RESIDENTS TOLD TO BEWARE OF HUNGRY, THIRSTY SNAKES.Byline: Mary Schubert Daily News Staff Writer As summer brings warm weather that dries out hillside brush, residents should watch for snakes that slither 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. down from the foothills in search of water, food and shade, wildlife experts said Wednesday. On Saturday an 8-year-old girl encountered a 2-1/2-foot-long rattlesnake rattlesnake, poisonous New World snake of the pit viper family, distinguished by a rattle at the end of the tail. The head is triangular, being widened at the base. The rattle is a series of dried, hollow segments of skin, which, when shaken, make a whirring sound. while playing in a neighborhood near Seco Canyon Road and Copper Hill Drive. Since early May county Animal Care and Control crews have captured a weekly average of five snakes - such as Pacific and Mojave rattlers and gopher and garter snakes - from Santa Clarita Valley The Santa Clarita Valley is the valley of the Santa Clara River in Southern California. It stretches through Los Angeles County and Ventura County. Its main population center is the city of Santa Clarita. The valley was part of the 48,612-acre (19,672. neighborhoods, said Lt. George Enriquez of the Castaic shelter. ``This is the time of year that reptiles in general become more active. It's warm and they're going to be out basking (in the sun),'' said Erick Burres, a wildlife biologist ''' The examples and perspective in this article or section may not represent a worldwide view of the subject. Please [ improve this article] or discuss the issue on the talk page. A wildlife biologist is someone who studies wild animals and their habitats. for the California Department of Fish and Game. ``In general, they don't choose to go where people are. They just go where the conditions are nice.'' The snakes also are looking for Looking for In the context of general equities, this describing a buy interest in which a dealer is asked to offer stock, often involving a capital commitment. Antithesis of in touch with. water, and they favor bushes and gardens. ``If it gets hot, they seek shade because they have to cool themselves,'' Burres said. Kathryn Lindsay was visiting friends on Hickory Place, and was in the back yard with 17-month-old Joseph Kobayashi about 6 p.m. Saturday. ``I heard a rattling sound,'' the girl said. She turned to find the snake less than two feet away. ``Its mouth was open and the black tongue black tongue n. The presence of a blackish- to yellowish-brown patch or patches on the tongue, accompanied by elongation of the papillae. Also called melanoglossia. was sticking out Adj. 1. sticking out - extending out above or beyond a surface or boundary; "the jutting limb of a tree"; "massive projected buttresses"; "his protruding ribs"; "a pile of boards sticking over the end of his truck" at me,'' Kathryn said. ``I heard the rattle and I just froze. Then I ran and I grabbed (Joseph) and brought him in the house,'' said the Saugus girl, who just completed the second grade. Palma Palma or Palma de Mallorca (päl`mä thā mälyôr`kä), city (1990 pop. 325,120), capital of Majorca island and of Baleares prov., Spain, on the Bay of Palma. Lindsay said she was proud of her daughter's quick thinking and concern for the toddler's safety. ``This snake was coiled and rattling,'' she said. ``We were just amazed that she thought to pick up the baby.'' The little boy's father, Ray Kobayashi, cornered the snake by squirting a garden hose and caught it with a rope and shovel. The rattler was killed and buried as a precaution against its poisonous venom, said Estelle Kobayashi, the toddler's mother. ``We've lived here for nine years, so I think it's about the fifth snake on our property,'' Kobayashi said, adding that opossums and coyotes are periodic visitors as well. ``It was the biggest one I've ever seen.'' Burres said that snakes pursue rodents but don't generally go after people. The rattling is meant as a warning to slowly retreat. ``It's giving you all the chance in the world to get away,'' he said. ``The rattling and the coiling, that is entirely defensive. They're not aggressive unless provoked,'' Burres said. ``The tongue flickering - that's just like smelling the air. All reptiles flick their tongues.'' Ray Kobayashi chopped off the snake's rattle and gave it to Kathryn as a keepsake. Palma Lindsay said her daughter got an idea from the movie ``La Bamba'' in which 1950s rocker Ritchie Valens Ritchie Valens (born Ricardo Steven Valenzuela, May 13 1941 – February 3 1959) was a pioneer of rock and roll and a forefather to the Latin Rock movement. Career wears a snake rattle. ``She wants to make a necklace out of it for good luck. Isn't that gross?'' Lindsay asked. CAPTION(S): Photo Photo: (color in SAC edition only) Kathryn Lindsay, 8, of S augus pulled her neighbor Joseph Kobayashi, 1, away from a rattlesnake. Shaun Dyer/Special to the Daily News |
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