A Virginia man found dead in his home, surrounded by 24 caged snakes, died of complications from a snakebite, the state's medical examiner's office concluded.

Chesterfield resident Jack Redmond, 70, was found dead with bite marks that appeared to be from a Chinese palm viper on a finger, the Richmond Times-Dispatch reported Friday.

While poisonous, that snake is not typically deadly, but experts said Redmond's age and health -- he was battling prostate cancer and taking medications for that -- might have played a role.

"It's not simply a black-and-white issue, whether you're going to live or you're going to die if you're bit by the snake," J.D. Kleopfer, a state game and fisheries officials, told the Times-Dispatch. "A person's age and their health — those are other factors that kind of come into play, along with the location of the bite."

Redmond probably could have survived had he been treated soon after he was bitten, added Dr. Ruddy Rose, director of the Virginia Poison Center. It was not clear how much time passed before Redmond's wife called for help and first responders reached the home.

Redmond had considered himself an amateur naturalist but was violating an ordinance banning the possession of venomous snakes and wild and exotic animals.

The 24 snakes at his home were all venomous, and most were rattlesnakes, copperheads or vipers. The state game agency hopes to find zoos and nature centers to take the snakes.

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Snakebite deaths are very rare in the U.S., said Rose, who could recall only two deaths in the past four decades in Virginia "that were really proven to be the result of a snakebite."

"It's unusual to die from a snakebite in this part of the world," he added. "There are deaths that occur in Asia and South America and Africa, but it's very unusual in North America, if you get medical treatment."

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Police say a 2-foot-long ball python slithered its way into an Illinois apartment and wrapped itself around the foot of a sleeping 1-year-old boy and bit him on his left foot.

Mattoon Police Department Deputy Chief Jason Taylor said the boy's parents were awakened by the child's noises to find the snake attacking their son about 11 p.m. Monday, the Mattoon Journal-Gazette & Times-Courier reported.

The father, Devin Winans, used a blanket to pull the python off the child, and his mother took the boy to a health center for treatment of a bite mark, bruise and scratches, the newspaper reported.

“It was definitely something we never thought of happening. It was definitely really scary,” the child's mother, Sara Lacey told the newspaper.

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She said it was the first time she has seen the python and the apartment building is supposed to be pet-free.

Investigators believe the python escaped from a neighboring apartment within the building, Taylor said. Police have not been able to find the owner.

He said the snake’s owner could face charges for having an animal at large, according to the newspaper.

The snake is being held at the Coles County animal shelter.

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SALMON, Idaho -- When Mica Craig reached down to brush what he thought was a stick off some mulch in the garden section of a Washington state Wal-Mart, it turned around and sank its fangs into his hand. 

The Friday encounter with a rattlesnake sent Craig, 47, to the hospital, where he said he remained in excruciating pain and may lose feeling in two fingers. Wal-Mart Stores Inc has apologized.

"I reached down to grab the stick to move it out of the way, and the snake stretched out, turned around and got its fangs in my right hand," he said. "I slung it off and I did a tap dance on it until it was dead."

Craig was rushed to the hospital by fellow customer Maria Geffre, who told Reuters she saw him crumple to the ground after crying out that he had been bitten by a snake.

"He had punctures on his hand and there was the dead rattler he'd stomped on," Geffre said, describing the snake as at least a foot long with four buttons, or rattles.

Craig, a married father of two, said the mulch was for his marijuana plants, which he is licensed to grow for medical reasons. It was unclear whether the snake came from an adjacent field or arrived at the store along with garden supplies.

"It's the most scared I've ever been in my life," Craig told KIRO FM from his hospital bed in Lewiston, Idaho. "I was screaming bloody murder through the parking lot."

'Isolated incident'
Craig said emergency room doctors sent him home because there was little swelling initially - he had iced the wound - and they thought the snake had inflicted only a "dry bite," or one that did not inject venom.

But his hand quickly swelled up to "the size of a grapefruit," Craig told KIRO, and he returned to the hospital. Doctors treated him with six bags of anti-venom, Craig said.

"As of right now, my little finger doesn't move at all and my ring finger barely moves," he said according to KIRO. "I'm just hoping that my hand works."

A Wal-Mart spokeswoman offered an apology to Craig and said the retailer was looking into how the incident could have happened at the store in Clarkston, in eastern Washington.

"At this point, it appears to be an isolated incident. We are working with a pest management team, which is conducting a sweep of the property to ensure there is no additional rattlesnake activity," Wal-Mart spokeswoman Kayla Whaling said.

Travis Taggart, director of the Center for North American Herpetology, said about half of documented rattlesnake bites, which are usually defensive when directed at humans, are "dry" but still cause severe pain.

Msnbc.com staff and Reuters contributed to this report.

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