They’re everywhere: Why California’s rattlesnake population is booming
Adapted from SFGate article They’re everywhere’: Why California’s rattlesnake population is booming
Watch your step: A rattlesnake can release about 130 different toxins during a bite.
Rattlesnakes can be spotted everywhere in Ben Hur, CA during the summer
Rattlesnakes are thriving here in California, according to a recent joint Cal Poly San Luis Obispo and University of Michigan study, which reveals that the seven species of rattlesnakes found in California are among the fastest growing animal population in state.
Why? It’s the same answer that may be driving some to leave the Golden State altogether: climate change.
The snakes are thermoregulators, which means they are able to change their own body temperature to suit their surroundings. Coastal rattlesnake species have internal body temperatures of around 70 degrees, and their inland counterparts average around 74 degrees, the study says.
But as California gets warmer, the rattlers find that they can get to more comfortable body temperatures, like their preferred range of a toasty 86 to 89 degrees Fahrenheit. In the study, researchers said the increase in number of snakes in California can affect the ecosystem. Rattlesnakes play an important part as both predator and prey. They help regulate the population of ground squirrels, and also serve as food for owls, hawks and eagles.
“A warmer climate may help these snakes heat up to temperatures that are more optimal for digestion or reproduction,” said Hayley Crowell, a University of Michigan student researcher and the project’s lead, in a statement. The rise in temperatures across the state may have created a rattlesnake boom in recent years.
Even after dying, muscle spasms may cause the rattlesnake’s tail to shake—be careful, because rattlesnake heads may still be able to deliver their venom after death
“In California, the climate is perfect,” Len Ramirez, owner of Ramirez Rattlesnake Removal, told me earlier this week on a quick break between jobs. He’s busier than ever as the snakes started to come out of hibernation in droves last month. “It’s getting warmer. There’s development moving into more remote, previously undisturbed areas — that’s a part of it, too. I’m so busy, it never ends. I can’t even cut my lawn. Once the season gets going, it’s nonstop.”
Ramirez, who lives in Auburn and has been in the snake wrangling biz since 1985, travels up and down the state to help people or businesses mitigate their rattlesnake issues, always releasing them back into the wild. He says he’s seeing rattlesnakes crop up in new areas all the time, noting that more coastal regions like Marin, Sonoma and Monterey counties — places where he never saw snakes in the 1980s and ’90s — are starting to see population increases. And places like the Bay Area and the Tahoe corridor (towns along Highway 50 between Sacramento and the lake) are becoming rattlesnake boomtowns.
“In these spots where there is so much development near wildlands, everybody’s got a story, everybody’s got a sighting,” he says. “People don’t like to have snakes around their yards or around their pets, small children — but at the same time, they build houses on rock piles or in areas that run up right against open space or wildlife. And when that happens, we’re going to have encounters.”
But what happens when you do see one?
Don’t confuse harmless snakes such as Gopher snakes with Rattlers; these varieties are unlikely to bite and are nonvenomous
“That’s a great question,” says Ken Paglia, a spokesperson for the California Department of Fish and Wildlife who, like rattler wrangler Ramirez, says that rattlesnake population in California is growing and vipers are now found in previously rattlesnake-free, or at least sparsely rattlesnake-populated areas. “There are some basic safety tips we share, but a lot of it comes down to awareness.”
A very young Mojave desert sidewinder rattlesnake is seen shortly after dawn near Amboy Crater at Mojave Trails National Monument. Now through early fall is the time to be on the lookout for rattlesnakes as their populations continue to spike in California.
Paglia says people should stay on trails and watch where they’re stepping. Avoid rock, wood and other debris piles. Store wood away from the footprint of your house and if you do see one, give it space, don’t poke it or stay and have a staring contest. “Given the opportunity, they’ll move away, but if they feel threatened or prevented from escaping, they’ll defend themselves.”
And never, ever step in places where you can’t see, he says.
“It’s really about paying attention to your surroundings.”
Rattlers are also thriving because they live on less. The Cal Poly-University of Michigan study says these vipers need only 500 to 600 calories per year, the equivalent of a single ground squirrel or half a Chipotle burrito, no guac, to you and me.
“Because they love the current climate and we’ve built on or trudge around their turf, the chances of a rattler encounter loom ever larger,” Ramirez says, “It’s good to remember, that we’re the ones on their turf.“
What you should do if a rattlesnake bites you
“I always say the best immediate rattlesnake bite treatment is your car keys and your cellphone,” Ramirez says.
About 250 Californians a year are bitten, according to the LA County Public Health Department. Those who do suffer a bite should gently wash the wound, elevate it above the heart and go immediately to their nearest emergency room or medical stop for further treatment. Do not apply suction to the wound, further lacerate it or apply open flame to it.