A bloke says he was bitten on the HEAD by the UK's only deadly snake - after his wife 'suggested they leave their tent open as they slept'. Tony Mohammed said he felt a burning sensation on his head in the middle of the night but after brushing at his scalp shrugged it off and fell back asleep.
The following morning the 56-year-old woke up to find clear liquid streaming down his head 'like a waterfall'. After spotting a small blister on the left side of his scalp he believed he'd been chomped on by a false widow spider and thought nothing more of it.
It was only as clear fluid continually oozed from the bite site during a walk later that day that Tony decided to get it checked out. At a walk-in centre the automated industry quality inspector's wound was cleaned with a saline solution, he was found to have a fever and was prescribed antibiotics and antihistamine cream.
Over the course of the next 24 hours Tony said he felt ill but perked up and the wound scabbed over. Days later when the scab dropped off, Tony was horrified to spot two fang marks one centimetre apart from one another - meaning it couldn't have been a spider responsible.
Tony believes an adder, the UK's only venomous snake, snuck into his tent and struck - perhaps after he accidentally rolled onto it in his sleep and gave it a fright. He says he was left looking like he'd been in a punch-up, while doctors confirmed it was a venomous bite.
Tony jokingly says the incident occurred after his wife suggested leaving the tent flysheet open to get a 'cool breeze' and 'against his better judgement' he agreed. Nonchalant Tony, who's not been put off camping by the scaly encounter in July, is now urging anyone who's been bitten by any type of critter to seek medical help straight away.
Tony, from Coventry, West Midlands, said: "When I saw the puncture marks I thought straight away 'that's got to be an adder'. It could have even been an escaped exotic [snake], who knows?
"I don't know how many spiders would have a fang bite that's a centimetre wide, it seems pretty big for a spider. My eye swelled up 24 hours later, I think people on the campsite thought I'd been in a fight.
"The skin [there] now still has a different texture to the rest of the skin."
Tony and his automated industry quality inspector wife Karina Taukule, 39, decided to escape the inner-city heat last summer when temperatures hit 30 degrees and headed to the Suffolk countryside to camp. The pair spent a week in July in their two-man tent but struggled to get a good night's kip in the heat.
Karina suggested sleeping with the flysheet open to allow a cool breeze into the tent, a decision Tony came to rue. The automated industry quality inspector says in the middle of the night on July 13th he felt a burning sensation on his scalp but dismissed it before falling back asleep.
Tony said: "Last summer was really hot. We live in inner-city Coventry so to escape the heat we go camping.
"We ended up at this campsite in Suffolk and because it was still hot she said 'sleep with the flysheet open tonight'. Against my better judgement we left it open and a little more breeze came in.
"I was sleeping with my head towards the tent opening. At the time I thought it wasn't a good idea, I was thinking more of mosquitoes and creepy crawlies but when we opened it I was glad of the breeze as it was hot.
"In the early hours of the morning I felt like a burning on my head. I was half asleep and was rubbing it and then went back to sleep.
"I got up in the morning and my forehead was streaming with this clear liquid. We went on a four-mile walk and it was just streaming and streaming like a waterfall.
"I thought 'I've got to go to a walk-in centre' so I went to one. The guy said it's probably a false widow spider bite. The liquid spread across my forehead and raised it up.
"The doctor said, with gravity, it was going to look like I'd had a stroke. As the liquid went down my face, that's when my eye came up. He gave me antibiotics and antihistamine cream and sent me on my way.
"A week later he called me asking if I was ok. I explained I'd discovered those two puncture marks and he said 'oh it's not a spider then' but didn't say what it was.
"The funny thing is in May we went to Zanzibar, the only thing we got was a couple of mosquito bites. We were in West Africa and nothing happened. [We go camping in the UK] and that happened."
Now a year on, Tony still has faint puncture marks in his hairline but feels perfectly fine. He's now urging anyone who gets bitten by any creepy-crawly to get it checked out straight away.
Tony said: "Someone said I might have rolled over onto it and given it a shock but I don't know. It's not put me off camping, it's just nature doing its thing.
"I probably should have gone to the walk-in centre a bit sooner than I did. I would advise anyone bitten to get it checked out as soon as possible."
