Observers report more rattlesnake sightings this year

An employee chopping plants in a field of cauliflower being grown for seed near Dunnigan found a big surprise waiting for him when he reached down to remove one of the chopped plants. Hiding coiled underneath was a Northern Pacific rattlesnake some 2 1/2 feet long.

Fortunately, the snake did not strike and the employee was able to back away without injury. Work continued a short time later and the day went by without incident. When the crew came back to the field the next day, they found another rattlesnake, and then another and another and another. By the end of the second day, they had found eight.

While most snake experts say such an event is highly unusual, farmers, ranchers and others in rural areas report encountering many more rattlesnakes than usual this year. Rattlesnake expert Len Ramirez of Auburn attributes the high population of snakes to California's recent wet winters that created more vegetation, followed by more rodents and finally a boost in rattlesnake numbers to provide nature's rodent control.

Ramirez, who said he is the only licensed and certified rattlesnake hunter in California, specializes in capturing rattlesnakes and relocating them unharmed in remote and undisturbed areas. His clients include many farms and vineyards as well as golf courses and rural residences and businesses. He is currently booked every day through October.

"This year started off slowly, but that is no longer the case as the rattlesnakes have come out of hibernation at elevations below 3,000 feet," he said. "It was a long winter and they are active. They need to eat, so they are in competition for food among themselves so they are on the move a lot."

Another snake expert, San Diego State ecologist Rulon Clark, applies his expertise in a vastly different way. Clark and co-researchers at the University of California, Davis, have developed "Robosquirrel," a robotic squirrel that helps them study the interrelationship between rattlesnakes and squirrels.

The robot squirrels show how squirrels signal to snakes with heat and tail flagging. Through field experiments, the researchers aim to learn more about rattlesnake behavior. Clark said a pilot project was successful and that he is optimistic there will be continued success when they field test the robotic squirrel in the hills east of San Jose.

The researchers have learned that when adult squirrels detect a snake, they approach it head-first in an elongated posture, making flagging movements with their tails. Also, when confronting a rattlesnake, the squirrels heat their tails.

So the robotic squirrel can do both, waving and heating its tail. Snakes will rarely strike at a flagging adult squirrel—and if they do, they almost always miss, Clark said.

"This is a very basic research project. We are interested in the interaction between squirrels and snakes," he said. "That's not to say there won't be practical applications. A lot of what turned out to be practical applications come from basic science."

Ramirez noted that most Californians live in close proximity to rattlesnakes, whether they realize it or not.

"One precaution that I like to recommend to people is to have an awareness of their surroundings. Maintenance is a big issue. Most people have a lot of clutter and that is where snakes love to hide," he said. "I service a lot of vineyards and orchards and one thing that I would do differently is change the way I store my equipment, such as drainage pipes and PVC pipes. These are real magnets for snakes to hide in and I would stack them up off the ground on sawhorses or at least have one end tipped and pointing down, so that if there was a snake inside it would likely move away from your body."

Ramirez said if a person does encounter a rattlesnake, the first thing to do is freeze, to stand perfectly still while trying to locate the snake.

"If you hear it rattling but don't see it, freeze and try to pinpoint it. Then look down at your feet and make sure there isn't another one and then step away from the snake," he said.

"Someone who has been bitten by a rattlesnake needs immediate medical attention," Ramirez continued. "I think the best snakebite kit would be a cell phone and a set of car keys. If you are by yourself and you don't have cell phone access, you should move very slowly because you don't want to pump the venom to the heart. Those old John Wayne remedies like cutting an X over the bite and trying to suck out the venom are useless."

The incident last week in Dunnigan was serious enough that farmer Blair Voelz and Ryan Carner, Northern California production manager for Sakata Seed America, said they will likely switch to a crop other than cauliflower for seed in that particular field, which lies adjacent to a creek bed.

"It is really tough when you have crews doing a lot of hand work. It makes it more difficult because they obviously don't want to be bit and I don't want anyone to be bit," Carner said.

Voelz said one of the favorite places for snakes to hide is underneath irrigation pipes.

"I tell my guys that if they see a snake out there and it isn't bothering anybody, then just leave it alone; they are good for killing the rodents," he said. "We battle these rodents all the time and whatever help we can get out here the better."

Andy Domenigoni, who ranches in Riverside County, said the snake pressure so far this year has been light, but that in the past he has found rattlesnakes on the porch and in the yard when mowing the lawn.

"They bite the livestock, the dogs, the cows. If they are close to the house we destroy them. If they are out in the hills and we come across them, we leave them alone because they are good for rodent control," he said.

For Clark, any danger posed by rattlesnakes is very remote.

"I've been doing this for 15 years without incident. Statistically, a rattlesnake bite is a very minor threat," he said. "These are animals that are potentially dangerous and they are out there in our environment in some numbers. But if you are respectful of them and don't try to grab them and hold them, the odds of your getting bit are really, really low."

(Steve Adler is associate editor of Ag Alert. He may be contacted at sadler@cfbf.com.)