The Arlington man who was bitten by a rattlesnake after reaching into his suitcase on Monday is speaking publicly about the ordeal.

Forty-five-year-old Andrew Bacas was released Thursday from INOVA Fairfax Hospital. He showed the camera the marks on his hand where the snake bit him.

"It felt like an electric shock. That's exactly what I thought. Until I saw the snake -- that was the last thing I thought had happened to me."

Bacas was unpacking Monday after a trip last week to South Carolina when he encountered the juvenile, ten-inch canebrake rattlesnake. The Yokrtown High School crew coach had led students on a training trip to Summerton, where he stayed in a rustic cabin. Bacas drove home on Friday, and only decided to unpack his gear Monday morning.

When Bacas reached inside the bag, he was bitten on the hand.

"Not a sting -- but sort of a neural feeling -- that's what it felt like."

Bacas was able to close and secure the suitcase, trapping the snake.

Bacas believes the snake slithered into his suitcase while he was staying at the cabin last week.

"(The suitcase) was outside, like on this little porch area of where we were staying and he left the suitcase out there and I guess that's where it climbed in," said Bacas' son, Peter.

When firefighters arrived, they hauled the suitcase out of the house. They used a fire extinguisher to freeze the snake and kill it. The canebrake is one of the deadliest snakes native to North America. Animal experts say it is fortunate that the snake was a juvenile, and therefore had less venom.

Bacas has returned to work at Yorktown High School.

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