Snake influencer bitten after boasting: ‘Antidote is for cowards’

For Taylor Swift, karma is a cat purring on her lap. But for one South Carolina man, karma takes a different form—a poisonous snake that bites his hand.

Jeffrey Leibowitz, a snake influencer who runs “Venomous Snakes Classified,” a Facebook group with nearly 50,000 members, once wrote, “Antivenom is for cowards.”

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In a January post, he sharply criticized people who “freak out” when dealing with a venomous snake, leading them and “their wimp families” to blame groups like his.

On September 6, Leibowitz changed his mind while searching his Facebook group for an antidote for an inland taipan, a snake he had acquired the previous month.

In an earlier video, Leibowitz noted that the snake, whose venom is enough to kill 100 adult men according to the Australia Zoo, can easily “freak out.”

On September 5, Leibowitz released another video featuring the reptile, in which he manipulates the snake over a container of water.

“If you get them high enough, you can control them. See how he's trying to get me? But I'm turning him around… He wants to turn around, but he can't,” Leibowitz said in the clip, which he posted for his 15,000 Instagram followers.

“They are in complete control. You don't have to be afraid of them if you just know their limits and use them.”

Well, the snake did bite him, if this absolutely shocking and in no way predictable turn of events is to be believed. A few hours later, Leibowitz was looking for an antidote.

WBTW, a local news station, obtained the police report documenting what happened after Leibowitz was bitten. According to the station, police found 14 venomous snakes in Leibowitz's home, which they said had “inadequate living conditions.”

Leibowitz received the anti-venom he needed, his father told police, but his bites kept him hospitalized, WBTW reported. The newspaper also said Leibowitz's father gave police permission to euthanize the snakes after attempts to place them in a zoo or animal sanctuary were unsuccessful.

In an Instagram post on Friday, Leibowitz shared a video from his hospital bed.

In the clip, he told the camera: “You know the guy who got bitten by the most venomous snake in the world? There's something I didn't tell you. There's something nobody knows. You might be interested in this. I've got that bitch on video.”

In Leibowitz's defense, it must be said that he still has it.