Copperhead Hiding in Toy Pile Bites Toddler

Most people know to watch out for venomous snakes around woodpiles or in rocky areas, but few would think to check a pile of toys by the back door. Unfortunately for a Jackson, Tennessee, toddler, that's exactly where a copperhead had taken refuge before biting the young girl last week.

Kate Gardner Foust said that her 19-month-old daughter, Emmy Joe, had to be rushed to an emergency room after the copperhead bit her on the ankle, according to the Miami Herald.

[The snake was] hiding right beside our back door with her toys, Foust wrote in her Oct. 14 Facebook post.

We were both hoping it was a [nonvenomous] chicken snake, Foust wrote, but when her husband, Logan, moved the toys, his heart immediately dropped into his stomach. ... When asked at the hospital what Logan killed it with, he said he didn't even know. The first thing he saw. Adrenaline was kicking.

A babysitter found the snake after the girl started screaming.

She was vomiting, just in a lot of pain, Foust told WSMV.

The young girl spent two days in a hospital and is now home recovering.

The family shared photos of the girl's swollen and bruised leg on Facebook and posted a photo of the dead snake.

In an update, Foust said her daughter is doing much better though her leg is still a little sensitive.

She also warned other parents to check their kids' toys before they go outside to play.

I think people think right now since it's cold outside they're not out and they're not moving but they are. I mean, this was a cold day when this happened, Foust said.

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