Can I get bitten by a copperhead and not know it?

[str8shooter]

A few weeks ago I was doing some yard work in a garden that's up against the house, thick with azalea bushes and mulch. I didn't start out with the intention of spending hours trimming and clearing the garden, so I was only wearing sandals on my feet.

Although azaleas have tough prickly leaves and my legs and feet were getting poked and scratched the whole time, I didn't feel anything like a bite, but the next morning I woke up and my left foot was the size of a grapefruit, with three distinct sets of two evenly space holes around my ankle. My leg ached from the calf down, and my ankle was so sore I couldn't walk. It looked exactly like a sprain, bruising and all, but I know I would have felt a twist that would cause something like this. Besides the holes, there were small white blisters that looked like pimples all over my foot and ankle, which itched like hell.

I took some ibuprofen and benedryl, and wrapped my foot in ice until the pain subsided enough to walk. Then I wrapped my foot up in an ace bandage and went about the day. The swelling had gone down a lot during the day, but the next morning my foot was blown up like a balloon again.

I assumed it was a strange reaction to poison ivy which is all over my property and I'm highly allergic to so I never went to the doc when it happened, but a couple days ago I talked to one and he said it sounds like I was bitten by a copperhead.

Is it possible to get bitten by a copperhead three times and not have a reaction or feel it until the next day?

[adymond]

A few weeks ago I was doing some yard work in a garden that's up against the house, thick with azalea bushes and mulch. I didn't start out with the intention of spending hours trimming and clearing the garden, so I was only wearing sandals on my feet.

Although azaleas have tough prickly leaves and my legs and feet were getting poked and scratched the whole time, I didn't feel anything like a bite, but the next morning I woke up and my left foot was the size of a grapefruit, with three distinct sets of two evenly space holes around my ankle. My leg ached from the calf down, and my ankle was so sore I couldn't walk. It looked exactly like a sprain, bruising and all, but I know I would have felt a twist that would cause something like this. Besides the holes, there were small white blisters that looked like pimples all over my foot and ankle, which itched like hell.

I took some ibuprofen and benedryl, and wrapped my foot in ice until the pain subsided enough to walk. Then I wrapped my foot up in an ace bandage and went about the day. The swelling had gone down a lot during the day, but the next morning my foot was blown up like a balloon again.

I assumed it was a strange reaction to poison ivy which is all over my property and I'm highly allergic to so I never went to the doc when it happened, but a couple days ago I talked to one and he said it sounds like I was bitten by a copperhead.

Is it possible to get bitten by a copperhead three times and not have a reaction or feel it until the next day?

The little white bumps could even be ant bites or something. I don't know about the copperhead bite and not knowing about it though. I would imagine you would feel it.

[unloved]

I don't know, but I don't think it's impossible. I've never been bitten by a snake, so I don't know what that feels like. I do know that I've suffered all kinds of lacerations, abrasions, and small puncture wounds that I didn't feel when they occurred. I've found that it mostly happens when I'm working. I guess I'm concentrating to the point of excluding the pain.

[Justin]

I would say it's possible to be bitten by a smaller snake and not feel it. Particularly when you are already in the bushes and getting jabbed up by branches and leaves. I've been bitten by a snake before, but only a baby water snake that latched onto a finger while I was trying to hook him for bass bait. Little guy was maybe 5-6 inches long, and I barely felt anything on my finger.

[Minor Threat]

I've never been bitten by a snake, but I'm thinking you'd feel it!

However, I've been bitten by some nasty spiders (while sleeping) & never knew it. I woke up in the morning with 2 fang bite marks & the area very swollen.

Could have been something like that.

[str8shooter]

The little white bumps could even be ant bites or something. I don't know about the copperhead bite and not knowing about it though. I would imagine you would feel it.

That was my first thought too. Except for the bruising, it looked and felt a lot like a fire ant attack I suffered in Florida, but those little nippers also made me nauseous and dizzy. Another thought was wasp stings, it's the delayed reaction that has me puzzled. Spiders in my bed?

[MRMATT]

Sounds like spider bites to me. One (don't know what kind) bit my wife on her upper thigh. She never felt a thing. Within a few days, the back of her upper leg looked like something from a horror movie. A trip to the doctor's office, some antiboitics, some steroids, etc. All better now.

[Minor Threat]

Spiders in my bed?

No, in the garden!

[-JD-]

MY wife had something very similar happen. Poison ivy coupled with a cellulitis infection. It can get very bad if it gets going in the blood - like to the heart. Doesn't explain the holes though, unless you kept hitting a pair of thorns ...

[tlgpa]

Spiders in my bed?

Sure. Spiders can go just about anywhere.

I doubt you were bitten 3 times by a snake without knowing it. I could see once, if he didn't get a good strike and barely pierced your skin. But 3 strikes, one would've went deep and you'd feel it. Copperhead fangs are 0.3" long. Try sticking 0.3" of a safety pin into your skin without feeling it.


What was the spacing on the marks?
Found this from someone bit by a copperhead:

The large dots are the fangs & the smaller dots closer to the toes & bottom of the foot are the bottom teeth