Snake Tooth Found Lodged in Man's Finger After a Year of 'Unmerciful Pain'

Snake expert Collie Ennis made a shocking discovery after removing what he thought was a splinter from his finger. After months of painful swelling and infections, Ennis finally found the culprit: a small snake's tooth that had been lodged in his finger for a year.

"It started just before the pandemic in Christmas of 2019," Ennis told Newsweek. "I noticed a small lump and pain in my middle finger on my right hand. I assumed it was a splinter but couldn't see it clearly so left it to hopefully work its way out. That unfortunately, didn't happen.

"I suffered months of regular swelling and pain in the finger followed by trips to the doctor, who again assumed it was a splinter or similar that would eventually work its way out."

For months, Ennis suffered what he describes as "unmerciful pain" in his finger. Eventually, he sought out a specialized clinic to remove the foreign object, and was added to a waiting list for an x-ray. But the scan could not come soon enough.

"While on the waiting list I got another nasty flare up and, one night, the pain was so bad I took a small scalpel blade to it myself and hit something hard with the blade as I cut in," he said. "I got tweezers and managed to grab the end of the hard object with it. I was amazed to see a snake's fang in the tweezers when I pulled it out.

"As soon as I realized what the splinter was, it all made sense."

Ennis is a research associate in the Zoology department at Trinity College Dublin, a science officer with the Herpetological Society of Ireland, and a life-long reptile keeper. All of these roles require him to work with and care for a range of different snake species.

"Most of the snakes in my care are rescues or rehomes and some have had a rough life and aren't overly fond of people, so the occasional nip on the finger from them is completely understandable," he said. "I never considered one of these friendly bites would have left me with a semi-permanent lodger in my finger."

Ennis said that he could not say for certain which snake had bitten him, but he had his suspicions. "I'd guess it was a particularly nippy Mexican black king snake of mine called Memnoch."

After sharing the incident on Twitter, Ennis received a cascade of shocked comments from other users. "I literally threw my hand to my mouth after reading this tweet," said one user.

Since the incident, Ennis said that he now double checks himself for stray fangs when he receives "friendly" nips from his fanged friends.

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