Last Saturday night, a teenager and reptile lover in Bucks County tried to find a wild snake in Tinicum, but got more than she expected.

When Audrey Weir and her friends were in High Rocks Park, someone found the snake on the ground. Thinking it was a harmless corn snake, the 17-year-old Council Rock South student approached the snake. It finally hit her and inserted a sharp tooth into her right hand.

When the initial shock disappeared, Will recognized the snake’s heart-shaped head, hourglass markings, and red, orange, and brown patterns-it was a poisonous bronze-headed snake. They are common snakes in the northeastern United States and other parts of the United States, but they are usually similar to other non-venomous snakes. They are one of the most common types of snake bites in the United States.

Will immediately understood that there was a problem with her hand, so she drove to St. Mary’s Medical Center in Middletown, where she was initially taken to the waiting room. As the poison’s influence grew, she knew she needed more urgent attention. She tagged a paramedic. Although St. Mary’s Medical Center could provide her with morphine for pain relief, she eventually had to be sent to the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia for anti-venom treatment.

Copperhead snake venom can be very painful, but it is rarely fatal to humans. Their venom is blood toxic, which means that it usually causes temporary tissue damage in the immediate area of ??the bite.usually About 2-3 feet longCopper-headed snakes are not like most venomous snakes because they usually don’t give a warning before biting. Once a threat is found, they will immediately take defensive measures.

Sometimes their aggressiveness is bad for them, like the story widely reported in Alabama this week. The bronze-headed snake was swallowed in the battle with the king snake.

Will tells Bucks county messenger times The pain of the venom feels like “my hand hurts like a fire” and compares this sensation to a burning fracture.

An ambulance from Newtown took Weir to CHOP, where the toxicology director of the hospital has rushed to receive anti-venom treatment. Will’s hands were four times swollen.

The teenager received anti-venom treatment every six hours until she was discharged from the hospital on Tuesday and was told to follow up with a specialist for ongoing pain and blood tests.

A spokesperson for the Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources told the Bucks County Messenger Times that copper-headed snakes are common in Bucks County, but bites rarely occur. Will’s bite was first reported in 2021, and it has occurred seven times in the past two years.

Weir’s family has discussed the possibility of cooperating with High Rocks Park to install signs warning snakes, but it is not clear whether adding signs will encourage people to look for snakes instead of leaving them alone.

Will, who owns a few reptiles, doesn’t seem to be intimidated by this incident. If anything, this may have deepened her appreciation of snakes.