A Beijing man who hand-fed his pet snake when it was ill was bitten by the reptile and ended up having his thumb amputated.
The incident was reported by China’s state media CCTV on December 18.
The man, surnamed Huang, kept the long-nosed viper as a pet because he had been interested in snakes since childhood.
Chinese folklore has it that anyone bitten by such a reptile, also known as a “five step snake” in China, will die after walking five steps.
Not long ago, Huang’s snake fell ill and was not able to eat by itself. When Huang fed the snake by hand, it bit his finger.
“The poison jeopardised my blood clotting function severely. My thumb suffered from necrosis and doctors decided to amputate it,” Huang was quoted as saying.
It is not clear what happened to the snake after the incident.
In recent years, a trend for keeping exotic pets has emerged in China.
Liu Wei, a senior doctor from Shenzhen Centre for Disease Control and Prevention, said most exotic pets tend to carry pathogens like bacteria, parasites and viruses.
“For example, lizards’ faeces is likely to spread salmonella which will lead to people getting a fever and diarrhoea or worse. Marmots can carry the rabies virus, which has a 60 per cent possibility of death,” Liu was quoted as saying.
“We suggest pregnant women, children under five years, senior citizens and those with poor immunity or with basic diseases to avoid raising exotic pets,” he added.
Unusual pets often make headlines in China.
In February, Shanghai Customs intercepted a man at Pudong International Airport as he tried to take a poison dart frog in his bag to enter China.
The frog, from Latin America, is widely regarded as the most poisonous in the world.
The man told the officials he wanted to keep the frog as his “personalised pet”.
The reptile was slaughtered by the authorities. It has not been disclosed what punishment the man received.
The recent snake incident sparked a discussion online.
“This man’s brain is also ill,” said one internet user.
Another person said: “When I was little, my father said if I raised a snake, he would kick me out of home. My father was right.” -- SOUTH CHINA MORNING POST
