A man from Texas nearly died after being bitten by a decapitated snake head

Larry Smith/flickr

Do not touch - even if decapitated.

• A Texan man was told by doctors he might not live after being bitten by a severed rattlesnake head.
• The man required 26 vials of antivenom to combat the poison.
• He is now in a stable condition.
• An anti-venom doctor told Gizmodo that snake's heads can continue to function hours after being cut off.

If you thought cutting the head off a venomous snake made them safe to handle, think again.

A man from Texas received a potentially fatal dose of venom after being bitten by the head of a rattlesnake - even though he'd just decapitated it.

The man was reportedly working in the garden when he spotted the venomous snake and severed its head with a shovel.

The Texan was rushed to hospital in an emergency helicopter after suffering seizures and required 26 vials of antivenom to combat the toxin.

Jennifer Sutcliffe told local news station KIIITV that her husband is now in a weak but stable condition, with limited kidney function.

American Museum of Natural History/The Power of Poison

The skull of an Eastern Diamondback Rattlesnake.

Leslie Boyer, antivenom doctor and Founding Director of the University of Arizona VIPER Institute, told Gizmodo that people should not assume that severing the head of a snake renders them harmless.

"That's kind of a classic mistake. People don't realize that reptiles and mammals are wired differently," Boyer said. "The head end of a cut-up rattlesnake can continue to function, including the venom glands, for a long time afterwards and, in fact, the other half continues to work. It'll rise and rattle."

Boyer advised backing away and calling an expert if you come across a venomous snake and warned that killing snakes by cutting them is not the way to handle the situation: "It's cruel to the animal and it leaves you with a smaller piece that's venomous to pick up."