Family kills 17 copperheads after toddler bitten

KELLYVILLE — Finley Roth’s family spent three days killing 17 copperheads after the toddler was bitten on the right big toe by a baby copperhead at her grandparents’ home in Creek County.

“We spent the Fourth of July just killing copperheads,” said Jillian Roth, Finley’s mother.

Armed with shovels and flashlights, the toddler’s grandparents, parents and uncles and aunts put on steel toe boots and spent the holiday hunting snakes.

One venomous snake was up in a tree, Roth said.

“We were cutting their heads off smooth with a shovel and they (snakes) kept trying to bite us,” Roth said.

The snakes’ mouths were opened exposing their fangs, she said.

Jillian and Finley were at Jillian’s parents 10-acre farm near Kellyville on July 1 when about dusk the family heard the toddler scream after she tottered over to a tree.

“We were right in the front yard,” Roth said.

The manicured yard was clean and free of debris or high grass. But there were some logs stacked together, she said.

“She had a different cry,” Roth said — which sent the family rushing to the girl’s side.

A 6-inch copperhead had struck the toddler’s right big toe.

Within five minutes, her right foot was swollen twice its natural size and was turning purple. She was admitted to the Children's Hospital at Saint Francis where she stayed for two days.

“The doctors said they saw two small fang marks,” Roth said.

While physicians were tending to Finley, her grandfather was tending to finding copperheads. After researching copperheads on the internet, Jim Tailey, Finley’s maternal grandfather decided to go investigate the stack of firewood.

“He knocked over some firewood looking for a nest and found three big ones,” Roth said referring to the snakes. “They were about 10 to 15 feet from the patio.”

The biggest snake was a couple of feet long, she said.

Later that day, just as the sun was setting, Roth said the locusts were making a lot of noise so her sister took her cellphone and flashed a light on the ground.

“We immediately saw one (snake) and then saw another one,” Roth said. “We are not sure where the nest is (located).”

Almost two weeks after the bite, Finley is doing well, her mother said.

“It’s like nothing happened,” Roth said.