Rattlers redux

It’s spring, which means the reptiles are out – including that most feared of California reptiles, the rattlesnake.

“There’s a lot of calls right now,” said Al Wolf, director of Sonoma County Reptile Rescue. Whenever anyone in the county sounds the alarm about a rattlesnake – even by dialing 9-1-1 – it’s Wolf and his colleagues who get the call.

“We have somebody responding to a call right now,” he said Wednesday morning. “And they probably already picked it up by now.”

Wolf said Reptile Rescue gets as many as four calls a day during the warm season and picks up somewhere between 300 and 500 rattlers each year. All of them – including the additional baby rattlers that are born in captivity – are released back into unpopulated areas. The group, a Sebastopol-based nonprofit now in its 25th year, covers the entire county, including Sonoma Valley.

According to Wolf, when it comes to rattler activity, “April is generally the month. They come out in March, and really move around in April, that’s their breeding month.” But they remain active throughout spring and summer, going back into hiding when the weather cools again in October.

The baby rattlers are born in August and September, said Wolf, a biologist with an extensive background in animal care (he once worked for the San Francisco Zoo). Like a few other snakes, such as garters, they do not lay eggs. “Any babies you see wandering around right now are last year’s,” Wolf said, adding that contrary to popular belief, the young ones are not more or less dangerous than adults, except that they’re harder to see and hear.

Humans, he noted, “don’t die from rattlesnakes anymore.”

Dr. Robert Cohen, chief medical officer at Sonoma Valley Hospital, said that in 25 years as a local emergency department doctor he couldn’t recall any fatalities from rattlesnake bites. Sonoma Valley’s ER sees about a half-dozen snakebite victims a year, he said.

But that’s not to say a rattlesnake bite isn’t serious. About six years ago, “I did have a child who was bit twice on the ankle,” Cohen said. “She did poorly, but she made it.”

Asked what to do in case of a bite, Cohen recommended getting to a hospital as soon as possible. He emphasized, “Try to do it in a calm manner, you don’t want to run.”

“Stay calm,” he said, “don’t drink alcohol, don’t cut it (the bite), don’t make an X mark, don’t have someone suck out the venom. All of that is old school. Do not apply a tourniquet.”

But what if the victim is alone – for example, bitten while jogging on the Overlook Trail? The same advice applies: “Get out of the environment as soon as possible and get to the emergency room.”

There, he said, doctors will first try to determine if the person has been “envenomated” – because rattlesnakes are able to bite without releasing their venom. Symptoms of the poison include agitation, tingling of lips and hands, and feeling a need to defecate.

Once that’s determined, doctors will administer the needed amount of antivenom to stop the poison. That can get pricey, as antivenom is “about $1,500 a vial.” And it takes several vials – “15, 20, more maybe” – to stop the venom, he said.

Cohen added that the best way to avoid snakebites is to stay alert, as the snakes won’t bother people who aren’t bothering them.

“The majority of the bites we see are from drunks or macho guys who try to pick the snake up,” he said.

Even the experts get bitten, though. Indeed, Wolf said he’s been bitten by rattlers “many times.”

For example, “Last year I was force-feeding a rattlesnake that got injured, and I goofed and got bit.” But he doesn’t seem to mind too much – in fact, “Last year I broke my arm and that hurt a lot worse.”

Though humans have little to worry about (beyond the expense of the antivenom), “dogs are the hard thing,” Wolf said. They often don’t know to avoid the snakes, and don’t learn better until it’s too late.

Wolf said 2013 “was a really hard year on dogs,” with well over 40 bites he knew of and several deaths around the county.

Dr. Suzie Johnson, a veterinarian at Valley of the Moon Veterinary Hospital, said her clinic sees about half a dozen pets, mostly dogs, brought in with snakebites each season.

“If they do get bit, it’s definitely an emergency, bring them to the nearest vet,” Johnson advised, adding that “Some dogs need antivenom and some don’t.”

Although most dogs only need a couple vials of the antivenom, “It’s definitely really pricey,” she said. To avoid such a fate, Johnson recommends pet owners get their dogs vaccinated against the venom, ideally in March, with a booster afterward. But, according to advice posted on the UC Davis School of Veterinary Medicine, the vaccine, which costs between $20 and $40 per injection, has uncertain efficacy.

Also, she said, PetCare Veterinary Hospital in Santa Rosa offers rattlesnake aversion training for dogs. An employee there said the most recent class just wrapped up, but that another would be held soon. (PetCare also has 24-hour emergency facilities, making it a good place to keep in mind should a pet get bitten during off-hours.)

For a little home schooling, dog owners should give their pets a firm “No!” around any kind of snake, Wolf said.

According to Wolf, this region’s rattlesnakes are not diamondbacks – that’s another pit viper species common to the Southwest – but rather are northern Pacific rattlesnakes. They grow to about four feet long in Sonoma County, although they can grow larger in areas north of here, such as Shasta County.

In Sonoma Valley, they’re commonly seen in the more rural areas – such as Glen Ellen, or along Arnold Drive or Lovall Valley Road – where there is plenty of water, warmth and rocky areas for them, plus lizards and rodents to eat.

Just recently, Wolf’s group took a call from Olive & Vine restaurant on Arnold. “Somehow, every year we get two or three calls right there,” he said.

When it comes time to release them back into the wild, Wolf obtains permission from property owners up north, particularly ranchers.

“Some of the ranchers, they’re not the least bit afraid of rattlesnakes, they have huge properties where the cows don’t go or anything – so, let’s put them there,” he said.

Wolf added, “We have very few release sites in the Sonoma Valley, mostly it’s north Sonoma County and Mendocino County. … There’s places where there’s no houses for miles.”

As he spoke, Laurie Osborne, Reptile Rescue’s education coordinator, returned from a call carrying a snake in a bucket.

“Gopher snake? It’s a gopher snake,” Wolf said. The animal had been spotted “Right in front of a barbershop in the middle of Sebastopol” – and because gopher snakes mimic the patterns of rattlesnakes, right down to faux-rattling with their tails, people often can’t tell the difference.

Either way, Wolf said, don’t kill the snake – just call Reptile Rescue and let them deal with it.

Anyone encountering a rattlesnake can call Wolf at 321-0504 or Osborne at 364-3147 to have it removed free of charge.

To confirm that it’s really a rattler, text a photo of the snake to either of the above numbers.

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