The homeowner happened to look out one of her basement windows and noticed a Black-tailed Rattlesnake coiled on the outside windowsill. The window sat at the bottom of a deep drop-down area with no obvious way for a snake to climb back out.
She then spotted a second snake moving in and out of a hole down there and initially thought she had two rattlesnakes. When Marissa arrived, she was able to safely remove the Black-tailed Rattlesnake that was out in the open and determined the second snake was actually a Sonoran Gophersnake.
The Sonoran Gophersnake disappeared into the hole and wouldn’t come back out, even when Marissa tried flushing it out with water. There may be a larger gap or space behind the opening than was visible, so the homeowner is going to keep an eye on it and call us when the snake makes another appearance.
We’re not sure how long the Black-tailed Rattlesnake had been trapped down there, but with how warm the space was, it probably hadn’t been there too long. The Laveen home sits right off South Mountain, so both snakes likely wandered in from the surrounding habitat and unfortunately found their way into a spot that was much easier to enter than escape.
