Nine-year-old West Lincoln student Tyler Blake Allen washospitalized Tuesday evening after a juvenile water moccasin bithis right index finger.

“He walked in the house and his hand was bleeding,” saidKatherine Carlisle, Tyler’s mother. “He said ‘Mom, I hurtmyself.'”

After clarifying that he had been bitten by a juvenile watermoccasin, Carlisle rushed her son to King’s Daughters MedicalCenter (KDMC). He was subsequently transported to UniversityMedical Center (UMC) by ambulance and admitted into the PediatricIntensive Care Unit (ICU).

“He was in the front yard,” Carlisle said. “We’ve got a pondbehind our house and we figure that’s where it came from.”

Tyler was outside playing Tuesday around 6 p.m. Carlislebelieves her son was intrigued by the snake because of recentreptile education at school.

In a telephone interview from UMC, Tyler’s mother said he is nowin stable condition as doctors work to prevent surgery.

“He is out of ICU now and back in his own room,” Carlislesaid.

Since his admission into UMC, physicians have given Tyler 12vials of anti venom and have made several attempts to relieveinfection.

“They elevated his arm and tied it to a physical therapy bar torelieve pressure from the snake bite,” Carlisle said. “He’s talkingnow. He’s feeling better.”

As summer approaches, Mary Etheridge, Tyler’s great aunt, hopesthe incident will highlight the dangers of playing with snakes.

“These kids don’t need to be running around this summer playingwith snakes,” Etheridge said. “They are extremely dangerous.

“The doctors said that juvenile water moccasins are moredangerous than adult snakes because they don’t know how much venomto release. They release all of it,” Etheridge said.