‘Little Steve Irwin’ snatches up snakes, braves their bites for enjoyable

His followers say he’s the up-and-coming Steve Irwin. 

A fearless sixth grader manhandles snakes and purposely will get bitten on his jaw-dropping nature adventures within the rugged Ozarks of southern Missouri.

Elijah, who goes by @King_Of_The_Ozarks on-line, hardly flinches when non-venomous snakes sink their tooth into his flesh.

Growing up in an outdoors-loving household, the 12-year-old informed The Post his risk-taking ways that make most viewers wince are second nature to him. 

“We’re very outdoorsy,“ he said over Zoom. “My brothers catch snakes also … My dad also gets bit. I’ve always liked being outside and catching wildlife.”

Elijah, who declined to offer his final identify, has 116,000 Instagram followers, however he by no means anticipated his movies to go viral. 

He solely began posting to show to his once-skeptical associates that he’s powerful sufficient to take a snake chew. 

“My friends didn’t really believe me when I said I got bit and all, so I decided it’d be a good idea to show everybody,” he stated. “I was very surprised [when I gained a lot of followers].”

His web page is flooded with movies of himself grabbing snakes prefer it’s nothing — remaining calm as he shows the creatures to his followers. 

But he makes certain to take precautions — he research snake pores and skin patterns to verify the one he’s grabbing isn’t venomous.

In one video, a North American black racer pounces on the digicam earlier than Elijah holds up the slithering reptile and lets it chew him. 

Another clip exhibits Elijah leaping right into a river and snatching up a large Midland water snake.

He stated Midland snake bites damage essentially the most, ranking their bites a 5 out of 10 on the ache scale. 

He retains followers coming by setting challenges for himself. He just lately took on one snake chew for each 10 new followers he obtained for 12 days. 

“This is day 12 of getting bit once every 10 new followers,” Elijah stated, with a black snake wrapped round his neck. 

After his earlier video, he had gained 250 followers in 24 hours, so he let the snake chew him 25 occasions. 

His wilderness escapades aren’t restricted to monitoring down snakes — Elijah additionally loves to check his ache limits with wasps. 

“Every 10,000 followers I get stung by a new wasp!” his Instagram bio reads. 

Using tweezers, he holds completely different wasps to his arm till they sting him — solely letting out a short “ahh” within the aftermath earlier than matter-of-factly explaining the way it felt. 

He stated his household’s onboard along with his unconventional interest, however his mother positively stresses over the snakes. 

“My mom is a little worried about it,” Elijah stated, wanting over at her from throughout the room with a smile. “That’s why she tries teaching me the venomous ones and the non-venomous ones.” 

Elijah stated the primary time he obtained bitten he was round 9 years previous and it was an accident. But as soon as he realized it “didn’t hurt that bad,” he saved at it. 

Years later, he’s been dubbed the “little Steve Irwin” and the “world’s toughest kid” in his remark sections – titles he embraces with pleasure. 

“I think it’s really cool,” he stated. 

But he warns different open air fanatics to do their analysis earlier than copying his stunts. 

“You always have to know what kinds of snakes they are before picking them up,” he warned. 

“Getting bit by a venomous snake is dangerous. And for wasps, getting stung by one that’s stronger than you think [can be dangerous].”