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

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