Well the story leaves allot out but it sure sounds nice and sterile. What they didn’t say was that boy probably had his arm cut open from the hand to the elbow to relieve swelling. Since it’s a small child there’s a good chance for allot of tissue damage and the loss of fingers and muscle damage. Good chance that boy will have permanent disability from that bite. I damn near lost the use of my left leg due to a bite I received about 50 years ago when I was 16. While rarely fatal a rattler bite has the ability to cause considerable tissue loss due to the nature of the venom. As far as the relocating part I’ll leave that up to you, I kill every rattler I see and that averages out to about 75 a year here on the ranch. I an curious just how and where you would relocate it to. Turn a rattler lose on another persons property and you stand a good chance of getting your arse kicked. Most of us here in West Texas want the damn things off the ranches not delivered.
One of the neighborhood boys, (approximately 50 miles south west of Lincoln, ~ early 50s) maybe a little younger than the one in the story, was bit on his foot while taking lunch to his father working in the field. Don’t know if an adult saw the snake, but it was determined to be a rattler. He had foot problems well into adulthood.
Saw mostly bull and garter snakes in the area, but no rattlers.
Thanks for pointing out those grim but very important details. I hadn’t thought about that part at all. Shows how little contact I’ve had with rattlers (none, except via books and film). Yes, that venom would certain burn through the delicate network of nerves in a 5 y/o child.
On the other hand, sometimes children can recover from an injury much faster and more completely than an adult would
be expected to do. And sometimes not. As you described that bite you suffered as a teenager.