"Keep an eye out": Rattlesnake bites Bastrop man doing yardwork

BASTROP, Texas - "Keep an eye out" is the message from a Bastrop man recently bitten by a rattlesnake. Now he's warning people to be extra cautious when outdoors.

As the temperatures warm up people aren't the only ones out and about. Snakes are too and it's a lesson David Gramling learned the hard way.

"I pulled my hand out right away, the snake was still on me, it's about a 4-foot rattlesnake," he said.

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Gramling was landscaping at a neighbor's when a rattlesnake bit him. "I was doing a cleanup I saw some weeds by this one plant and I reach down there not really even thinking I didn't hear any rattling are we still on for the week for the plant and that's when I got me," he said.

Gramling says his neighbor then rushed him to the emergency room. "They got me right in and administer quite a few vials of antivenom," he said.

The emergency room which treated Gramling says this is the time they begin seeing patients like him. "This is definitely the time all the snakes are coming out as grass gets higher. That's the main thing we see as folks get walking to the grass and they get bit," says physician Dr. Jason Hatfield.

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When it comes to being bitten by a snake, Hatfield says forget what you've seen in popular movies and TV shows. "You want to try and stay as calm as possible but you got to get to the ER as quickly as you can," he said.

Dr. Hatfield says administering antivenom as soon as possible is key.

As we get into the summer months, Gramling is warning people to be extra vigilant especially when doing yardwork. "Always have a shovel when you're doing any weed-eating or mulching or anything around plants because the snakes will get up around the base of the plant," he said.