A “snake influencer” who bragged “anti-venom is for pussies” is fighting for his life in hospital after being bitten by the world’s most poisonous viper.
Daft Jeff Leibotwitz was showing off his reptile-handling “skills” to his 15,000 Instagram followers when an inland taipan sunk its fangs into him while he was using his unprotected hands to try and subdue the slitherer.
He had been telling his fans he would be able to stop it biting him by applying pressure to its body as it twisted and turned – but hours later he was getting emergency treatment.
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Jeff had called the snake “my sweet girl” in an earlier video before it turned on him.
(Image: Getty Images/iStockphoto)
Inland taipans have the most toxic venom of any snake on the planet.
Research on the animal’s venom suggests it is potent enough to kill 100 adult men in a single bite.
Jeff’s potentially fatal run-in with the venomous creature in Florence, South Carolina, has sparked outrage among snake owners and experts.
They are now calling for an end to the moronic online social media trend for showing off “free-handling” snake feats.
It involves daredevils competing to show how they can tame lethal reptiles Mark O’Shea, a professor of herpetology at the University of Wolverhampton, warned: “You cannot tame a snake – they act on instinct.
He also branded Jeff’s antics “mind-boggling” and idiotic.
Mark hissed: “It is incredibly foolish to free-handle something as lethal as an inland taipan.
“There is no need to do such a thing unless you are showing off – it comes down to pure ego.”
Jeff has always dismissed critics who branded him stupid for gambling with his life – and recently declared: “Anti-venom is for pussies.”
He posted a clip of himself last week clutching his eastern diamondback rattlesnake Shaky near his face and said the largest venomous snake in North America was “cuddly”.
As Shaky lunged at his cheeks he boasted: “Look at this medicine I take, it’s called ‘F**k it all’… coming soon to a pharmacy near you.”
A day earlier he’d filmed himself stroking an Asparagus – a green mamba whose bite can kill humans in as little as half-an-hour.
Despite his disdain for anti-venom medication, a post popped up on Jeff’s 49,000-strong Venomous Snakes Classified group on September 5 asking for the potion.
His family have said he had been administered anti-venom and is on a ventilator since he was bitten by the inland taipan.
Jeff is now said to be in serious condition and receiving dialysis – in a sign the serpent’s bite has left him with permanent organ damage.
Cops have said two cats and 14 snakes – including rattlers, vipers, cobras, a green mamba, death adder and an inland taipan – have been seized from Jeff’s house.
The snakes were removed and put down amid fears of disease after police officers found what they branded “substandard” living conditions in a house filled with stinking urine, faeces and rotting meat.
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