Even though a rattlesnake bite is seldom deadly, especially for adults, it can cause extreme sickness and even lead to an amputation. So, knowing how to avoid rattlesnakes can help you stay safe and healthy while hiking in their habitat.
- Image via Wikipedia
Knowledge of the following ten facts about rattlesnakes can help you avoid getting bit.
1. Since we are too big to swallow, rattlesnakes don’t consider us food.
2. Because we’re not prey for rattlesnakes, they’d just as soon slither away and search for another smaller meal.
3. Your shadow falling on a rattlesnake can confuse it and cause it to act unpredictably.
4. The striking range of a rattlesnake is one half the length of his body.
5. Rattlesnakes come out of hiding when the morning sun begins to warm the landscape.
6. They seek shade during the hot part of the day.
7. They have also been know to venture out in the evening.
8. Lucky for us, those rattles on the end of a rattler’s tail are used to warn us of their location.
9. A rattlesnake is unlikely to bite you unless you step on it.
10. They are deaf and can’t be scared off by making loud noises.
So, while in rattlesnake country, don’t hike with fear, but with caution. Be smart. Watch and listen. And keep your hands and feet out of places where rattlers may be hiding from the sun. If by the end of the day you’ve avoided seeing a rattlesnake, you’ve done your job well.
By Richard Davidian, Ph.D.
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It should be known that rattlesnakes are, in many parts of the country, primarily nocturnal. People encounter them in the morning and evening during transition phases.
The snake in the photograph is a sidewinder, from the desert areas of Arizona, California, and small pockets of Southern Utah and Nevada. They are very small, and relatively less dangerous than other rattlesnake species. It is a good idea for anyone living where rattlesnakes live to become educated on which snakes live in the area, which are beneficial and harmless, and which could pose a threat. Above all, no person who is not trained to do so should attempt to kill or remove a snake … this is where the vast majority of bites occur.
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