Texas wildflowers are everywhere, and so are some dangers if you venture out in them.
Whitney Hendley found out first hand, after suffering a snake bite from a venomous Copperhead while taking engagement photos near Tomball in April of 2014.
“We had taken the last shot in that outfit, and we were about to change outfits, we walked back to the truck and I kind of yelped and said, 'ouch!' And, my husband looked down and saw a snake coiled back, and I ran, and he yelled 'snake,'” Hendley recalled. “I ran off from the pavement, onto the concrete and I said, 'no! It was just a thorn, and it had to have been a rose thorn or a thorn of some sort. It wasn’t a snake!,', and he goes, 'No, I saw the snake. Let me look at your leg.' And, so he looked at my leg and it was bleeding and then, of course, just panic and shock ran through both of our heads.”
She and her then-fiance called 911 and went to an urgent care before being admitted in a hospital. She spent about a week at the hospital because of the swelling caused by the Copperhead bite, but then was released. She says she spent a couple of days on crutches before she could walk again.
Kate Bommer, a reptile keeper at Waco’s Cameron Park Zoo, stresses there’s good reasons venomous and non-venomous snakes might be found in wildflowers, and where you might find them more often.
“They’re going to be out in the sunnier patches. The plants are exuding kind of a herbaceous scent, so rodents are very attracted to that, so the snakes are there looking for food—they’re not looking to get you," Bommer says.
Bommer also has some recommendations if you choose to venture out into a field for some photos.
“With the wildflowers, I would say scan, really do a thorough eye search, kind of go up there, maybe take a snake hook, take a big stick and kind of ruffle through ‘em. If you hear something like a rattle or if you see something moving, back off and pick a different spot,” Bommer says.
Hendley says she learned her lesson, and will now admire the Texas wildflowers from afar.
“We enjoy them and every time I see anybody taking pictures in the bluebonnets, I always tell them my story and let them know—it’s not the brightest idea to do that because you just never know if there’s a snake there,” said Hendley.
The Texas Department of State Health Services recommends if you have to go to a hospital after suffering a snake bite, to call ahead to make sure hospital staff can prepare antivenin. Baylor Scott & White Hillcrest Hillcrest, Providence, and AdventHealth Centex emergency rooms all have antivenin.
