Snake Expert Finds Snake Tooth Buried in His 3-Year-Old Swollen Finger

Finally, a snake expert extracted what he believed to be a 3-year-old splinter from a swollen finger. It was a snake tooth, as it turned out.

After removing what he initially believed to be a splinter from his finger, snake expert Collie Ennis made a startling discovery. Ennis finally identified the source-a small snake's tooth that had been impaled in his finger for a year-after months of excruciating swelling and infections.

The Splinter

Ennis said that he first noticed a small lump and lingering pain in his right middle finger just before the pandemic in 2019, around the time of Christmas. Because he couldn't see it clearly, he assumed it was a splinter and decided to let it try to come out on its own.

Months of consistent inflammation and swelling in the finger caused Ennis to visit the doctor, who once more thought it was a splinter or something similar that would eventually fall out.

The Flare Up

Ennis endured what he calls "unmerciful pain" in his finger for months. He eventually went to a specialized clinic to have the foreign object removed, and while he was there, he joined the waiting list for a much-needed x-ray. The scan, however, could not arrive soon enough.

Ennis continued his account by stating that while he was still on the waiting list, he experienced another painful flare-up. One night, the pain became so intense that he decided to treat it himself by cutting it with a small scalpel blade. He obtained tweezers and used them to successfully grasp the hard object's tip. When he pulled the tweezers out, he was shocked to see a snake's fang.

Everything made sense as soon as he understood what the splinter was.

The Friendly Bite and the Snake Tooth

Ennis has kept reptiles all of his life. He is a research associate at Trinity College Dublin. He also serves as a science officer for the Herpetological Society of Ireland. He must work with and take care of a variety of different snake species to fulfill all of these roles.

He said that the majority of the snakes under his care are rescues or rehomed animals, and some of them have had difficult lives and aren't particularly friendly, so it is understandable if they nip your finger every so often.

Ennis had no idea that one of these friendly bites would leave him with a lodger in his finger that was somewhat permanent.

Ennis claimed that while he was unable to identify the snake that bit him with certainty, he had his suspicions. A particularly venomous Mexican black kingsnake he named Memnoch was his best guess.

Ennis claimed that after the incident, whenever he gets a "friendly" nip from one of his fanged friends, he now double-checks himself for stray fangs, Newsweek reports.

Read also: Areas in Louisiana and Texas are Critical Habitats for Rare Burrowing Snakes, Feds Say 

Mexican Black Kingsnakes

Mexican Black Kingsnakes belong to the Eastern Chain Kingsnake family and are a common nonvenomous snake in North America. a group of snakes renowned for both eating poisonous snakes and withstanding their venom. Black Kingsnakes get their name from the dark brown and black coloring on their body. Despite their name, they have a shimmery enamel that causes a lovely blue iridescence when exposed to sunlight.

According to Everything Reptile, black king snakes are easy to handle and have a simple diet when kept as pets.

Snakes

According to the Humane Society, the majority of snake species don't pose a threat to people or pets, and only 25 percent of snake species are venomous. However, many people are frightened of snakes, and as a result, many snakes are unnecessarily killed or removed from their natural habitats as a result of these overreactions. Some states allow the killing of rattlesnakes for the novelty of their meat after removing them from their dens using poles endowed with fishhooks.

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