CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas (KXAN) — A Corpus Christi man has had more than two dozen doses of antivenom after he was bitten by a rattlesnake even after he had severed its head, according to a KIII TV report. 

Jennifer Sutcliffe and her husband were doing yard work on Memorial Day weekend she spotted a 4-foot rattlesnake. Sutcliffe told KIII TV her husband quickly took his shovel and severed the snake’s head from its body but moments later when he bent down to throw it away, the severed head bit him. 

KIII TV reports the victim had to get 26 doses of antivenom. He is currently in stable condition but his kidney function is still weak. 

Even after being severed, rattlesnakes can still bite. Sean Bush, snake expert at Brody School of Medicine at East Carolina University, told NBC News, “It’s a last-ditch effort to survive, so it’s very common. They get real snappy in the throes of death.” The longest Bush has heard of a snake striking after being decapitated was a rattlesnake whose severed head bit someone after 90 minutes.