MIAMI — There are 44 snake species in Florida, but state wildlife officials said only six of them are venomous. However, one part of the state is seeing more bites than they've ever seen before.
"It was just like a normal day," shares Monet Robinson.
Robinson is an Amazon driver who has recently left rehab and is now doing physical therapy after a snake bit her while she was working.
"I put down the package. When I put it down, I got back up. I felt like a bee sting," she explained of the incident. "But then I turned around and I saw it, and that’s when I freaked out. Like, 'Oh-my God! It's a snake!'"
It's a reaction we can all relate to.
But the eastern diamondback rattlesnake attack in Palm City wasn't a typical one.
"I usually get one to two of those a year, so this year I've had five," Christopher Pecori with Miami-Dade Fire Rescue's Venom Response Unit said.
He said this year has been unusual, responding to 43 bites across South Florida.
"Looking in the past few years, I've seen about 25 to 27 bites each year for the past three years prior," Pecori said.
But why the higher numbers?
Pecori said South Florida's No. 1 bite culprit comes from cottonmouths or water moccasins — even though this particular snake only amounts to 6% of bites in the whole nation.
But we also have several other venomous snakes in our state, including the eastern diamondback rattlesnake, coral snake and dusky pygmy rattlesnake.
Pecori said those populations haven't seen a boom, but our populations have.
"The only thing I can see is that our population growth in Broward and Dade counties is exponentially growing and moving west and south. And a lot of my bites are on the fringes of those counties," he explained.
Pecori has also seen invasive species moving to more urban areas, which is why the second mission of the venom response unit is an antivenom bank. It provides life-saving treatment to victims like Robinson, who need help in a pinch.
"These snakes don’t want to be any closer to you than you want to be to them,” shared Pecori. “If you do get bit, I try to tell everyone to take a picture safely. That would help, but that’s not imperative. The most important thing is to get treatment.”
Pecori said if a snake bites you, stay calm, and make sure to get to the nearest hospital, so the anti-venom can be supplied.
