Ray Hunter bitten by EDB

[Bay_area]

Please pray for him! I called him & he said it is a bad bite!

from the Article;

Rattlesnake bites Port St. Lucie man


Reported by, Bryan Garner
Photographer, Jenny Newell

Ray Hunter calls himself the "Cobra Man."

His website, http://www.cobraman.net/, is filled with photos of him and his deadly pets, including a 14-foot long Malaysian cobra.

He has a license to own venomous snakes,and he keeps several of them in his Port St. Lucie apartment.
Over the weekend, it wasn’t Hunter’s pet cobra, but a pet rattlesnake that caused the problem. An Eastern diamondback rattler, the most deadly of all, bit him in the hand.

Ray Hunter is no stranger to venomous snakebites. Friends say he’s been bitten 40 times. His website shows pictures of his wounds and talks about how he self-medicates with anti-venin.

But this time, Hunter couldn’t fight off the poison on his own. He drove himself to the St. Lucie Medical Center and made it all the way to the hospital parking lot, before he passed out behind the wheel of his car.

Firefighters rushed in 30 vials of anti-venin from Miami to treat him. Even with the medicine he remains in critical condition.

"Ray is a very nice guy. He’s very professional in what he does. So hopefully he’ll come out of it OK," says Kellberg.

On his "Cobra Man" website Hunter explains why he keeps having run ins with his snakes. "The one side-effect of self-immunizing," he writes, "It tends to make you a bit complacent while handling [snakes].”

Hunter is in the intensive care unit at St. Lucie Medical Center.

Al Cruz, a firefighter who heads up the state's anti-venin program, says poisonous snakes bite about 250 Floridians each year. He says in the past 10 years no one who has received treatment with anti-venin has died from a snake bite.

[Lori P]

Wow, how scary. Prayers from here. Keep us posted....

[enigma200316]

hope he comes out ok, my thoughts and prayers are with him........

[Stefan-A]

Wow, 40 times?

[adamanteus]

That's bad. Hang in there, Ray.

[drache]

best wishes for a complete recovery

[Sid]

Sincere wishes to Ray for a speedy and complete recovery.

[anji1971]

Wow, what a close call...........so thankful he made it to the hospital. I am sending my prayers.

[RZL36]

That's really terrible. I hope that he is able to keep his hand and recovers. Crotalid bites are physically very nasty to see.

[Lulu Bennett]

he is a very lucky man. I am sending my love. Let us know how it goes. xxx