A Southern California man who picked up a rattlesnake to pose for a photograph was badly hurt when the reptile bit him on the hand.
Alex Gomez, 36, was bitten on Monday by the 4-foot rattler in a field at his family’s ranch in Lake Elsinore, a community about 60 miles southeast of Los Angeles, according to TV station KCBS, which showed a picture of the man holding the snake around his neck.
Alex Gomez’s mother, Deborah, told KCBS on Tuesday that her son might lose his hand because of the bite wound to the extremity.
The man’s hand swelled up after the bite, and he was taken to a local hospital and treated with anti-venom, according to the station.



The skin on his hand and arm is now rotting, Mrs Gomez said.
‘I’m shocked that he would have that thing around his neck,’ she told the station.
‘It could’ve bit his neck, and that would have been it. That’s just being a fool.’
She could not be reached for comment on Wednesday.