Lubbock is known for having hot and dry climates that attract all sorts of critters including poisonous snakes.
“It’s not unusual during the summer months to see one bite a week or so. Sometimes we will see two at one time, it’s somewhat unpredictable we might go a few weeks and not see any,” Dr. Christopher Piel, the Medical Director of the Emergency Center at University Medical Health said.
There are four main poisonous snakes that live in Texas but Dr. Piel said only three of them lurk around the South Plains. He said the snakes you need to watch out for are the Rattlesnake, Copperhead Snake and Cottonmouth snake.
But Dr. Piel said they have one type of antivenom that treats to all three of those bites.
“So they’re all very similar so the anti venom we use is actually is good for all the species of snakes,” Dr. Piel said.
He said even though they see several bites over the summer they don’t want the public to worry about their amount of supply of antivenom.
“Right now we have ninety-six vials of antivenom, in a standard anti venation we give six to eighteen vials so we have enough to treat several bites at once. Also it’s easy to come by if we feel like we need more we can borrow from another hospital or it can get here overnight. There is never really a fear were going to run out of antivenom it’s easy to come by,” Dr. Piel said.
