ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER (Riverside, California) 30 April 05 Rattled in O.C. - Homeowners and hikers beware: High levels of rain, rodents will make rattlesnakes more visible soon. (Erika I. Ritchie)
Laguna Beach : Every afternoon Marlene Grant rounds up her four cats to bring them in for the night.
It was sunny and warm Monday when she walked out of her kitchen into her garage looking for the cats and came face to face with an uninvited visitor.
"I pulled up the roll-top door of my garage, walked past my washer and right next to my husband's Lexus was a baby rattlesnake." she says. "He was lying there coiled up with his head resting on a towel."
Similar experiences will be repeated many times over the coming months. In Laguna Beach last week, police received more than a dozen calls about rattlesnakes invading homes.
The snake population is exploding – fed by recent rains and a bumper crop of rodents.
Reptile experts say speckled, red diamond and Southern Pacific rattlesnakes will be more active and visible in rural and canyon areas of Orange County during the warm spring and summer months. The poisonous snakes have been found sunning themselves on concrete driveways, slithering across porches and decks, burrowed into flowerbeds and lying stretched out on toasty hardwood floors.
Area hospitals are stockpiling anti-venom, and local park rangers are warning hikers to be especially watchful.
In an average year, dozens of people are bitten by rattlesnakes in Orange County. Deaths are rare, but one to two people die statewide out of the more than 800 bitten each year. Nationwide, about 10,000 people are bitten by poisonous snakes annually, according to experts.
Those most likely to be bitten: 19- to 24-year-old males, many of whom have been drinking.
Common Southern California rattlesnake species include the Western diamondback, sidewinder, speckled, red diamond, Southern Pacific, Great Basin and the Mojave "green." Nonvenomous serpents such as garden and gopher snakes are found in Orange County but are not considered dangerous to humans.
"Rattlesnake bites usually aren't fatal unless the bite is around the face or neck where it can affect breathing," says Dr. Tri Tong, an emergency room physician at South Coast Medical Center, which treated five snakebite victims last year.
Grant, whose home is near canyons, wasn't bitten but quickly called for help.
"Snakes like places with concrete and asphalt that retain heat," says Dave Pietarila, a Laguna Beach animal control officer, who says some weeks he'll pick up a snake per day.
Area hospitals are stocking up on antivenom – a watered-down cocktail of four of the most common rattlers' venom.
Dr. Sean Bush, an emergency physician at Loma Linda University Medical Center in San Bernardino, has earned the nickname "Dr. Snake" because of his background in treating bites. He says his hospital has had a recent rash of bite victims.
Bush, known for his venomous snake expertise through "Venom ER" - a TV show that runs on Animal Planet - says his hospital keeps 100-200 vials on hand. Treatment of the average rattlesnake bite requires 12 to 18 vials.
"This time of year, when the weather warms up, we can get three to four people in the ER on any given day for snake bites," he says. "I don't know if it was the full moon, but lots of snakes are moving. There are a lot more this year than there were last year at this time."
Karen Prestia, a spokeswoman for Mission Hospital in Mission Viejo, says the ER is stocking up on anti-venom: "We've had three bites in three weeks. Having this many is unusual. We're anticipating a higher snakebite year." Last year, Mission treated 12 snakebite victims
Medical experts advise anyone bitten by a snake to get medical treatment as quickly as possible.
The number of deaths from snakebites has been dropping in recent years because victims are getting speedy medical attention.
Park rangers at Crystal Cove State Park in Laguna Beach and Whiting Ranch near Lake Forest say they see rattlesnakes daily.
"We have to remember their job is to catch small critters," says Dave Pryor, a resource ecologist. "The snakes go in and out of gopher holes feeding and foraging. When it's cold they get sluggish. The morning sun is their cup of coffee."
Hikers are advised to keep a safe distance, stay on the trails and be alert. Ken Kramer, park superintendent at Crystal Cove, says hikers should understand the dangers and take precautions.
"A lot of people have come to us with alarm in their voice reporting their encounter," he says, noting warning signs have been posted. "We remind them that they were treated to a great experience and part of the wonderful wildlife experience of the park."
Rattlesnakes in the wild are one thing; rattlesnakes in the home or backyard are another.
On a recent afternoon, Sonia Manousajian went out to water the plants in the backyard of her daughter's Laguna Beach home.
She heard a rattling sound and spun around to see a 4-foot rattler gobbling a rat.
"I thought it was a crocodile," she says. "The mouth was so large."
Manousajian ran for help. Pietarila, the animal control officer, was there in minutes.
He scooped the snake up and put it in a metal box.
The red diamond rattlesnake was held for an overnight "cooling off" period. The next day, he was freed back into Laguna Canyon. In the coming months, other snakes may not be so lucky.
"If we have a very heavy snake season, it gets to the point where you start culling the herd," Pietarila says. "I'm starting to have to think twice when I'm releasing them."
High levels of rain, rodents will make rattlesnakes more visible soon