ARIZONA DAILY STAR (Tucson) 18 April 05 Scary critters belong here - Wet winter may lead to more activity, so be cautious, experts say (Anne Minard)
'Tis the season for encounters with rattlesnakes, and one local wildlife expert hopes people will arm themselves with caution - not shovels.
Snakes and other reptiles may be even more active than usual this year because the wet winter sent a ripple effect through the food chain that's favorable for them: more plant growth, more insects and more rodents, says Hans Koenig, a field supervisor with the Arizona Game and Fish Department.
"You may see a little more activity this year because there's more chow," he says - and with better-nourished females, breeding success probably will increase. Snakes give birth to live young once a year, and it hasn't happened yet. So there aren't necessarily more snakes on the prowl.
The spike in reptile activity right now is more the type that happens every spring - it's mating season.
Chief Rick Flores of the Rural/Metro Fire Department says his department is getting up to 40 calls a day to remove snakes from the unincorporated parts of the county.
"Bees have slowed down, and snakes are on the rise," he says.
Koenig, a reptile enthusiast who is a member of the Tucson Herpetological Society, hopes people will avoid the temptation to lash out at snakes and Gila monsters that show up in their yards.
"I have three kids. It's easy for me to understand people's concern," he says. But Koenig says Gila monsters are unaggressive if left alone, and most rattlesnakes are the same way. Besides, he says, they're valuable parts of a healthy desert environment.
"I have a deep, abiding respect for them," he says. "I have seen so many examples of where we have removed part of the food chain and weakened the rest of the system. We spend thousands of dollars on pesticides and pest control, and we have the best pest control system living all around us."
The Tucson valley has a diverse array of rattlesnakes, including Mojaves, Western diamondbacks, tiger rattlers, black-tailed rattlers and sidewinders. They live alongside nonvenomous snakes that include bullsnakes, kingsnakes, gopher snakes, coachwhips and a host of smaller, wormlike burrowing varieties. Besides their roles in pest control, Koenig says, they're all valuable as food for coyotes, badgers, foxes, owls, hawks, eagles, falcons and other predators.
Koenig says Gila monsters are protected under a 1950s law that forbids killing them - but that shouldn't be the reason people let them live. He hopes people will cultivate a rapport with wildlife.
"They're really neat lizards," he says. "They're not threatened or endangered. They're not going to keep your neighbor from building a home."
Koenig hopes people will kill other venomous reptiles only as a last resort. If a snake must be removed, he advises calling an expert to relocate it.
"Because Tucson has so much open space," he says, "there's no reason why we can't keep the reptiles here."
Scary critters belong here