Wow, things are slower than usual! Rain is great of course, but the snakes are more or less stuck at the dens until these sub-50 overnight temperatures ease up. Regardless, some have tried to get out and star their springtime activity, and along with that comes conflict with human development. Here are just some of the calls we’ve taken recently, all of which were relocated to suitable microhabitat within their estimated homerange.
And here we go! With overnight temperatures stabilizing in the 50s and daytime in the low 70s, that’s the signal for rattlesnakes to start getting active. Rattlesnakes will start waking up for the year and appearing on social media pages near you, and we start getting busy!
We had a busy year keeping rattlesnakes out of backyards all across Arizona! In addition to providing snake fence installation, we captured more than a thousand rattlesnakes for relocation. Here are just some of the many rattlesnake rescues we’ve been called to in 2022. Many of these encounters could have been prevented with a snake fence.
24/7 Snake Removal & Prevention:
Phoenix-metro: 480-237-9975
Tucson-metro: 520-308-6211
Temperatures are dropping and the regular snake season is coming to a close. Typically, it wraps up, more or less, by the end of the first week of November. This year is looking typical, with a handful of snake removal calls still coming into our hotline and a number of reported sightings, but nowhere near the frequency as a month before.
The monsoon moisture is bringing a lot of rattlesnake activity to the homes of the valley. As always, we have been very busy – now with the addition of baby rattlesnakes!
24/7 Snake Removal & Prevention:
Phoenix-metro: 480-237-9975
Tucson-metro: 520-308-6211
Wow, busy as always! Here are some of our recent snake removals from the Phoenix and Tucson areas.
We’ve been busy, not surprisingly. Rattlesnakes are now moving freely out from their dens looking for food and mates as temperatures continue to rise. Throughout April, we an expect this snake activity to increase until temperatures stay in the triple digits for consecutive days. Then, they’ll start making progress towards summer aestivation sites, where they will remain at or near until the monsoon.
Right now peak rattlesnake activity is, as expected, between 2pm and 5pm each day.
Spring is here and we’re, predictably, extremely busy. It’s a good thing! After the winter, we are always excited to get back to work. Homeowners … they may not be so excited.
People are often surprised to learn that the rattlesnake they’ve just found in the backyard may have been there, or very nearby, for months when it’s found in the early spring. Often, the rip rap and erosion control used by newer developments is perfect for this purpose, and those snakes take notice. As soon as spring comes and they emerge, the landscaped and well-watered backyards that surround it are perfect places to hunt.
If you see rabbits, quail, and other prey-sized items in your yard, you can assume that predators see them as well. That does mean rattlesnakes. Fortunately, a physical barrier like a rattlesnake fence will put a stop to that.
Snake activity is also really picking up. In the past couple of weeks, our hotline has gone from an average of 2 calls a day to more than a dozen snakes removed each day.
We were busy last year 🙂 Here’s a combination of the snakes we captured and relocated in late 2021 and the handful every week over the winter. Just a few more weeks and we’ll be back and busy!
We’re in the dead of winter and getting a bit of time off on the snake removal side, which gives a bit of time to catch up on some photos from the end of last year. When things get busy, it’s not possible or reasonable to post every snake we catch, so things get spaced out to make sure that we have time to eat and sleep in between social media postings, and so that you don’t get upset with 20+ photos every single day 🙂
Our first removal of the year, however, came in right on Jan 1! Marissa caught two adult Western Diamondback Rattlesnakes hanging out in a garage.
These are the last of our 2021 calls and a couple of our first of the new year. Come on, Spring!
