Southern Arizona woman treated for snake bite amid busy rattlesnake season
GREEN VALLEY, Ariz. - As temperatures rise in Arizona, more rattlesnakes are out and about. A woman in Green Valley was bitten this week outside her own home, but what happened next was quite unusual.
The Green Valley Fire District says that this is one of the busiest rattlesnake seasons it has ever seen. First responders take around 15 to 20 calls per day to remove and relocate snakes and Gila monsters.
"We’re talking probably a good 2.5-3 foot snake," said L.T. Pratt with Green Valley Fire.
On Wednesday morning, crews were called after learning an elderly woman had been bitten on her right foot by a rattlesnake.
The snake was apparently hiding in a decorative pot just outside of her gate, and that there was no coiling up of this snake, no rattling, but the snake just bit her," Pratt said.
Elderly woman treated for rattlesnake bite at Southern Arizona hospital
With warmer weather, more rattlesnakes are out and about, and a woman in Southern Arizona found that out the hard way. However, the rattlesnake that bit the woman also played a role in the woman's treatment. FOX 10's Stephanie Bennett reports.
Paramedics rushed her to Banner University Medical Center in Tucson, but crews also rounded up the snake and brought it to the hospital.
"Of course the crews having that equipment on scene were able to capture that snake, box it up, and then with our communication with the receiving hospital, the physician had asked that we bring the snake in for tests," Pratt said.
Scottsdale family finds family of rattlesnakes on front porch
A Scottsdale family was in for quite the surprise, after they called for help to remove what they first thought was one single rattlesnake from their front porch.
Bryan Hughes, owner of Rattlesnake Solutions, has been out tracking snakes south of Phoenix. Their crews are also busy getting about 20 calls a day.
"You can call a professional to come and remove it," Hughes said. "More important than removing that snake is to figure out why that snake is there to begin with so you can prevent the next one."
On Friday, his team found a few rattlesnakes in Scottsdale hiding in the drainpipe of a church.
For this next three weeks, the snakes will be very active, Hughes says, but they'll become more nocturnal as the Valley reaches the triple digits.
"They also have a lot to do right now," Hughes said. As soon as the temperatures really get stable in the triple digits it's going to be too hot, so right now they have to eat, they have to mate, they have to move they got all this stuff, so that makes them cross trails cross backyards, cross roadways and that’s why you will see them."
If you are bitten by a rattlesnake, firefighters say you should call 911. Don't touch or handle the snake, and if you're bitten on the hand or foot, remove shoes and any jewelry because swelling will start almost immediately.