The rise of social media created a generation of people who want to record everything on their smartphones.
Constantly capturing everything for the camera has its downsides.
And a video caught the worst moment of a Florida man’s life after this scary situation.
Florida man records himself getting bitten by a rattlesnake
Social media influencers constantly must push the envelope to get attention online.
David Orin Humphlett, a 25-year-old from Gainesville, Florida goes by the name David Orin on social media where he has more than four million followers.
Humphlett records videos of himself and his friends picking up snakes and other reptiles in Florida.
He and his friends were recording a video in Dixie County, Florida on the Gulf Coast when he encountered an eastern diamondback rattlesnake.
The rattlesnake bit him on the leg as he tried to pick up a piece of bark on the ground.
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The rattlesnake is the most common venomous snake in the United States.
He recorded a video of the incident to share with his millions of followers on social media.
“Welp, I’m cooked. What a meme, dude,” Humphlett said.
He showed his viewers the bite on his leg.
“That right there is a fantastic eastern diamondback rattlesnake that I just got bit in the leg by, because I didn’t notice him when I was peeling bark,” Humphlett explained. “Let’s get some pictures of it first. I mean, I’m already screwed anyways.”
“Alright, I’m about to lose my ability to walk so let’s get back to the car,” Humphlett added.
Florida man learns a costly lesson about getting bitten by rattlesnake
Humphlett went into anaphylactic shock from the rattlesnake’s venom.
His friends drove a half hour to find medical treatment and he was eventually airlifted to the University of Florida Health Shands Hospital.
The social media star’s wife is a nurse at the hospital and was waiting for him to arrive.
“Internally, I’m panicking but externally, I’m reassuring him, ‘You’re going to be fine.’ My team here at work helped me run down to the emergency room to be right there as the helicopter landed,” Emma Rynear, Humphlett’s wife, said.
Humphlett was initially given 10 vials of antivenom.
“I’m scared I’m going to die, but hopefully not,” Humphlett said.
He ended up receiving 88 vials of antivenom and spent weeks in the intensive care unit recovering from the bite.
The social media influencer compared the sensation of the bite to being bitten by an alligator.
Humphlett is not mad at the snake despite his near-death experience.
“The snake is just doing what it does,” Humphlett explained. “It perceived me as a threat and it was just trying to protect itself. I’m not mad at the snake and I don’t want anyone else to be mad at the snake either.”
He is expected to make a full recovery and is ready to get back out into the wild.
“There are times where it’s okay to hold even a snake when you understand the species, the behavior, and the individual that’s in front of you,” Humphlett said.
David Humphlett will not let a rattlesnake nearly killing him slow down his social media career.
DeSantis Daily will keep you up-to-date on any new developments in this story.
