Influencer who claimed to be able to control world's most venomous snake fighting for his life after being bitten by pet viper

Jeff Leibowitz, who is an advocate of a controversial method of dealing with snakes called free-handling, has one of the world’s most venomous snakes as a pet. He even called his inland taipan “my sweet girl” - but despite his beliefs Leibowitz is now in hospital after she bit him.

Leibowitz was demonstrating to his 15,000 Instagram followers how he uses his bare hands to control his pet in a new video when the incident unfolded. He began by assuring viewers that as long as he applied pressure to the reptile’s body it may twist and turn but it will not bite him.

“There’s no need to be so scared of them if you know their limitations,” Leibowitz told his fans, as the Australian desert snake lashed around in a thin layer of water. Just a few hours later, however, he was seriously ill in hospital. The snake had managed to escape his grasp and sink her fangs in to his hand. The near-fatal accident in Florence, South Carolina, occured earlier this month.

Research on the snake’s venom suggests it is potent enough to kill 100 adult men in a single bite. Last week, however, he posted a clip of him holding his eastern diamondback rattlesnake he called Shaky near to his face. He described the largest venomous snake in North America as “cuddly”. A day before, he filmed himself stroking the head of a snake he called Asparagus, a green mamba whose bite could kill him in less than 30 minutes.

Leibowitz had always pushed back against people who raised concerns about his handling of such dangerous creatures. He recently declared: “Antivenom is for p*****s.” But on the evening of Thursday September 5, a post appeared on Venomous Snakes Classified, Leibowitz’s 49,000-strong Facebook group dedicated to those who share a love of dangerous snakes, which suggested something had gone very wrong. “Who has a meeting access to anti-venom for an inland taipan,” he wrote somewhat incoherently at 11pm.

At 2am, another post was uploaded, urging “anyone who has antivenom for an inland taipan or knows someone please call McLeod hospital”, where he had been taken after being bitten. The antivenom was in short supply in South Carolina due to another inland taipan snake bite which happened just a few months ago, the police report said. The treatment for Leibowitz had to be reportedly flown in from Florida.

Leibowitz’s family later shared an update to the page, saying he had been given antivenom and was in intensive care on a ventilator. Health experts reportedly believe he could be facing long-lasting or permanent organ damage and that the delay in receiving antivenom is likely to lead to prolonged bleeding.

Later on September 5, Leibowitz recorded himself mumbling something in a woozy voice from a hospital bed before showing pictures of his purple arm and the mark of a snake bite on his hand. It’s not clear what he said in the video.

Leibowitz is said to still be in serious condition and is receiving dialysis. This is the process of removing excess water, solutes, and toxins from the blood in people whose kidneys can no longer perform these functions naturally, so this suggests that he has suffered organ damage.

Police said that 14 snakes, including rattlesnakes, vipers, cobras, a green mamba, a death adder and an inland taipan, were seized from Leibowitz’s home after his hospitalisation. The animals were removed over concerns of disease after police found what they called “substandard living conditions”, describing a house full of urine, faeces and raw and rotting meat.

All 14 snakes were euthanised on Monday night (September 9), authorities confirmed, after no zoos or reptile farms in the state would accept them due to the safety risks.