Headless rattlesnake sends man to hospital

[snopes]

When Danny Anderson went hunting for rattlesnakes with his dad outside Quincy, his father always told him to never touch a snake.

But when a 5-foot rattler slithered onto his property while the 53-year-old was feeding his horses, failing to heed his father's advice came back to bite him.

http://www.tri-cityherald.com/tch/lo...-9121645c.html

[snopes]

Hmm ... technically, it was a bodyless snake that sent him to the hospital.

- snopes

[Seraphina]

I am sure that it would be possible for mouth of the snake to close if the man was stupid enough to put his hand inside. But I do not believe the head would jump and bite him

[Jay Temple]

[slight hijack]
Recently the two-headed snake at our zoo died. I was at a comedy club last night, and one of the stand-ups said he could now go back to his previous worst fear ... one-headed snakes.

[geminilee]

Depends on how much neck was left. I knew a guy who had this exact thing happen to him: he had chopped the snake's head off, then came back a little while later to pick up the rattle. When he did, the snake whipped its head around on what was left of the neck and bit him.
Cite for post-decapitation bites

If you must kill the snake, then do NOT touch its head for at least one hour. If you must kill a snake for identification purposes, then completely remove its head and bury it. Snake heads have been documented as capable of biting and injecting poison an hour or more after decapitation;

[woohmom]

I have a serious snake phobia. And when I'm describing my craziness, people think I'm REALLY crazy when I say that snakes don't die, they just act dead but are waiting to get me. But here, see! THEY REALLY DON'T DIE!!

[Pseudo_Croat]

Just out of curiosity (and slightly OT) after one gets treated for a rattlesnake (or similar venomous snake) bite, how long does it take to recover from the bite (on average)?

- Pseudo_Croat