A professional snake handler was bitten by one of his own rattlesnakes while performing a stunt Tuesday night at a downtown Fort Worth hotel.
Jackie Bibby, known as the "Texas Snake Man," was treated by firefighters and paramedics but declined to go to the hospital.
"As is sometimes the case handling venomous reptiles, accidents happen," Bibby said. "I don't feel real good, but that's to be expected."
Bibby, who stars on the television show "Rattlesnake Republic" on Animal Planet, was performing at a safety conference of electrical workers.
"I was doing a stunt where I put rattlesnakes in my mouth, which is one of the world records that I hold," he said. "I was bundling the snakes together to prepare to put their tails in my mouth, and one of the snakes crawled over the top of one of the other snakes and got leverage and struck me in the hand."
An Oklahoma man who attended the conference said the dozens of people who witnessed the bite were shocked.
"We heard some people gasping," Aaron Dixon said. "Afterwards there were a lot of whispers going around about what had happened."
Local
The latest news from around North Texas.
Bibby and his friends were monitoring the swelling in his hand Tuesday night. He said he would go to the hospital if his condition worsened.
Bibby said it was the 10th time he had been bitten by a snake.
