Arizona spring training fan bitten by rattlesnake

• Ralph Shelton is no stranger to Arizona, as he visits annually for the Cactus League
• He heard a noise under his RV he thought was mechanical.

He was enjoying the night air when he heard a strange noise under his RV, which he drove to Arizona for spring training. Ralph Shelton reached his hand into the darkness under the vehicle and a rattlesnake immediately made him regret that decision.

"I thought to myself, 'Man, that was dumb,'" said Shelton on Monday as he recovered from the bite in a hospital. He was also recovering from a head injury he suffered when he passed out after the bite.

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Shelton, 67 and retired, has come from California to Arizona for the past seven years for the entire month of March to catch all the Cactus League games that he can. He had planned Monday to be at Goodyear Ballpark to see the Los Angeles Angels play the Cincinnati Reds.

Instead, he was wearing a hospital gown, his right arm propped up on a pillow, giving interviews to reporters.

Shelton said he was getting ready to go to bed Sunday, but stepped outside of his RV, parked in El Mirage, for some fresh air. When he did, he heard a weird noise.

"In retrospect, what I should have done was get a flashlight or something like that," he said. "But, it was so innocent at the time that I didn't think to do that."

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Not thinking twice about it being anything more than a mechanical failure, he first looked underneath the RV to see what might have broken. He couldn't see anything in the darkness, though, so he stuck his hand underneath to further investigate. And then he felt the bite.

After he jerked his hand from underneath the RV, Shelton said he heard the tell-tale rattles of a rattlesnake. He quickly called 911, telling the operator where he was.

Shelton said he didn't feel any of the venom that worked its way through his system. A doctor told him later the venom  expanded his arteries, and would have eventually stopped his blood from flowing.

Shelton, who already takes medication for his blood pressure, passed out from the loss of pressure. He was then flown to Banner-University Medical Center Phoenix, where he spent most of the night undergoing tests.

"At that point, I said, 'Wow, this is kind of scary. I wonder what's going on here?'" he said.

He was told by a doctor that he was lucky to be alive, as his blood pressure had dropped to 60. In addition to an anti-venom treatment, he received eight staples for where his head hit a platform when  he lost consciousness.

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Shelton said it's important to not only know the signs of a rattlesnake, but also to avoid making assumptions, as he did about his RV's supposed mechanical trouble.

"Obviously, that was a major wrong assumption on my part," he said.

Arizona Game and Fish Department spokesman Randall Babb said the peak season for rattlesnake bites varies between years, and often depends on outside temperature. With this year getting warmer so early, rattlesnake season may have started earlier as well, he added.

Babb also noted that there are 13 different species of rattlesnakes in Arizona, some with more toxic venom than others.

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A Phoenix Fire spokeswoman said March to May is peak season for rattlesnakes. They like the warmth, but not the intense summer heat. Just like spring training visitors.

Dr. Frank LoVecchio, medical toxicologist and physician at Banner-University Medical Center Phoenix, said rattlesnakes usually come out when temperatures are above 90 degrees or so.

He said he sees a spike in activity around August and September. Snakes seem to like the rising humidity and warm evening temperatures, he said.

But the medical center receives a couple of calls about rattlesnake bites every month, he said, often from people who tried to keep a rattlesnake as a pet.

The best preventive measure for bites is to avoid the rattlesnake in the first place, LoVecchio said. Sometimes, people try to pick up the rattlesnake and move it to a different area. This is strongly discouraged by the medical center, he said.

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"Snakes don't want to envenomate you," he said. "Snakes want to go the other way. They're very docile, they're very shy."

If you come within 3 to 6 feet of a snake, it's likely to strike you, he noted.

And the treatment for a rattlesnake's bite doesn't come cheap. It's about $3,000 or more for a vial of the anti-venom used to treat a bite, and patients may need about 10 to 12 vials for effective treatment, LoVecchio said. Then there's the pain medication needed and blood tests. Most patients make a full recovery within a month, often without any rehab.

Banner University Medical Center spokesman David Lozano said that so far the hospital has received four calls for rattlesnake bites; two in February, and two in the first week of March.