Rattlesnake bite survivor speaks

VOLUSIA COUNTY, Fla. (WOFL FOX 35) - A Central Florida man is still recovering after a rattlesnake bit his leg.

George Prevatt is back home after a three week stint in the hospital. The 66-year-old, who works for Volusia County, was at the Tomoka Landfill last month when the Eastern Diamondback rattlesnake attacked. 

“I guess the machine, when I drove the machine up there, the vibration of the machine scared him and made him coil up,” Prevatt explained.

He says the snake blended in with the mulch but once it bit his leg, he could tell it was about three and a half feet long.

He was rushed to Halifax Medical Center with poison pumping through his body. Prevatt says he spent 10 days in intensive care and got 28 vials of anti-venom.

“I had wires and IVs and everything in me and just lying there and you can’t move and they’re taking blood from you every two hours, 24 hours a day,” Prevatt said. “It was a lot worse than I thought it’d be.”

Things are much better now but Prevatt’s leg is still swollen and he can’t move his foot around. He says he’ll put the work in at rehab and get back to 100 percent.

“I want to be just like I was before the snake bit me,” he said.

Prevatt says he plans to return to work at the landfill when he completely heals.