{"id":793282,"date":"2026-07-30T12:10:20","date_gmt":"2026-07-30T12:10:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/793282\/"},"modified":"2026-07-30T12:10:20","modified_gmt":"2026-07-30T12:10:20","slug":"giant-rattlesnakes-lock-in-wild-dance-on-california-street-as-bite-cases-climb","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/793282\/","title":{"rendered":"Giant rattlesnakes lock in wild dance on California street as bite cases climb"},"content":{"rendered":"

A California man got quite the surprise during his morning commute when he stumbled on a pair of massive rattlesnakes battling it out in the middle of the street.<\/p>\n

Anthony Damore was leaving for work around 10 a.m. Monday when he spotted the venomous reptiles entwined on the asphalt near a storm drain in Thousand Oaks, rearing up and twisting around each other in an eerie display of strength.<\/p>\n

Video of the bizarre showdown shows the snakes towering over one another as they grappled on the side of the road.<\/p>\n

\"Video<\/p>\n

Video shows two large snakes entwined on asphalt near a storm drain on July 28, 2026. Storyful<\/p>\n

“It was two large rattlesnakes in some kind of show of power,” Damore said, adding that others told him the behavior was likely a combat dance between two rival males.<\/p>\n

“I’ve never seen a rattlesnake do this, or pair of them doing this,” Damore said.<\/p>\n

The unsettling encounter comes as California is seeing a surge in rattlesnake activity this year.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

A coiled rattlesnake on sandy ground, with its distinctive diamond pattern visible, looking to the right. Luis \u2013 stock.adobe.com<\/p>\n

\"Two<\/p>\n

Two large snakes entwined on asphalt near a storm drain. Storyful<\/p>\n

Just this week, Santa Clarita Valley resident Linda Martin was bitten on the foot while tending to her rose bushes barefoot after unknowingly disturbing a rattlesnake hidden<\/a> beneath the plants.<\/p>\n

\"Stevenson<\/p>\n

Stevenson Ranch woman bitten by rattlesnake while tending to her garden. Courtesy of Linda Martin<\/p>\n

“I went and lifted the bush, and that’s when I saw the rattler,” Martin told CBS News<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Within moments, she said the venom was already taking effect.<\/p>\n

“Within 30 to 45 seconds, I started feeling tingling in my fingertips,” Martin said. “It moved into my jaw, my cheeks, my tongue.”<\/p>\n

\"Linda<\/p>\n

Linda Martin, a woman bitten by a rattlesnake, sitting on a couch in her living room. CBS<\/p>\n

Martin’s repeated 911 calls failed to connect, forcing her husband to rush her to the hospital, where she received lifesaving antivenom after a 10-minute drive.<\/p>\n

“Dialed a second time, it didn’t even connect,” she said. “Dialed a third time, and my husband just said, ‘Get in the car.'”<\/p>\n

“Had my husband not been home, and I was here alone, I don’t know what would have happened,” Martin added.<\/p>\n

Officials say California is on pace for roughly 20% more rattlesnake bites this year after an unusually warm spring brought the reptiles out of hibernation earlier than normal.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A California man got quite the surprise during his morning commute when he stumbled on a pair of…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":793283,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[51],"tags":[337089,2356,337088,17531,79,90409,234269,201],"class_list":["post-793282","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-wildlife","tag-anthony-damore","tag-california","tag-linda-martin","tag-rattlesnakes","tag-science","tag-storm-drain","tag-venomous-reptiles","tag-wildlife"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/793282","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=793282"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/793282\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/793283"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=793282"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=793282"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=793282"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}