Mom Talk: Coping with Pinole's Rattlesnakes

When I first moved to Pinole 13 years ago, I was surprised to see the community television channel running a footer across the screen cautioning residents of rattlesnakes. I almost thought it was comical, but now I know differently.

After moving to a home that backs up to open space, I saw my first rattlesnake while gardening and wasn't quite sure at first if was one or not. Even though it was coiled up, I knew this was a behavior that gopher snakes mimic. The beads or rattlers on the tail were so undeveloped I could not hear a warning from it, but I knew after more closely looking at its triangular head that it was a rattler.

That season, my family encountered four more, and we seem to average seeing three each season. Most of our Moms' Council families have had very infrequent sightings, if any at all. For rattlers, their season is considered to be April through October when snakes are looking for coolness and when people are outside more to encounter them. That seems fairly minor compared to what residents here dealt with starting in 1968.

 I came across a Time magazine article from 1970 that was fascinating to read, with its depiction of Pinole residents on Wright Avenue living amongst rattlers that had made their way into homes, garages and sandboxes. In that year a reference was made to 12 families encountering 27 rattlers and being desperate for solutions to eradicate the snakes.

Now I really understand why our Pinole Valley elementary school, Ellerhorst, has chosen its mascot to be the Rattlers.

Donna Heymans, administrative services officer for the Pinole and Rodeo-Hercules fire departments, tells us that the fire department will exterminate rattlesnakes for us and will relocate other snakes like gopher and garter types. If you are calling about a rattlesnake, keep children and pets away from it until firefighters can get there. If someone is bitten by a rattlesnake, you are advised to call 911, especially for a child or older person or where a helicopter would need to be arranged for quick transport to a hospital. Poison control will be contacted and an ambulance and the fire department will come.

California Poison Control Recommendations for Rattlesnake Bites

• Stay calm.
• Wash the bitten area with soap and water.
• Remove any watches, rings, etc. which may constrict swelling.
• Immobilize the affected area.
• Transport the victim safely to the nearest medical facility.

Things Not To Do If Bitten By a Rattlesnake

• DO NOT use ice to cool the bite.
• DO NOT cut open the wound and suck out the venom.
• DO NOT use a tourniquet. You may loose a limb!
• DO NOT handle the snake if it has been killed. You can still be exposed to venom.

Snakes do want to be left alone and will use a way out if you give them a chance to exit. There are ways not to make an ideal environment in your yard for them to live in. For me, it was eliminating the junipers in the yard that they could hide under. I also stopped feeding the birds, because their food brought in rodents for snakes to feed on. I noticed a dramatic difference in what I saw in the next year. 

How To Make Your Yard Unfriendly To Rattlers

• Encourage natural competition with gopher snakes, kingsnakes and racers. Kingsnakes will eat rattlers.
• Remove any food that may attract the rodents that snakes seek. Keep pet food picked up and lids on garbage cans.
• Close openings in foundations, walls, steps and porches.
• Mow lawns and fields.
• Don't keep brush and rock piles that might be ideal hiding places.
• Install a snake fence on the perimeter of a yard. These are costly and their effectiveness is debatable.

Being aware of snakes is just one of the precautions that we take living in the beautiful Pinole Valley. Snakes just want to be left alone and if we give them some time, they will move to another location out of our path. For now, we are able to get assistance from our Pinole Valley Fire Station that is so close by and comforting in its presence to us.