A Lake Elsinore man was bitten by a rattlesnake Monday as he picked it up and attempted to take a selfie.

Alex Gomez, 36, spotted the four-foot rattler in a field by his family’s ranch on Cielito Drive, shortly before he made the potentially deadly mistake.

“I’m shocked that he would have that things around his neck,” Alex’s mother Deborah said. “It could’ve bit his neck, and that would have been it. That’s just being a fool.”

Read the article “Man May Lose Hand After Attempting Selfie With Rattlesnake” on losangeles.cbslocal.com.