This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2010, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
Walking toward her backyard compost pile last August, Stormy Sweitzer saw it from the corner of her eye. Then she heard its rattle.
"I quickly got out of the way," Sweitzer said. Then she went back inside her house to lock the doors. She didn't want her Labrador dogs outside.
A simple wait until the next day was enough time to let the small Great Basin rattlesnake slither away on its own.
Sweitzer had seen rattlesnakes on trails in and around the east benches of Salt Lake Valley. She followed the same intuitive sense she used then to avoid confrontation with the snake that visited her backyard.
"At least with the ones I've seen, they don't pursue you. They just let you know they're there, and you back away."
Sweitzer's advice meshes well with what officials at the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources and U.S. Forest Service say about avoiding snake bites now that hot weather has descended on the Salt Lake Valley. At the first sight or sound of a rattlesnake, stay away. It's common sense, said George Oliver, zoologist with the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources. But like all common sense, it's sometimes surprising how few people follow it.
"The vast majority of people who get bitten did not need to end up that way," Oliver said. "If they'd just walked away, they'd be fine."
Utah snakes are particularly active this time of year. Usually they start moving from their hibernating den
sites in spring, returning to those sites come fall. This year's astoundingly cool and wet June may have meant a delay in the usual pattern of spring migration into open space among the rocks and shrubs resting about 5,000 feet above sea level. So far, those who monitor hikers' encounters with snakes haven't noticed an uptick in areas where people usually see them. Those areas include Mill Creek Canyon and most of the east bench of the Salt Lake Valley.
Uptick or not, U.S. Forest Service spokeswoman Kathy Jo Pollock always admonishes people to be careful.
"This is the time of year we give safety refresher tips for employees in case they run into [rattlesnakes]," she said.
The most common venomous snake in Salt Lake County and western Utah by far is the Great Basin rattlesnake. Light gray to light yellow or tan in color, with blotches along its back, the Great Basin rattlesnake appears most often in late summer or fall, when it gives birth to multiple offspring.
Ambush predators by nature, they can rest on the top of rocks or ledges for hours until the infrared receptors on their face sense the heat of prey.
"We humans have the perfect temperature," Oliver said. "I'd hate to be pulling myself up to the top of a rock and stare at one just inches from my eyes. Rattlesnakes love rocky situations."
Oliver said he gets most of his rattlesnake calls from people who bought a house on the east bench of Salt Lake City or had a new house built in that area. The snakes also tend to appear at lower parts of nearby canyons that drain east to west. Chances of running into rattlesnakes diminish the higher up you travel, disappearing almost completely at 8,000 or 9,000 feet above sea level.
Some snake bites are "dry," or delivered without venom. Venomous bites can be painful, but the good news is that snake bites rarely end in death. Of Utah's 28 species of rattlesnake, the bite of the Mojave is the deadliest. The Mojave resides in Utah's most southwest corner.
"Not many people in Utah get bitten by snakes they didn't see beforehand," Oliver said. "That usually happens in the southeast region of the United States, where the snakes are quiet and have no rattle."
If you happen to come across a snake, do not provoke, taunt or otherwise harass it. So said George Oliver, zoologist with the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources.
"The vast majority of bites occur when people see the snake, know it's there, and could have walked away but did not," Oliver said. "If they'd walked away, they would have been just fine."
With that, the biggest tip, out of the way, there are still other precautions hikers and outdoor enthusiasts may take:
1. Look twice, or even three times, before you sit down on the ground or a rock. Snakes are evolutionarily designed to be camouflaged, and you can't always depend on them to rattle before you see them.
2. Watch where you put your hands and fingers. These are the most common areas to suffer bites. Whether reaching toward the ground to pick something up, or reaching for an overhead rock while climbing, or scrambling up a slope or cliff with your hands extended forward, look before you reach.
3. Consider ditching open-toe shoes and shorts for boots and thick jeans. Tevas and other brands of outdoor sandals may be comfortable, Oliver said, but they don't offer much protection in the event of a bite. Ditto for shorts.
4. If you know your dog becomes uncontrollable when faced with an adversary, bring a leash. Depending on how many snakes are born in late summer and early fall, local Wasatch Front veterinarian hospitals can see more than their share of dogs suffering rattlesnake bites.
5. To keep snakes off your porch or out of your backyard, shine a light. Many snakes move around most at night, so keep a flashlight for preparedness.
6. Never handle a dead snake, or what appears to be a dead snake. Their reflexes remain active after death, and the venom is just as poisonous.
7. If you're bitten, or feel a stinging sensation and think you might have been bitten by a snake you didn't see, get medical treatment immediately. You may also call the Utah Poison Control Center at 1-800-222-1222.