A 2-year-old student at North Star Learning Center in Richardson was bitten by a Copperhead snake on the playground on Tuesday morning.
It happened in the 3900 block of North Star Road, between East Plano Parkway and East Renner Road in Richardson.
The school, which is affiliated with Canyon Creek Presbyterian Church, said the boy was immediately taken to the hospital and treated with anti-venom.
According to North Star Learning Center the boy's mother and doctors said he is doing much better than expected. The school sent a letter home telling parents the boy is expected to make a full recovery.
The preschool, which has 205 students ranging from infants to kindergarten, said it has never had problems with snakes before.
Richardson animal control was called out, found the snake and destroyed it. Animal control officers also searched the playground to make sure there were no more snakes in the area. No other snakes were found.
Poisonous snakes such as copperheads, rattlesnakes and cottonmouths can be found in North Texas.
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"Copperheads especially like to hide in brush piles and other piles of debris -- any place they can get up underneath and hide by day," Jon Campbell, a University of Texas at Arlington professor of biology told NBC 5 in April.
North Star Learning Center backs up to a tree-lined field.
Dr. Matt Bush, medical director for the emergency department at Medical City said snake bites are not that uncommon. He estimates 8 to 10 in a year.
He said it is important to stay calm in those situations.
"Keep the part of the body that is bitten, which is usually going to be hand or foot below the level of the heart," he said. "When you raise something above the level of the heart, blood flows back to the heart. You want blood to spread as little as possible."
The boy is expected to be fine, he was not at school on Wednesday. The school said playtime was suspended out on the playground until further notice.
