If you spend any time in the Black Hills this summer, you’re going to run into something with fangs eventually. Maybe it’s a rattlesnake sunning itself on the trail. Maybe it’s a spider you didn’t notice until you woke up with a welt. Either way, Monument Health doctors say the biggest danger usually isn’t the bite itself. It’s what people do right after.

That was the big theme on this week’s episode of Doc Talk with Monument Health, where host Mark Houston sat down with Dr. Tamra Lemley and Dr. Kyle Lemley to talk snake and spider bites, then with Dr. John Tronnes to dig deeper into treatment myths, ticks, and mosquitoes. Here’s what every Black Hills parent should know before the next hike.

Baby rattlesnakes are actually the scarier ones

It sounds backwards, but a young rattlesnake can be more dangerous than a full grown one. As Dr. Tamra Lemley explained, baby snakes haven’t learned to control how much venom they release when they bite, so they’ll sometimes dump more venom into a bite than an adult snake would.

If a child does get bitten, the first steps at the hospital are a physical exam and blood work to check swelling and figure out whether antivenom is needed. And no, antivenom isn’t automatic. It’s expensive, supplies are limited, and it carries its own risk of an allergic reaction, so doctors weigh each case rather than reaching for it every time.

The prevention advice from Dr. Lemley is refreshingly simple: closed-toed shoes, long pants, and actually watching the ground while you hike instead of just the scenery. She admitted she’s not perfect on this either. Her own kids have gone hiking in sandals plenty of times, and one of her sons once reached for what he thought was a stick that turned out to have other plans.

Ticks and mosquitoes are still around, just not out of control

West Nile virus hasn’t gone anywhere either. The area sees a handful of cases every year, though nowhere near epidemic levels. Ticks remain the more common concern for families spending time outdoors. Neither is going to keep anyone off the trails, but both are worth a quick skin check after a hike.

Spider bites: skip the old wives’ tales

Dr. Kyle Lemley picked up the spider side of things, sharing his own story of a childhood brown recluse bite before Dr. John Tronnes took the conversation further into treatment. Both brown recluse and black widow bites show up in the Black Hills more than people expect. The damage from these bites tends to stay local rather than spreading through the bloodstream, but that local damage can be serious: skin breakdown, tissue loss, and wounds that get worse before they get better.

A few signs should send you straight to a doctor rather than waiting it out overnight: a bite on the face, mouth, or neck. Swelling in those spots can threaten the airway in a way an arm or leg bite simply doesn’t, so location matters as much as severity.

And here’s the part worth remembering the next time someone offers backyard first aid advice, courtesy of Dr. Tronnes: don’t suck out the venom, don’t cut into the bite, and skip the tourniquet. None of it helps, and some of it makes things worse. The actual advice is almost boring by comparison. Keep the bitten limb still and elevated, use a sling or splint if needed, and get to an ER. Movement pushes the venom through the tissue faster, so the less the limb moves, the better.

Most bites, snake or spider, are not fatal in this part of the country. But infection is a real risk afterward, so proper wound care and antibiotics often become part of recovery even after the initial danger has passed.

The takeaway

None of this means keeping kids inside all summer. It means knowing which symptoms are a “watch it overnight” situation and which ones mean getting to a doctor now, and knowing that most of what you’ve heard about treating a bite is probably wrong.

Catch the full conversation on Doc Talk with Monument Health, hosted by Mark Houston, wherever you get your podcasts.