SALT LAKE CITY (ABC 4 News) - In the next two weeks, Great Basin Rattlesnakes will be coming out of hibernation and they will be hungry, agitated and on the move.
Finding them on hiking, and bike trails, and even in your own backyard is not uncommon.
The snakes are common in canyons and on our benches. That means you need to think twice about where you step and put your hands.
It's a sound that instills fear the warning that a rattlesnake is about to strike. In Utah we have seven venomous snakes. The most common is the Great Basin Rattlesnake. In the next couple of weeks they will show up by the hundreds.
“Make sure that you are aware of where you are walking and that it is open space. Stay out of the bushes, the sage brush, and rocks, retaining walls, stuff like that because they bask on those areas and have dens in certain areas like that," said James Dix, founder of Reptile Rescue.
Dix is the founder of reptile rescue. He teaches Utahns snake safety. He said this time of year is especially dangerous because snakes are hungry, irritable and mating.
"During mating time females come out, and you have six or seven males or more behind you if you encounter a snake in front of you. You don't want to take off running,” he said.
Instead, stay still. There are some rattlesnakes that will strike without warning. Within three weeks baby snakes from last season will also be out of hibernation and they don't have rattlers.
"They will have a little black button on them. They cannot warn you but it will be the only snake that looks like its got a little glass bead on the end of its tail," he said.
He said baby rattlesnakes are potentially more dangerous than larger ones. He said adult snakes only release venom 75 percent of the time.
"Babies its one-hundred percent inventation. You get bit by a baby, it doesn't save its venom for its prey. It doesn't know any better. It will invenomate you every time it strikes, and they can do that several times,” he said.
If a snake bites you, regardless of it's size, get help immediately.
If you need help removing snakes or other reptiles from your property, you can call James Dix with the Reptile Rescue Service at (801) 860-2497.
