A California man may his lose hand thanks to a rattlesnake that he tried to take a selfie with, the man's mother revealed to local media.
Alex Gomez, 36, had told reporters that he was bitten while working, but Deborah Gomez, his mother, told a different story and had evidence to back it up, according to the Los Angeles Times.
When Gomez heard his mother was granting interviews to local media, he pleaded with her to not talk.
"I said 'I'm going to,'" Deborah Gomez said. "Yeah, I'm going to teach him a real good lesson when he gets home. No mercy for him."
The real story is that Alex spotted the snake in a field near the family ranch on Cielito Drive, reported The San Luis Obispo Tribune. That's when he decided it would be a cool idea to wrap it around his neck and take a selfie with it.
Pictures broadcast by the station showed Alex Gomez wearing sunglasses and stretching out the snake near his face. Sometime later, the rattlesnake retaliated and bit him on the hand.
Ronnie, Alex's nephew, was at the scene during the incident, and says the reptile gave plenty of warning.
"It was really thick and had ten rattles on it, it was rattling," Ronnie said. "It was pretty mad."
Upon being bitten, Alex reported being in excruciating pain. His hand swelled up and his body started to tingle. His neighbor, Byron Bonilla, immediately called 911 and paramedics rushed Alex to the hospital.
While Gomez is being treated with anti-venom, his mother says he may lose his hand.
"His skin is already rotting away," Deborah described, according to CBS' Los Angeles affiliate CBS Los Angeles.
When talking about the incident with reporters, Deborah mentioned her surprise when learning about her son's "foolish" decision.
"I'm shocked he would have that thing around his neck," Deborah Gomez told reporters. "It could've bit his neck and that would've been it. That's just being a fool."
