Watch your ‘sssstep.Hikers hitting the trails in Southern California are being warned about a terryfing increase in rattlesnake sightings.
Snake handlers have seen a sharp uptick in reports of the venomous reptiles as they emerge from hibernation amid unseasonably warm weather.
“We’ve had 43 calls in February of this year. Last year, we had about 18,” Bruce Ireland, the founder of reptile relocation group Snake Wranglers, toldFox 5 San Diego.
“I don’t think we have ever had that many calls in February,” he told The California Post.
He pointed to the increased amount of rain and the warmer temperatures as the reason for the rattlers’ early emergence
Avid hiker Zach West toldFox 5he’s been climbing Cowles Mountain for 20 years and had seen “maybe one” snake over the years.
“I saw three on Monday,” he said, saying one was so large it stretched over an entire path.
“They [rattlesnakes] do not look at a calendar. They don’t know months. They don’t know the time of day,” Ireland explained. “They just know it’s nice out, let’s go out and try to find a meal, a drink of water, or a mate,” Ireland said to FOX 5.
He said reports of rattlesnake activity typically start in April run through fall if it stays warm.
“I’ve been doing snake relocation for a long time,” he said. “February is usually slow for us.”
Source: California Post – Breaking California News, Photos & Videos
