![\"Rattlesnakes](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/rattlesnake.jpg\")
Rattlesnakes are common in San Diego County, especially in rural or canyon areas. (Charlie Neuman)<\/p>\nRattlesnakes are a familiar sight at San Diego-area trails and canyons, but they seem to be getting closer to homes in the La Jolla area, as evidenced by recent social media posts.<\/p>\n
According to San Diego County, snake sightings are up across the region due to warmer-than-usual weather in March.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis sudden stretch of hot weather is creating ideal conditions for rattlesnakes to become more active,\u201d according to a county bulletin. \u201cWhen temperatures rise, rattlesnakes come out to warm themselves, look for food and find shady places to cool off. All this extra movement makes them easier to spot on trails and near homes, especially when the season heats up earlier than usual.\u201d<\/p>\n
On April 16, a University City woman was in a hospital for six hours after what she believes was a snake bite on her arm that she got while she was working in her garden.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe pain was so brief that I chalked it up to a nasty thorn,\u201d according to her post. \u201cWithin the hour, two bluish-red marks appeared near my wrist. A trip to the ER seemed like a good idea.\u201d<\/p>\n
She said she was monitored for six hours but did not need anti-venom.<\/p>\n
\u201cI didn\u2019t see a snake that day, but because the marks are so close together, I\u2019m guessing a \u2018dry bite\u2019 from a juvenile,\u201d the woman wrote. \u201cI either pulled my hand away just in time or it was a \u2026 courtesy nip, because the wounds were shallow.\u201d<\/p>\n
The post added that \u201cthere have been many rattlesnake sightings already this season\u201d in the area but that she \u201cbroke two safety rules\u201d by not wearing gloves and by wearing headphones that would prevent her from hearing a rattle.<\/p>\n
Rattlesnakes are common in San Diego County, especially in rural or canyon areas. (Charlie Neuman)<\/p>\n
A few days later, a resident of Mount Soledad in north Pacific Beach said she found a rattlesnake in her pool that was barely alive. Additional details were not immediately available, and the homeowner declined to be identified or comment further. She did, however, post a photo of the snake after it was extracted from the pool.<\/p>\n
The county bulletin states that rattlesnakes are common here, especially in rural or canyon areas.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey are part of our ecosystem and play an important role in population control of small mammals such as rats and mice,\u201d the county says. \u201cBecause of the part they play in local ecosystems, they are fully protected within San Diego County parks.\u201d<\/p>\n
The county advises that people who see a rattlesnake on their property keep an eye on it from a safe distance and call the county Department of Animal Services at 619-236\u20112341. Animal-control officers can safely remove the snake and take it to a location away from the public.<\/p>\n
If bitten by a rattlesnake, the county says:<\/p>\n
\u2022 Stay calm.<\/p>\n
\u2022 Immobilize the bitten area. Do not apply a bandage or ice and don\u2019t try to cut or suck out the venom.<\/p>\n
\u2022 Wash the skin. Soap and water work best, or an antiseptic wipe.<\/p>\n
\u2022 Remove any jewelry or tight-fitting clothing in case of swelling.<\/p>\n
\u2022 Call 911 to get medical attention as soon as possible. If you have to find a phone, walk at a relaxed pace. \u2666<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Rattlesnakes are a familiar sight at San Diego-area trails and canyons, but they seem to be getting closer…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":607832,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[51],"tags":[2356,41084,41082,41083,7155,7156,79,201],"class_list":["post-607831","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-wildlife","tag-california","tag-la-jolla","tag-la-jolla-light","tag-la-jolla-light-news","tag-san-diego","tag-san-diego-county","tag-science","tag-wildlife"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/607831","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=607831"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/607831\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/607832"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=607831"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=607831"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=607831"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}