A SOUTH East resident “got quite a fright” when a tiger snake snapped a dry bite in his direction on Tuesday night.
Eric Prelc returned home from a holiday trip to complete some errands when the snake appeared from under his property’s shearing shed fridge.
Home alone at the time, Mr Prelc heard the snake hiss very loudly, indicating he had disturbed the serpent.
Soon after, he approached the freezer next to the fridge to prepare to feed dogs at his property when he had a surprise run-in with the snake, which bit his left forearm around 9.30pm.
Mr Prelc was left with a small scratch, which he believes indicates the snake grazed him as a warning.
His daughter Ebony and partner Grant Higgins arrived to apply first aid to the wound.
Mr Prelc kept his arm below his heart, with his arm bandaged above the wound at the elbow, down the limb and then back up the limb.
Shortly after at 10pm an ambulance arrived to take him to the Mount Gambier Hospital.
Unfortunately when veteran snake catcher David Miles arrived to relocate the snake it was injured and did not survive.
Mr Prelc spent one night in the emergency department.
Luckily for Mr Prelc the bite was a “dry bite”, leaving him with “shock and very little sleep”.
Mr Miles urged South East residents to take care if bitten by a snake.
“Treat any snake bite as potentially fatal,” he said.
“You can never assume that a bite is just a dry bite, you need to leave that up to the professionals.
“Go to the hospital and find out, they will conduct tests including a swab and toxicology to determine the amount of venom in your blood.”
Mr Miles said a dry bite occured when a snake bites but does not inject venom.
“Snakes have the ability to hold their venom,” he said.
“Their venom is a last resort and is designed to immobilise their prey and begin their digestive system.
“I remind South East residents we have some of the most venomous snakes here in the world and take precaution.”
To correctly handle a snake bite, Mr Miles said to compress the wound, do not wash or make an incision within the area, mark the bite site for easy location, lay on the ground and move as little as possible and do not drive your vehicle.
