Two Big Sandy High School students who were bitten by a poisonous snake Oct. 20 have been released from the hospital, Big Sandy Superintendent Scott Beene told the Big Sandy and Hawkins Journal.

The students were bitten by a snake kept in a cage in the school science lab, the paper reported. It had been brought in by another student earlier in the year, and was believed to be a harmless water snake.

According to other reports, another snake was placed in the same cage and the two reptiles began fighting. The boys who were bitten were trying to separate them. The incident occurred at about 12:30 p.m.

In a prepared statement, Beene said that both students were immediately sent to the school nurse, and the nurse and the high school principal immediately drove them to an emergency room, arriving about 1:15 p.m. Both were hospitalized.

On Oct. 21, Beene and the high school principal took the two snakes in the cage to Caldwell Zoo in Tyler for positive identification. One was identified as a harmless rat snake and the other as a cottonmouth moccasin, Beene said.

All snakes have been removed from the lab.

In his statement, Beene said that “the principals and myself are determining which types and kinds of animals/reptiles will be allowed in science labs in the future. We have determined no animals/reptiles brought in from the wild will be allowed if they could be potentially dangerous.”