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Man bitten by rattlesnake at Wal-Mart says he's never been more scared

BY Josh Kerns  on May 14, 2012 @ 11:45 am (Updated: 1:37 pm - 5/14/12 )

cedargrove
Mica Craig, of Clarkston, (right) rests Sunday at St. Joseph Regional Medical Center in Lewiston with Maria Geffre, of Asotin, after he was bitten by a rattlesnake Saturday. He grabbed what he thought was a stick but was a solid-brown rattlesnake and she drove him to the hospital. (Barry Kough/Lewiston Tribune via AP)

He thought it was a stick, but an Eastern Washington man painfully discovered it was actually a rattlesnake in the gardening aisle of the Wal-Mart in Clarkston when it bit his hand.

Mica Craig said he was looking for mulch for his medical marijuana growing operation when he reached down. Suddenly, the snake latched on to his hand and wouldn't let go.

"It's the most scared I've ever been in my life. When I shook it and heard the rattles, I knew it was a rattlesnake and then I freaked. I was screaming bloody murder through the parking lot," he told Dori in an interview from his hospital bed in Lewiston, Idaho.

Craig says he stomped the snake to death and then began to worry about the venom coursing through his hand.

Luckily, a woman who saw the bite acted fast.

"She grabbed me and threw me in my car and headed me to urgent care, which was right across the street, but they don't take snake bite victims."

The ordeal continued after getting diverted to the emergency room. His hand hadn't swelled because he iced the bite wound, so doctors told him not to worry about it and sent him home. Soon after, his hand swelled up "the size of a grapefruit."

After returning to the hospital, he was rushed to treatment, where doctors administered anti-venom and cut open his hand to relieve the swelling.

"As of right now, my little finger doesn't move at all and my ring finger barely moves. I'm hoping it's just swelling."

But Craig told Dori he is worried about long term damage.

"I'm just hoping that my hand works."

Josh Kerns/My Northwest.com

Josh Kerns, MyNorthwest.com Reporter
Josh Kerns is co-host of KIRO Radio's Seattle Sounds (Saturday nights 7-8) and a digital content producer for MyNorthwest.com.
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Comments (4)


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  • Pauls65 wrote...
    re: Man bitten by rattlesnake at Wal-Mart says he's never been more scared
    May 14, 2012 1:44 pm
    He should sue Wal-Mart if for nothing else giving him a bag of ice to place on the bite. Standard first aid training states: "never ice down a venomous snake bite". Moreover, Lewiston is in prime rattler country and proper precautions should be taken to keep items such as pallets which are ideal hiding places for snakes in a location isolated from areas that snakes could come from. When I help my brother buck hay he gets from Eastern Washington, we always are on the lookout for a rattler that may have somehow got in the load.
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  • xplanes wrote...
    Don't tell me pot doesn't make you stupid
    May 14, 2012 3:01 pm
    Picked up a rattler thinking it was a stick. Really? I'm sorry. Stung by a scorpion while picking through bananas...sure I guess. Picking up a snake thinking it was a stick. DOH!
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  • diveman wrote...
    Why was it relevant to the story that....
    May 14, 2012 5:06 pm
    ......he was "A Pot Grower"? How about "A Gay" man gets bitten by snake at Walmart. Or... "A Heterosexual Male" gets bitten by snake at Walmart. Or....."A African American" gets bitten by a snake at Walmart. Or....well get my point.
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  • xplanes wrote...
    diveman
    May 14, 2012 6:07 pm
    Read my comments above yours for the answer to your question. The point is he is a pot grower who PICKED UP A SNAKE thinking it was a stick. Not the same as a gay man was bitten by a snake, unless he too is a pot head dumb enough to pick one up thinking it was a stick.
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