Kalle Akers
Staff Writer
Rattlesnake season will reach its peak during the next few weeks, and officials say students should keep a close watch.
The Santa Ana winds are on their way and so are the warmest weeks Southern California experiences. Rattlesnake season ends in late October, and November marks the beginning of hibernation season, which is why the next few weeks are crawling with snake activity.
The rattlers are preparing themselves for California’s “winter” months and devouring as much food as possible. Snakes are nocturnal creatures, meaning they sleep during the day and hunt for food at night. One must be particularly cautious and aware around dusk because snakes often lay themselves on rocks and asphalt pathways that are still warm from the sun.
Rattlesnakes are more common at Pepperdine than one might think. They are often removed from the condominium areas and relocated to the top of the mountain. Public Safety has a set of procedures to remove them and dispatches an entire handout to educate the student body about safety precautions.
One student, however, didn’t come upon this information soon enough.
Junior Steve Edson was running late to school one Thursday afternoon. He grabbed his backpack and headed out the door of his Latigo Canyon home. The rattlesnake was in the middle of the narrow pathway leading to Edson’s car.
Raised up on the lower end of its body, the young snake rattled its tail in the classic “stay the heck away from me” signal. Edson stopped immediately, but didn’t foresee a way to get around the snake. He had suspicions that the snake was living under his home, and didn’t want his roommates to cross paths with it in a nighttime dash to the car. Instead of turning around and re-entering his home to make a phone call to animal control, Edson decided to take matters into his own hands, literally.
“I rustled a stick with leaves on it to the left of the snake, distracting it,” said Edson. “Then I dodged to the opposite direction, and grabbed its neck with my right hand, right below its head so it couldn’t bite me. You have to have pretty good hand-eye coordination.”
Edson put the snake in an empty ice cream tub and continued about his day. Two days later, he still hadn’t released the snake and was seriously considering keeping it as a pet. After much debate and experimentation, Edson came to a decision.
“I finally decided that rattlesnakes aren’t the kind of pets that learn to love their owners,” Edson said.
He released it in a remote area in the Santa Monica Mountains. Unfortunately for Edson, this wasn’t an isolated situation. He has encountered two rattlers since then, one in his bathtub, and another, nearly five feet in length, was living under his home.
Edson’s method of catch and release is far from the recommended and usual procedure for catching and removing rattlesnakes. Public Safety and Los Angeles Animal Control are two resources among many students can call to safely handle a rattlesnake encounter. Another options students have is to contact rattlesnake expert Bo Slyapich, otherwise known as the “rattlesnake wrangler.”
“Keep your doors closed and don’t try to catch one on your own,” Slyapich warns. “I’ve come to Pepperdine three or four times to remove rattlers.”
When caught, rattlesnakes are often relocated to remote areas further up the Santa Monica Mountains or are put to use in the film industry. Their relocation is important, because along with a high snake population, California has a high rodent population. Snakes of all kinds are essential for keeping this population in balance.
As wonderful and important as rattlesnakes are, Edson was right in his thinking that they don’t make good pets. They also aren’t good candidates to practice your Tarzan moves on. The best course of action is to back away from snake, call Public Safety or get friendly with the rattlesnake wrangler.
FACT BOX INFO:
– Rattlesnake season is from May-October
– Baby snakes don’t have control over how much venom they inject into you, making them even more dangerous than full-grown snakes.
– Bull snakes are often confused for rattlesnakes, look similar, but have a slightly different pattern and no rattle.
– Snakes are extremely important in controlling the rodent population.
– Snakes are nocturnal, sleeping during the day and hunting at night.
– Snakes hibernate during the winter, like bears.
10-15-2006
