A Washington man says he was bitten by the decapitated head of a rattlesnake.

The man and his son saw the five-foot rattler Monday evening while feeding horses. They pinned it with a pipe and cut off its head with a shovel. When he reached down to pick it up, he says the snake head twisted around and bit his index finger.

In the 10 minutes it took to reach the nearest hospital, the venom spread through his body and his tongue had already started to swell. He was treated with shots at the hospital.