DON"T let this happen to your family!!

[AbbyPan]

I want to share what happened to my son on our recent trip to make everyone aware and to be very careful.

At the end of May we were staying at the Caribbean Resort. We had only been there for 2 hours when we headed toward the bus stop to go to dinner. We were walking on the sidewalk when my 7 year old son dropped a toy into the landscaping. The toy landed less than a foot from the sidewalk edge into some very manicured landscaping. He bent down to pick it up, his feet never leaving the sidewalk, when he suddenly said, "Daddy, Daddy, something just bit me!" At first we thought it was just a prickly bush or a lizard until my husband saw the snake. We immediately called for an ambulance and I scooped him up, praying all the while, and headed for the bus stop to wait for the ambulance. The pain was excruciating and his hand began to swell. He kept asking me if he was going to die. Imagine hearing a question like that from your child and not knowing the answer. He was bitten three times on the finger by a water moccasin. We were first taken to Celebration Hospital and then transferred to Florida Children's Hospital. He spent three days in the pediatric intensive care unit and received 12 vials of anitivenin. The swelling reached all the way to his shoulder, but antivenin was administered before it invaded the shoulder joint, or he might have lost his entire arm. Thankfully the antivenin worked, he survivied, and was able to keep his arm and finger. For several weeks he was sleeping over 14 hours a day, one of the side effects of the antivenin, and he still has some stiffness in his finger.

I know the chances of getting bitten by a venomous snake at Disney are very rare, but it can and did happen. I just want to make everyone aware. It is a natural wildlife area. Watch your children around the landscaping, keep them from making shortcuts through it. Would our experience keep us from Disney in the future? No, but I would definately be more cautious. Just be aware of your surroundings.

I'm so glad to hear that your little boy is doing okay!!!

Just wanted to add that we were there just this past week and on more than one occasion I saw CM's looking for snakes. One of them being at the World Showcase next to the UK tea garden, across from it actually. 2 CM's were walking around with the metal sticks (sorry, don't know the name of it). I didn't realize there where snakes in wdw parks!!!

On a separate occasion my DH and DBIL saw something in the bushes at the WL. They thought it was just a lizard but later on someone in the area said they saw a snake in that same spot.

 

[niasmom]

Glad he is ok.

 

[MagicMomentsMom]

I'm so glad he's doing ok--I can't imagine the fear, poor little guy. We live in the mtns, so seeing snakes is common, but I would have never dreamed that they would be at WDW--I figured that they would all be scared away by all the activity. Thanks for letting us know, I'll keep a close eye on my DD when we go in Dec!
HUGS

 

[Golf4food]

Florida is not a tropical paradise, it is a deadly swamp upon which we have used modern engineering to build a civilization that 200 years ago couldn't exist on the same ground due to diseases, insects, snakes, water, etc. Of the seven species of deadly snakes in the USA there are eight in Florida. Same for spiders and stinging insects.

Always a good idea to keep you eyes open in Florida no matter where you are - even the cities are built in "their" territory.

 

[teekee2]

Oh my goodness...reading your story just caused shivers to go up and down my entire body! Wow!! I can not even begin to imagine what you went through. I'm just very glad to hear that your son is okay!! Thanks for the insight!!

 

[princessmom29]

Florida is not a tropical paradise, it is a deadly swamp upon which we have used modern engineering to build a civilization that 200 years ago couldn't exist on the same ground due to diseases, insects, snakes, water, etc. Of the seven species of deadly snakes in the USA there are eight in Florida. Same for spiders and stinging insects.

Always a good idea to keep you eyes open in Florida no matter where you are - even the cities are built in "their" territory.

Native Americans managed to survive in these "unlivable" conditions for a long time before Europeans arrived and tried to "fix" everything. It is all about being aware of and respecting nature. I don't bother the snakes, and they don't bother me. I have lived with them all my life and been fine. That and the misquitos, wasps, yellow flies, posionous spiders, and other wildlife to be found all around me. If you respect their space and steer clear of them you will be fine. Ignore them at your peril.

 

[MomBoyd]

 

[trickiwoo]

Thanks for the warning!!! That is so scary! I am so glad to hear he's okay!

 

[D. Crockett]

Don't forget the bears. The last time we went to Cades Cove, I just stuck in traffic in the mountains. There was a mama bear and her cubs maybe 20 feet off of the road. People were stopping in the middle of the road to get out and get closer to get pictures. I was like, DUDE! Mama bear! Do you really want to get attacked? Idiots! When dh worked at one of the hotels in Gatlinburg, they used to have bears out behind it all the time.

The bears have been more active this summer than years past. The dumpsters at my apartment were raided a few times, and we even had a 400+ pound male running around the parkway one evening back in May. Luckily, they have not been aggressive toward people (knock on wood).

As far as people getting out of cars or approaching the animals, the law has a no tolerance policy and has been fining (and in some rare cases, arresting) people who do this. I applaud the park rangers for enforcing this rule with an iron fist---for the safety of the animals, and tourists alike.

p.s. Always glad to bump into a fellow Gat neighbor.

 

[copperbrick]

Thank you for the warning!

I'm wondering if Disney . . . or any Florida resort property for that matter, takes extra precautions in the landscaped areas around the outdoor whirlpool spas.

I know that at the Animal Kingdom Lodge there is a lot of foliage around some areas of the outdoor spa -- so close that your head practically touches it if you sit in just the right spot. . . I remember thinking last year that it would be so creepy if a snake crept out of it and into the water.

Does anyone know if they do something, anything, to keep snakes away from the whirlpools? Are there such things as precautionary measures for snakes by whirlpools?

 

[eeyorethegreat]

I know people are all jittery about going to Florida and the risk of venomous snakes there but it might help (or not) to know that the only two states considered to be venomous snake free are Alaska and Maine. The rest of the 50 have venomous snakes so really you could run into a venomous snake in your home state, you don't have to go to Florida for it. Now, you might naturally see more snakes in Fla just because of the climate but aside from those two states no state is free of "venom".

 

[1bigwdwfan]

Oh my goodness. I am glad to hear that your son is okay after that incident and didn't lose a limb. How scary!

I am sorry to ask, but I am curious... Who pays for the treatment if this happens--I would imagine something like this is covered by insurance, right? I would feel bad if this happened to an uninsured family.

My friend's husband was bitten by a snake last summer. His insurance company denied the antivenem. Can you believe it?

 

[Brad Bishop]

DUDE, $140,000 FOR AN ANTI-VENOM?!?!?!

What the heck is anti-venom made out of, magical unicorn umbilical cord blood? The snake bite part is absolutely horrible, terrifying...but that "they" would charge as much as we paid for our first home to help your kid...talk about over a barrel. That is absolutely insane.
QUOTE]

From what I understand, unless things have changed in the last few years antivenin is actually made from the snakes own venom, so you have to keep snakes and milk the venom to get antivenom. Hence the cost.

The child would have been treated regardless of the ability to pay, thats the law with emergencies.

I am so glad your son is okay, and thank you for the warning.

That $140,000 also covers the liability costs if something doesn't go right. It might not even be the anti-venom maker's fault but if a child dies you know they'll be named in the suit.

 

[mickey family]

Thanks to everyone for their well wishes for my son. Again, I posted his story to just make everyone aware. I had actually read the thread about a snake at CR and was a little on alert before our trip. Never in a million years did I think reaching less than a foot off the sidewalk to pick up a toy would result in a snake bite. His nickname is now snake boy.

 

[Tinkerbellie16]

Thank you for posting this warning! I am glad to hear that your son recovered and appreciate your honesty in reporting this. It will help me to be extra careful when I am there with my family.

Tell Snake Boy he is a DIS legend

 

[Kelblum]

So glad your Son is ok!! Your poor family!!

 

[thebeesknees]

I'm glad your son is OK now. How scary it must have been for all of you! It's a good reminder to me to keep my kids on the sidewalks at all times, and to keep an eye on where we are walking so we don't disturb anything.

 

[k5thbeatle]

Glad to hear your son is well and thanks for sharing.

Just to add a bit as a warning for golfers be careful when looking for stray shots. On more than one occasion while golfing at Disney I have seen people just reach into bushes and plants with bare hands looking for an errant shot.

 

[Sammie]

Thanks for sharing and glad to hear your son is doing well.

 

[LauraJean]

I am so so glad your son is okay! What a thing to have happen! omg!

Also before reading this I never would ever have been worried about a snake or a spider! I won't be letting my kids roam free off any paths. That freaks me out what happened to your son!

The Canadian in me is saying I don't care about snow anymore and the cold! I will never talk bad about snow again lol!