She told Fox News, “If you’re in the desert, for one, wear boots. And two, don’t bring your cell phone or go searching for reception, because you probably won’t find it anyways. And you might step into a pit of rattlesnakes.”
