Florida wildlife influencer David Humphlett who goes by 'David Orin' on Instagram and YouTube was filming at the moment he turned to his buddy and said "welp, I'm cooked" after sustaining a bite from a deadly Eastern Diamondback Rattlesnake. The social media influencer would later require a whopping 88 vials of anti-venom to treat the snake bite.
Immensely popular on YouTube (234K), TikTok (2.3M), and Instagram (1.5M), his videos have captured the attentions of tens of millions. With a similar style to another popular Florida wildlife influencer, FishinGarrett, David Humphlett aka David Orin regularly shares videos of him finding and handling snakes in the Florida wilderness.
In this clip, he was filming in Dixie County (due West of Gainesville) looking for snakes when he sustained the bite on his leg from an Eastern Diamondback Rattlesnake. At that point, he turned to his buddy and said "welp, I'm cooked, that right there is a fantastic eastern diamondback rattlesnake that I just got bit in the leg by."
After sustaining the bite he was airlifted to the Shands Hospital in Gainesville, Florida for immediate medical attention. Once there, he would require a whopping 88 vials of anti-venom according to First Coast News who spoke with David Humphlett about the incident.
Humphlett told First Coast News "internally, I was definitely freaking out. My first thought when I got bit was 'Dang this might lead to me losing my leg.' Once I got in the car my whole body shut down from the venom. You go numb, you go tingly, you can't feel anything in your body it's hard to talk, hard to breathe."
This feels like a very good time to mention that after sustaining a snake bite it is of the utmost importance to remain calm. Panicking can lead to a spike in heart rate and increased blood flow and this can spread the venom throughout one's body faster. By remaining as calm as possible, it can slow the spread of the venom considerably.
After being airlifted to Gainesville, David Humphlett said "at the hospital, it just felt like my leg was going to explode from the pressure and all my tendons and nerves were just insane. Horrible feeling, I mean the worst pain in my life for sure."
There is a GoFundMe to help aid in his recovery and mitigate the cost of treatment. The GoFundMe states that he received 50 vials of antivenom which is considerably less than the 88 reported by First Coast News. Presumably, the GoFundMe went up before the course of treatment had been completed or without all the facts.
He went on to spend 2 weeks in the hospital before being released and he is now working on regaining function/control over his right foot which suffered the worst damage from the rattlesnake bite. David Humphlett did tell the news outlet he plans on resuming content production once he is able to get back out in the Florida wilderness.
His most popular video on YouTube is this one with 54+ million views. In he he flips over an abandoned door in the woods to find a snake underneath:
On TikTok, his most popular video is this clip where he attempts to pick up a floating snake barehanded:
Given the nature of his videos, he's certainly always been aware of the inherent risk. He is manhandling potentially lethal snakes in the wild without protection. But after suffering a life-altering Eastern Diamondback Rattlesnake bite like this, it will be interesting to see if he exercises more caution going forward.