TUCSON, Ariz. (13 News) – Rattlesnake season is coming to a close, but rattlesnake danger remains strong, and it’s because of the holidays.
Jeff Martineau, rattlesnake prevention specialist for Tucson with Rattlesnake Solutions, said the drop in temperatures, especially around dusk, usually indicates the end of rattlesnake season.
“Rattlesnakes are going from wherever they spent the summer, to kind of avoid the heat, or hunt,” Martineau said. “They’re moving and transitioning to places where they’re going to be hibernating or denning for the winter.”
And that leads to a common misconception.
“The expectation for a lot of people is that the rattlesnakes go away completely,” Martineau said.
But he said that the transition period has shown a spike in rattlesnake movement during this time.
However, he said the main factor behind a spike in encounters comes from people doing things they don’t usually do.
“Rattlesnake encounters often correlate more so with human behavior than just the rattlesnake behavior,” Martineau said.
A perfect example would be packing and unpacking your holiday décor that you usually don’t touch except once or twice a year.
This is why Martineau is urging everyone to stay safe and be vigilant when doing so.
“As you get into your sheds your garages, into things that you’re just not really accessing very often,” Martineau said. “Kind of the dusty corners of the garages so to speak, that’s where you kind of want to watch your hands and make sure you’re looking first because sometimes you get sleeping rattlesnakes.”
If you do find a rattlesnake, be sure to keep your distance and call for help.
Martineau said it’s also important to keep an eye on it until someone comes to relocate it.
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