Pet shop worker's week-long fight for life after bite from deadly snake

Lee Thompson, 26, had been handling reptiles since childhood and was never bitten once.

But when one finally sank its fangs into his thumb, it was a common death adder  -  one of the ten most poisonous snakes on the planet.

Attack: Lee Thompson was told his kidneys were collapsing after the snake bite

And while an anti-venom drug for the Australian species was available, it took hours to arrive.

The father of two hovered close to death for four days as his kidneys failed.

However, he pulled through, returned to work a week later  -  and says he plans to keep the 16in adder as a pet.

'I was about to put the snake back in his box,' said Mr Thompson, who works at the Scales and Fangs specialist shop in Leighon-Sea, Essex.

'I must have laid him at slightly the wrong angle because he reared up and bit me on the thumb. I felt a burning sensation and knew I had been venomised.'

Mr Thompson was taken to Southend Hospital and doctors contacted Guy's Hospital in London where the antidotes to rare snake venoms are kept.

'I knew not to panic because the heart pumps faster and the venom spreads faster around the body,' he said.

The serum was sent by car and took two-and-a-half hours to arrive.

'Once the poison has gone that far, the antivenom can cause an allergic reaction which can be fatal because your body has been weakened,' he added.

'I was okay at first, though my hand started to swell. Then I started suffering anxiety, blurred vision, vomiting and my eyelids were drooping and my jaw muscles went slack.

'I tried to remain calm but then, as the hours went on, I started to get horrendous chest pains. That was when I feared I was going to die. Hours later I was told my kidneys were collapsing. It got really frightening.

'The following morning doctors said my blood tests were getting progressively worse and my kidneys were failing.

'They hooked me up to a line and flushed out my kidneys. Luckily, over the next 24 hours my condition reversed and the following day I was allowed to leave.'

Deadly: A Death Adder is one of Australia's most dangerous snakes

The common death adder's poison is so dangerous that nearly two-thirds of human bite victims die without antivenom. Mr Thompson, from Laindon, says his thumb remains numb but he is still happy to pick up snakes  -  including the one that attacked him.

'I'm going to keep him for myself as he's the first snake ever to bite me,' he added. 'I haven't got a name for him yet.

'I'm not concerned that I'll get bitten again  -  it doesn't happen very often. There's nothing that could keep me from working with snakes.

'It's a life-long passion. I have been into snakes and reptiles since I was a kid.'

FANG FILE

• The common death adder is the fastest-striking of all Australian snakes.
• Up to 3ft long, it spends days coiled up waiting for prey such as small birds and mammals, twitching its yellowish grub-like tail near its jaws. When they try to eat the 'grub', the adder strikes. 
• The species is unusual because it produces litters of up to 30 young rather than laying eggs.  
• The most venomous species in the world is the fierce snake, also known as the inland taipan. The poison in a single bite is enough to kill 100 adult humans.