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It's that time of the year where snakes like to come out and play — don't let these increased sightings ruin your spring and summer, though!
As bluebonnets bloom in the Lone Star State, there's been an increase in snake bites, KXAN reports, citing Payton Bowyer from St. David's South Austin Medical Center. There's also been an increasing need for anti-venom to treat venomous snake bites in the Austin area.
With spring comes snakes, that's just the reality. "Native snakes are going to be going coming out of what’s called brumation, which is kind of like a low metabolic rate, they’ve been taking it easy over the winter, not eating as much kind of in hiding, making sure they’re staying as warm as they can," said Austin Zoo's Hope Carr. During this period, snakes are on the hunt for not only food, but a mate.
They're most active in the late morning in the spring. But when the summer heat is here to stay, you can expect snakes to come out early in the morning or late in the evening.
This year in particular, we might see more snakes than usual, Carr says. That's because of the winter weather the state went through, plus the piles of debris that remain. "There's going to be less need for them to roam as far, potentially to find a good place to seek shelter, and food again, you know, the ice storm created essentially a lot of new habitat or what you call a microhabitat for animals to inhabit," Carr said.
Venomous snakes native to Texas include diamondback rattlesnakes, coral snakes, copperheads and cottonmouth snakes. There are also non-venomous snakes, like rat snakes, who you can use as free pest control without the insane invoice.