The 49th Annual Lone Star Expo Rattlesnake Roundup went on throughout the weekend without the star of the show; the Texas Snake Man. Jackie Bibby was loading rattlesnakes this past Friday afternoon at his home in Rising Star to bring them to Brownwood for the Expo when he was bitten in the stomach by one of the venomous rattlers. His father brought him to the Brownwood Regional Emergency Room in very serious condition. At last report Sunday afternoon, Bobby Dudley reported that Bibby was listed in critical condition where he was being treated in the Intensive Care Unit at BRMC.
Dudley said Bibby had been administered more than 25 units of anti-venom as of 1:00 PM Sunday in hopes of counteracting the venomous toxins. Dudley said “this particular snake bite is very serious, not only because of where he was bitten, but because of Jackie’s suppressed immune system and he’s still healing from two snake bites last summer. One to his right hand that resulted in major tissue damage and loss, and a more severe bite that resulted in surgeons having to remove his right leg due to extreme tissue damage and infection.”
Dudley explained that Jackie Bibby’s health is still somewhat compromised after those two previous bites and this latest bite on Friday.
The Texas Diamondback Rattlesnake injects highly toxic venom that destroys tissue as it makes its way through the bloodstream.
Many attendees said the Lone Star Expo just wasn’t the same without the Texas Snake Man there, and his daredevil stunts. Jackie Bibby holds the Guinness World Book records for the most rattlesnakes in a sleeping bag, the most rattlesnakes in a bathtub, and the most rattlesnakes being held in his mouth.
Pictured at top is Bibby from a previous Rattlesnake Roundup.
