<\/p>\n
Emily Taylor has lived in California for 20 years and has never received as many calls about rattlesnakes as she has in the last month. <\/p>\n
Taylor runs a snake consulting firm, Central Coast Snake Service, directs the Reptile Physiology Laboratory at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, and is part of a network of volunteers who help ethically transfer rattlesnakes into the wild.<\/p>\n
She said her phone was “ringing off and on” with calls reporting rattlesnake sightings around the state. <\/p>\n
In March, two people in Southern California alone died from rattlesnake bites: a 46-year-old woman in Ventura County and a 25-year-old man in Orange County. Nationally, about five people die each year from rattlesnake bites, according to health officials. Ventura County has reported four rattlesnake bites since March 14, for a total of nine in 2025. <\/p>\n
The California Poison Control System reported 77 rattlesnake bites in the first three months of 2026 alone. On average, 200 to 300 rattlesnake bites are reported each year. <\/p>\n
Taylor said in her job on the Central Coast, she responded to calls from people who had encountered rattlesnakes in their backyards. <\/p>\n
\u201cUsually you only get one or two [calls] in March before it got all the rage in April,\u201d she said. <\/p>\n
Taylor said she has already received about 10 to 20 times more calls than usual from area residents. <\/p>\n
why? Simply put, snakes are more active and so are humans.<\/p>\n
Taylor said unseasonably warm weather patterns, including an unprecedented heat wave in March, forced rattlesnakes out of their winter hideouts in search of food and mates a month earlier than the normal start of the season. Similarly, rising temperatures are pushing outdoor enthusiasts to hit the trails, increasing the odds of encountering a snake. <\/p>\n
Rattlesnake season is a misnomer in California, but rattlesnakes are active year-round, so you can see rattlesnakes year-round.<\/p>\n
But during the winter, they’re less active, so you’re less likely to see them, Taylor said. <\/p>\n
Greg Polley, curator of herpetology at the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County, said even a few warm days of sunshine could cause snakes to crawl out during the winter. <\/p>\n
“As temperatures rise in the spring, daytime surface activity increases dramatically,” Pauly says. “After eating nothing or very little during the winter, rattlesnakes actively forage and search for mates in the spring.”<\/p>\n
Rattlesnakes prefer to hide in intricate rock outcrops, tall grass, and squirrel burrows. In mountainous areas such as Big Bear, several rattlesnakes live together in burrows. In low-lying areas, including Los Angeles, rattlesnakes have underground burrows in which one or two snakes live, Taylor said. <\/p>\n
Peak season for rattlesnake activity typically runs from April to October. This is also the time of year when the California Poison Control System receives the most reports of rattlesnake encounters. <\/p>\n
Rattlesnake activity is largely determined by local weather, Polley said. <\/p>\n
“Rattlesnakes use warmer temperatures as a signal that it’s time to get out and be active,” Taylor said.<\/p>\n
This year, an unusually warm March, abundant vegetation and healthy amounts of prey provided early signals for rattlesnakes to be active. <\/p>\n
“We had some good rain at the beginning of winter, followed by some unusually warm weather,” Polley said. “Rodent populations are doing well because plant growth is good. So the snakes have a good food source and warm temperatures, which is causing more surface activity.”<\/p>\n
Rattlesnakes do their best crawling, especially in warm temperatures in the high 70s to low 80s. <\/p>\n
Night temperatures have dropped recently, so most of the activity takes place during the day. <\/p>\n
“Unfortunately, that actually led to many negative species of rattlesnake encounters,” Taylor said.<\/p>\n
Later in the rattlesnake season, “temperatures in lower elevation areas will be too warm for rattlesnake activity during the day, so the snakes will be active in the morning, evening and late into the night,” Polley said.<\/p>\n
Taylor and Polley say they want to set the record straight, saying it’s unfair to portray rattlesnakes as evil or vicious snakes.<\/p>\n
Here are some myths busted by experts. <\/p>\n
fiction: <\/b>Rattlesnakes are waiting to bite humans. <\/p>\n
fact:<\/b> Rattlesnakes don’t want to interact with humans. Pauley said rattlesnakes are suffering from being hit by cars and being exposed to rat poison. <\/p>\n
Taylor added that human interaction is bad news for rattlesnakes, as humans often try to kill them. <\/p>\n
“As a result, rattlesnakes tend to live in less developed areas, which is why they are often seen when people are hiking in the wilderness,” Polley says. <\/p>\n
A rattlesnake’s first line of defense is camouflage, Taylor noted.<\/p>\n
Snakes use venom to protect themselves, but studies have shown that the chemistry of snake venom is primarily suited for killing prey such as rodents, she said. <\/p>\n
Rattlesnakes “evolved this venom millions of years before humans existed in North America.” <\/p>\n
Rattlesnakes would rather conserve their venom to subdue their prey, she says. <\/p>\n
fiction:<\/b> You’ll always know there’s a rattlesnake nearby because you can hear it.<\/p>\n
fact:<\/b> Pauley said individual rattlesnakes, like individual humans, vary widely in how they interpret threats. <\/p>\n
Some rattlesnakes may be disturbed by a person 6 feet away and make rattling noises in an attempt to get the person to leave. <\/p>\n
“Other rattlesnakes prefer to rely on good camouflage and may rattle or remain motionless until a person gets very close,” he said.<\/p>\n
That’s why experts say it’s a good idea to pay close attention to your surroundings while hiking. <\/p>\n
Please be careful. But don’t discount rattlesnakes as vicious, experts say. They play an important role in the ecosystem and feed on rodents such as ground squirrels, which carry diseases such as hantavirus, plague, and Lyme disease. <\/p>\n
If a snake’s prey happens to have a seed in its cheek, “they scatter it, like nature’s gardeners, and dump it into a little pile of manure,” Taylor said. <\/p>\n
Also, in a column about rattlesnake victories, Taylor said that rattlesnake venom is a major source of inspiration for treatment. Scientists are studying how snake venom can fight cancer, stroke and Alzheimer’s disease, she said. <\/p>\n
Death from a rattlesnake bite is a rare event. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, about 8,000 people are bitten by venomous snakes each year, and only about five of those bitten typically die, despite two recent deaths in Southern California. <\/p>\n
If you see a rattlesnake in the wild, experts say it’s best to put some distance between you and the rattlesnake. Slowly move away from the snake. <\/p>\n
“Don’t back away too quickly, because you… [could] You could trip and hurt yourself,\u201d Taylor said. <\/p>\n
Pauly said if you’re wondering if you’re within range, you’re probably too close. If a snake attacks, “it will attack you faster than people can react to it,” he said.<\/p>\n
“Give rattlesnakes at least 3 to 4 feet of space, and larger animals more space,” he says. \u201cHelp yourself and your snake continue their journey by keeping your distance and taking a few photos to add to a community science platform like iNaturalist.\u201d<\/p>\n
When enjoying the trails, stick to designated paths and avoid tall grass or areas where you can’t see the ground.<\/p>\n
If you need to rest on a log or rock while hiking, be sure to check before sitting down. <\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n
#imagination #strange #rattlesnake #season #whats #happening<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Emily Taylor has lived in California for 20 years and has never received as many calls about rattlesnakes as she has in the last month. Taylor runs a snake consulting firm, Central Coast Snake Service, directs the Reptile Physiology Laboratory at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, and is part of a network of volunteers who … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":474,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1,2],"tags":[1888,1892,1883,1884,1896,1893,1889,1033,789,1890,1891,12,1894,1885,1701,1887,1886,1895,59],"class_list":["post-473","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","category-wilde-life","tag-bitten-by-a-rattlesnake","tag-disease","tag-emily-taylor","tag-greg-polley","tag-happening","tag-imagination","tag-many-people-call","tag-march","tag-people","tag-poison","tag-prey","tag-rattlesnake","tag-season","tag-snake","tag-strange","tag-strange-rattlesnake-season","tag-warm-temperature","tag-whats","tag-year"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/chabrok.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/473","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/chabrok.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/chabrok.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chabrok.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chabrok.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=473"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/chabrok.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/473\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chabrok.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/474"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/chabrok.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=473"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chabrok.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=473"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chabrok.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=473"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}