FOLSOM, Calif. —
As the weather heats up, residents across the Greater Sacramento region are seeing more snakes than usual.
Scotty Orbegozo has lived in the Folsom Ranch community since 2019. In his nearly 2.5 years living in the community, Orbegozo has had around 10 encounters with snakes.
"When we moved to the community, we knew we would have encounters with bugs since it is a newer development, but we were not prepared for there to be snakes all over the place," Orbegozo told ABC10.
Orbegozo said so far this year, he has already seen four snakes in his backyard. Out of the ten encounters he has had with snakes, Orbegozo said his most recent snake encounter was the worst one to date.
Orbegozo and his family were getting ready to swim in their pool. As Orbegozo's husband and child were in the water, he noticed that there was a snake dangling from their pool's waterfall.
"I had to put my snake grabber to use for the very first time," Orbegozo said. "This was an eye-opening experience because it was the biggest snake I have ever had to remove from our yard."
Daya Grondin, an animal control officer for the city of Folsom, says the number of reports they have received regarding snakes has increased by nearly 20%.
“As the weather is starting to heat up, we are getting calls nearly every day,” Grondin said.
Jake Molieri, the owner of Snakeout which is a snake removal company in Folsom, said they have responded to around 40 reports of rattlesnakes so far this year. Last week, in particular, the company responded to approximately 10-15 calls of nonvenomous snakes as the weather warmed up.
“It was really intense,” Molieri said. “I mean there were days where we were getting 7-9 calls a day for snakes in general.”
Grondin said the city usually receives the most rattlesnake reports around communities and businesses near the freeway because those areas have a lot of open fields surrounding them. Grondin added that the new construction has also impacted the number of snakes Folsom residents have seen recently.
“Folsom is a rapidly growing city and there has been a lot of new construction disrupting where the snakes would normally live, so that may be why we are seeing more snakes than usual,” Grondin said.
Molieri said the drought also has an impact on snake season because it causes them to get desperate for water.
“It does not help that we keep our yards really well watered,” Molieri said. “As we approach these hotter days, we are going to see a lot more snakes in backyards with pools and fountains.”
Molieri advises those who see a snake, not to touch it or try to pick it up as they can get defensive.
“If you pick up or harass a snake, you are more likely to get bitten,” Molieri said. “Nearly 51-60% of snake bites from venomous snakes are from people deliberately messing with them or trying to pick them up.”
According to Molieri, it is best to call a snake removal company if you see a snake on your property and wish to have it removed. Molieri said it is important to keep an eye on the snake while the snake removal company is on its way because if you lose sight of it, then it will be much harder for them to find the snake on your property.
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