Are rattlesnakes dangerous in winter in the desert?
From the archive: This story originally published in The Desert Sun in February 2016.
“You don’t need to worry about rattlesnakes in winter. They’re all hibernating,” we were told by the driver as we drove along the floor of a very deep canyon. We were on private property in Arizona and had to be escorted onto the land by one of the caretakers who was also our chauffer for the day.
The caretaker was correct about rattlesnakes hibernating in winter. They do. There are, however, occasional exceptions, particularly in the Coachella Valley where temperatures at night rarely drop below freezing even in the dead of winter.
Let me first say that it is extremely unlikely that one will encounter a rattlesnake between Nov. 15 and Feb. 15. Nevertheless, let me relate two encounters I have had with winter rattlers. Keep in mind that there have been just two in 40 years so that makes encounters very rare events.
The first discovery occurred in late December at Vargas Palms located just east of Snow Creek Village at the western edge of the Coachella Valley. It was a calm, sunny day but the air temperature at 10:30 a.m. was only 56 degrees in the shade, according to my moderately accurate backpack thermometer. Everyone in our group felt the need to wear a jacket or sweater.
Shortly after we arrived at the small cluster of palms, a member of our group called out to me that she found something I needed to see. I hurried to the spot where I observed a very large (3.5 feet) red diamond rattlesnake in a resting coil in full sunlight. It was obviously taking advantage of the sunlight that had traveled 93 million miles across our solar system to keep the snake warm on that cold December day.
After a few minutes of tolerating our group of a dozen gawking hikers, the snake crawled into a crevice (likely the one from which it came). I touched the surface of the rock where it had been coiled and found that the surface was very warm. The snake never rattled upon seeing us even though we partially surrounded it. A few rapid tongue flicks was the only response our presence seemed to generate until the rattler returned to the crevice.
The second winter encounter happened on a trail a few hundred feet above Palm Desert.
It was a cloudy day in early February. My thermometer read 43 degrees with the wind blowing snow flurries around me. To my surprise, I nearly walked into a 2-foot-long speckled rattlesnake that was crawling across the trail.
The snake coiled at my approach, rattled pitifully, and wildly struck twice in my approximate direction. The cold air obviously had lowered its metabolic rate so much that its movements were disjointed and ineffective.
Looking back on the encounter, it was difficult to explain the snake being out and about on such a cold day. Perhaps some mammal had driven it from its underground retreat. I left the snake coiled on the trail and wondered if it could muster up enough energy to find a hiding place.
In short, my Arizona driver was almost correct. He just should have said that rattlesnakes are usually in hibernation in winter, but not always.
Cornett is a desert naturalist and author of Rattlesnakes: Frequently Asked Questions.
This article originally appeared on Palm Springs Desert Sun: California rattlesnakes: Are they dangerous in winter in the desert?
