Copperhead Snake Bites Simsbury Boy

A 14-year-old Simsbury boy is recovering after a venomous snake bit him on Wednesday night. 

Scott Simeon was taking the trash out at his house around 9 p.m. on Wednesday and his foot swelled up quickly. 

His parents, who knew only that his foot was swollen, gave him a Benadryl and Scott went to bed. 

When he got up on Thursday, he was in agony. 

“I just couldn't stand. I couldn't do anything and I just laid on the ground in agony,” he said. 

That’s when his parents took him to his doctor, then to Connecticut Children’s Medical Center, where medics found the fang marks from a baby Copperhead snake. 

Dr. Brendan Campbell, of Connecticut Children's Medical Center, doesn't see a lot of snakebites around here, but he has expertise from elsewhere earlier in his career. 

“First, if you're bitten by a snake, the most important thing is to identify the type of snake,” he said. 

Northern Copperheads are one of two venomous snake species found in Connecticut.  

“We had heard that there were copperheads, potentially,” Paul Simeon said. “We're in a wooded lot near a rock ledge and there's some potential for two types of snakes.” 

They are found in coastal areas of the state, as well as in the southwestern and southeastern hills. In the Central Connecticut lowland, they are found in the trap rock ridge system on the west side of the Connecticut River, according to the state Department of Energy and Environmental Protection. 

Copperhead bites are rarely fatal, according to the Smithsonian National Zoological Park. The snakes tend to be well hidden and will bite when people accidentally touch them or step on them.  

“Patients who have unstable vital signs, evidence that it's affecting their blood's ability to clot -- those are the patients who are going to require anti venom,” Dr. Campbell said. 

Scott Simeon didn't need anti-venom. but it'll be a week or so before he can take out the trash again. 

Timber Rattlesnakes are the other venomous snake in Connecticut and they are actually more than copperheads.

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