unless you are doing field research you have zero business handling that snake.

you see steve irwin or some schmuck do it on tv, you keep snakes so you think you are a herper, so you gotta do it.

the whole point of you free handling that snake is so you could run home and post a photo on here and on myspace so people could tell you how aweseome you are.

freehandling a venomous snake is pretty ignorant. pit vipers are very delicate to begin with. the fact that you had no idea what species of rattlesnake it is is troubling enough, and proof enough you had no business handling it.

even though the hospital is ten minutes away, you could've had a serious reaction. a friend of mine took a cottonmouth bite and it cost him $80,000. DO you have $80,000 to spend?

Talk to Jim harrison of the KRZ about ametuer wannabe's free handling venomous snakes.

It was a dumb move, and next time around i hope you show more respect towards the animal.