GOOD RODENT CONTROL; SNAKES THRIVE IN SCV.Byline: Patricia Farrell Aidem and Cynthia Teed Daily News Staff Writers Beware the muted rattle sound along the trail - or in the case of dozens of Santa Clarita Santa Clarita, city (1990 pop. 110,642), Los Angeles co., S Calif., suburb 30 mi (48 km) NW of downtown Los Angeles, on the Santa Clara River; inc. 1987. Situated in the Santa Clara valley and nearby canyons, Santa Clarita includes the former towns of Canyon Country, residents, in the back yard. It's snake season, and the rattlers this year are plentiful, with five or six ``snake calls'' each day coming into the Los Angeles Los Angeles (lôs ăn`jələs, lŏs, ăn`jəlēz'), city (1990 pop. 3,485,398), seat of Los Angeles co., S Calif.; inc. 1850. County Department of Animal Care and Control in Castaic. ``We are definitely getting more snake calls this year,'' Lt. Terry Eversull of the Castaic Animal Shelter "Dog Pound" redirects here. For the rap group, see Tha Dogg Pound. An animal shelter is a facility that houses homeless, lost or abandoned animals; primarily a large variety of dogs and cats. said Tuesday. ``They're finding them all over - in Valencia, Saugus, Canyon Country.'' Eversull said most of the snake calls they respond to turn out to be rattlers. A year after the rainiest season on record in Santa Clarita, the rattlers are thriving. El Nino brought vegetation to provide the slithering slith·er v. slith·ered, slith·er·ing, slith·ers v.intr. 1. To glide or slide like a reptile. See Synonyms at slide. 2. To walk with a sliding or shuffling gait. 3. reptiles reptiles terrestrial or aquatic vertebrates which breathe air through lungs and have a skin covering of horny scales. They are poikilothermic, oviparous or ovoviviparous, and, if they have legs they are short and constructed solely for crawling. with ample shelter and also stirred up an abundance of the snake's favorite meals - mice, rats and other rodents, said Frank Hoffman Frank Hoffman (born December 19, 1909) was an American football player. He was elected to the College Football Hall of Fame in 1978. , a recreation services leader for the Placerita Canyon Natural Area in the San Gabriel Mountains San Gabriel Mountains, S Calif., E and NE of Los Angeles, running c.50 mi (80 km) westward from Cajon Pass. San Antonio Peak (10,080 ft/3,072 m) is the highest of the range. Citrus fruits are raised on the southern foothills. above Newhall. The population explosion started about two months ago and has heated up in recent weeks, Eversull said. ``They're finding them all over,'' Eversull said. ``Yesterday we got three calls in a row.'' Dennis Ostrom said his family has noticed the surge in the snake population around their rural Sand Canyon home. Monday night, a baby rattler - potentially the most dangerous - was found napping in a coil near the family spa. It was dark, and Ostrom's daughter, Dawn, was adjusting the spa heater when his wife spotted the reptile. And then the lights went out. ``We have a motion-sensitive light,'' Ostrom explained. ``My wife waved her hand so the light would go on and she was looking at our daughter working the control and she saw this little thing coiled on the ground. My wife says, `Oh, my!' and the light went off.'' Experience told Dawn there was a snake and as soon as the light was on again she pulled away. Ostrom said he's seen snakes in the yard before - twice so far this year - and usually kills them with a tool. ``My wife shot one once,'' he said. But the family recently had watched a TV nature show on rattlers and decided to save the 18-inch baby. Ostrom delivered it Tuesday morning to the Placerita center. Hoffman took the snake deep into the 350-acre nature center and let it go. ``We have our share of them,'' Hoffman said. ``Hikers are seeing two or three a week, all sizes and shapes.'' The snake are valuable to the habitat, he said, keeping the rodent rodent, member of the mammalian order Rodentia, characterized by front teeth adapted for gnawing and cheek teeth adapted for chewing. The Rodentia is by far the largest mammalian order; nearly half of all mammal species are rodents. population in check. ``We have all sizes and shapes,'' Hoffman said. ``They can be in the middle of the trail, to the side of the trails. They are an important part of the environment. They belong here. Without those predators, we'd be overrun 1. overrun - A frequent consequence of data arriving faster than it can be consumed, especially in serial line communications. For example, at 9600 baud there is almost exactly one character per millisecond, so if a silo can hold only two characters and the machine takes with mice and rats.'' The animal shelter - governed by state Department of Fish and Game guidelines guidelines, n.pl a set of standards, criteria, or specifications to be used or followed in the performance of certain tasks. - has a different philosophy, Eversull said. ``Per Fish and Game, we don't relocate them,'' he said. ``That's to avoid overpopulating a particular area with snakes.'' Hoffman urges hikers and those who live near wild areas to give snakes they happen upon a six- to eight-foot clearance. ``They're more afraid than we are,'' he said. ``They'll freeze and hope you don't see them and if that doesn't work they'll coil and rattle. And if that doesn't work, they might strike.'' Rattlers can be identified first by the tails that give them their name, and also by the triangular-shaped heads, fatter bodies and blunt, flat ends. The babies don't have rattles rattles vernacular for purulent bronchopneumonia in foals with pneumonia caused by Rhodococcus equi; name derived from the moist, loud crackles heard on auscultation of the lungs. until they shed their first skin, but are known to deliver larger amounts of venom. A bite victim should leave the wound alone, walk slowly or be carried for help and head immediately for medical care, Hoffman said. Tourniquets are not advised. The only bite ever reported at the nature center, Hoffman said, involved a former worker who was helping evacuate e·vac·u·ate v. 1. To empty or remove the contents of. 2. To excrete or discharge waste matter, especially of the bowels. the park's collection of reptiles during a fire two years ago. Statewide, about 200 bites are reported a year, and 25 percent of those involve people handling snakes. CAPTION(S): 2 Photos PHOTO (1--Color) This juvenile rattler was brought to a nature center to be released in the wild. (2) Frank Hoffman of the Placerita Canyon Natural Area sets a baby rattle snake free. It will do its part to help keep rodents in check. Shaun Dyer/Special to the Daily News |
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