I'm a terrible parent (pics)

[Cobra Kai]

Today I was doing some yard work and like usual I try to catch this Eastern Garter when I see her basking in the sun. I try to get her out of the way when I’m cutting the grass. She (I’m guessing she’s a she) lives in a pile of folded tarps with a wooden pallet on top. I caught her and placed her in a bucket with a night crawler and the worm was gone when I finished the lawn. I guess she was hungry.

So I had the bright idea of showing her to my 2-½ year old son before I release her. My 2-1/2 year old loves animals. When I took her out of the bucket, she was pretty grumpy. But seamed to calm down as I held her for a few minutes. Then I showed her to my son and said he could pat her. So all of a sudden he put his hand around her and before I new she swung back and bit his pinky finger. She just nicked him. Didn’t hang on or anything. It was lightning fast! Poor guy. He flinched a little, but didn’t miss a beat. Thankfully he didn’t get scared. I tried to keep it as positive as possible.

Unfortunately…his finger started to bleed and my wife got really, really MAD with me. So we cleaned it up with hydrogen peroxide and put Neosporin on it. I was afraid he was going to be traumatized for life. But thankfully he was like nothing happened. He was so cool, he even helped me release her back in the tarp pile.

But I felt soooooooooooo bad. I guess it could have gone a lot worse…right? To make me feel better, do you have any similar stories with your kids?

And my other question is: Do you think he will get an infection, like staph or salmonella? I've been bit a ton by garters when I was a kid and I never got infected. But it's different now with my little baby.

[DrKate]

Do you think he will get an infection, like staph or salmonella?

It sounds like you did pretty good first aid. If this just happened today, and you didn't already do it, you might want to get him to the sink and really wash the bite site out with soap and a whole lot of running water. Then continuing the Neosporin while the wound heals certainly won't hurt.

You should probably take a look at the bite site twice a day for at least a week or so and make sure there's no redness, swelling, oozing from the wound, etc. If any of that happens, or any other general symptoms (tummy upset, loss of appetite, fever, just not seeming right) of course you'll want to get him to a doctor right away.

Snakes certainly can carry some nasties in their mouths, and I'm by no means a pediatrician or an infectious disease specialist - but maybe someone else here is! If you're at all unsure, obviously you should take him to the doctor instead of listening to any of us. (I suspect pediatricians end up treating parental anxiety much more often than actual pediatric illness anyway!)

Oh, and I think it speaks well of your parenting and effort to foster a love of animals that the kiddo reacted so well to the natural behavior of a scared snake!

[prattypus]

What really sucks is this may get held over your head FOREVER! 20 years down the road it's gonna be used as ammo in a disagreement. ...remember that time when he was two and you went and tried to feed him to a garter snake!

Good job on introducing the little guy to some of nature's miracles- wish I was able to have that early on in life.

[Cobra Kai]

It sounds like you did pretty good first aid. If this just happened today, and you didn't already do it, you might want to get him to the sink and really wash the bite site out with soap and a whole lot of running water. Then continuing the Neosporin while the wound heals certainly won't hurt.

You should probably take a look at the bite site twice a day for at least a week or so and make sure there's no redness, swelling, oozing from the wound, etc. If any of that happens, or any other general symptoms (tummy upset, loss of appetite, fever, just not seeming right) of course you'll want to get him to a doctor right away.

Snakes certainly can carry some nasties in their mouths, and I'm by no means a pediatrician or an infectious disease specialist - but maybe someone else here is! If you're at all unsure, obviously you should take him to the doctor instead of listening to any of us. (I suspect pediatricians end up treating parental anxiety much more often than actual pediatric illness anyway!)

Oh, and I think it speaks well of your parenting and effort to foster a love of animals that the kiddo reacted so well to the natural behavior of a scared snake!

The wound was on the knuckle, and I can't even find it anymore. It was very superficial. Thank you for the great advice & kind words. I'll continue cleaning it, applying Neosporin and I'll watch for symptoms. And yeah...the "parental anxiety" never ends. LOL!

What really sucks is this may get held over your head FOREVER! 20 years down the road it's gonna be used as ammo in a disagreement. ...remember that time when he was two and you went and tried to feed him to a garter snake!

Good job on introducing the little guy to some of nature's miracles- wish I was able to have that early on in life.

Oh man...I hope not. Thanks bro!

[aSnakeLovinBabe]

as long as you keep it clean it's nothing to worry about. Garter snake bites always look so much worse that they really are. the anticoagulants in their saliva kind of slow down the clotting process so you bleed more than you normally would with such a small wound. I have been chewed on my many a garter and some of those bites will literally gush blood but the next day it's hard to even see them!!!

[guidofatherof5]

Sounds like you did a good job. It's something to watch but I don't think it's something to be over concerned about. Treat it like you would treat any cut. I think all 5 of my kids have been biten, some multiple times and I've never had an issue. I've been biten many times by snakes other than garters and never had any problems.
Some extra hugs and kisses from dad will make everything fine. Maybe a trip to DQ.

[Cobra Kai]

Thanks everybody for the encouragement. Now I can sleep a little better tonight. Steve, I like the DQ advice the best.

[prattypus]

DQ does sound good- but they don't put NERDS in blizzards anymore. Someone broke their tooth and they sued. I was craving that so bad after getting back from Iraq, and BLAMMO- nada. Sorry, not garter related, but DQ. HMMMMMM.

[guidofatherof5]

You wanted a kid bite story.
My daughter Gabby is my partner here at the T.radix Ranch. She really loves our radixes and others. She's 9 now. When she was 6 we were in the backyard. She found a big female heading across the yard. She yelled for me to come and get it. She said it was being mean. I told her to pick it up and bring it to me. Being the great daughter she is, she did as I instructed. She had it just above the cloaca and was walking towards me. I looked at her and said :see I told you it would be okay" right at that moment this female pulled herself up from the hanging position and grabbed Gabby by the underside of her upper arm. It was a full mouth bite and she had a good grip on her. Gabby let go of the snake but the snake didn't do the same. Now my daughter is running towards me crying with the large radix swinging from her arm. I peeled the girl off and dried the tears from my daughter. I think the radix was laughing. A few moments later she out herping for another one. That's my girl.

[k2l3d4]

Oh Steve... lol lol... Good for you Gabby for going after more snakes.... lol lol.... I can so picture this one......lol

I was catching garters as a kid back home in the Rocky Mountians in Montana..... never did get bit, but man I have been musked a few times.... once my mom smelled that she decided that the garter I had in a bucket on the floor of the truck had to be relaesed and I was not to ever be able to keep any of my catches......

Now I have three Garters, and 1 ball python...