More Snakes, Bites Reported in Bay Area

The Bay Area’s dry winter and hot spring were just the right combination to send snakes, including the venomous rattlesnake, slithering everywhere.

The abundance of rattlers has led to a 50% jump in snakebites so far this year. And rattlesnakes don’t always rattle these days to give hikers, campers and gardeners warning, snake experts say.

That’s a result of evolution, they say. Rattling gives humans a chance to kill the snake before it strikes and, as a result, snakes that don’t rattle have been the ones to survive and reproduce.

In addition to the increase in bites, supplies of the antivenin used to treat victims of those bites are in short supply in area hospitals and nationwide.