Snakes

Rattlesnakes

In San Diego County, the 4 types of rattlesnakes you may encounter are:

1. Southern Pacific Rattlesnake, Crotalus viridis helleri
2. Red Diamond Rattlesnake, Crotalus ruber ruber
3. Southwest Speckled Rattlesnake, Crotalus mitchelli pyrrhus
4. Colorado Desert Sidewinder, Crotalus cerastes laterorepens

In the park, the ones you may encounter are 1-2 with a very rare appearance by 3.

Antivenom

The antivenom, CroFab, is what you would take as an antidote to the poisonous bite of one of these Crotalids. Perhaps in the future we'll come across a more effective treatment with this new approach using recombinant DNA technology rather than having to milk a snake of its venom.

Friendly Snakes

Today, we finished covering the topic of Snakes, with a getting-to-know-you, hands-on approach. Here is Ranger Heidi explaining general snake anatomy and habitat. It was a little difficult trying to pay attention to what she was discussing because all I could think was, "gee...do we have to play with the snake, too?"

Sure enough, the Gopher snake was handed over to me. After a short time of handling it, I became more relaxed and fascinated with the way the snake felt twisted around my arms and hands. Here's the guy next to me holding it for a close-up pic.

Again, it was difficult paying attention to our instructor as she told of a snake that bit her finger and would not let go. There was something said about dunking it under water for some time.

After I handed the snake over to the guy next to me, I could see he was fascinated with the color of the snake's scales. He didn't pay attention to where the head was going. It slithered in between the binders of his MTRP Guide Book.

We couldn't force the snake out, so we decided to leave it alone. I figured it would miss our body heat and eventually slither out from the book.

We also got our hands on a California Kingsnake (Sir Lancelot).

Thanks to Tecolote Canyon Natural Park for the snake loan!