Beware of winter surprises

Clovis resident Victoria Garcia was doing some tidying-up around her home Sunday afternoon when she took a break to go feed her dog, Lady.

Garcia went outside and noticed that Lady wasn’t in her dog house, but instead outside of it barking towards it. She also noticed the birds were chirping more than usual.

Garcia tried to get closer to Lady’s house, but Lady wrapped her owner’s legs up in the leash and kept her from going any closer.

She didn’t know why her dog (and the birds) were acting so strangely until she leaned down to peer inside the dog house.

“I got far away (from the dog house), and I got my phone and looked inside, and there was a snake,” Garcia said. “It sounded awful.”

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Clovis Police Officer Antonio Orozco coaxes a snake into a cardboard box Sunday afternoon at Clovis resident Victoria Garcia’s home. Garcia said the snake came up to her waist in length and was very thick in diameter. Animal Control Supervisor Marty Martinez said for residents to call authorities immediately when a snake is found in or around your home.

Garcia said the snake was making loud noises, threatening her and Lady to stay away. Since animal control doesn’t work on Sundays, she called the Clovis Police Department to come take care of her unwelcome guest.

Officer Antonio Orozco came to their rescue, armed with a broom and a cardboard box. The snake struck out at Orozco twice, she said, before he hit the reptile on the head and raked it into the box.

Now that the weather is getting colder, snakes and other vermin are looking for warm places to hibernate during the winter, Animal Control Supervisor Marty Martinez said.

“They’re just trying to find a place to den up,” he said. “We’ve seen a bunch in covers for sprinkler systems; they squeeze in there.”

But snakes’ favorite place to curl up is in a shed or garage that’s full of cardboard boxes, he added.

“(Snakes) get up underneath garage doors where they’re cracked,” Martinez said. “You’re leaving access for that animal to come inside.”

To keep snakes — and rodents that can bring hungry snakes to your residence — Martinez recommends making sure all structures are secured underneath to ensure nothing unwanted can slither inside.

“If you have mice, there may be a bull snake around,” Martinez said, adding that it’s hard to tell the difference between a non poisonous bull snake and a deadly rattlesnake. “Just securing stuff is what’s really going to help.”

Interim Police Chief Doug Ford said the main difference between bull snakes and rattlesnakes is the “buzzing on the tails,” and the pattern on their heads is different.

But don’t try to get close enough to see which kind it is, he warned. Ford said to call authorities right away to come take care of the problem guest.

Martinez also suggested keeping “rubbish” to a minimum and cleaned up; snakes love curling up in a heap of stuff, he said.

“When you have rubbish you’re going to get mice, and the snakes are going to be attracted to that,” Martinez explained. “If it’s clean, you won’t have those issues, but once you start getting cluttered whether it’s in a garage or a shop, you’re inviting them to come in.”

If you do find a snake in our around your residence, Martinez and Ford both stressed to call authorities to come and humanely capture the critter so it can be released back into the wild.

Martinez said that if a snake is native to the area, authorities would release it on the backside of the landfill. If they’re not, he said the zoo would take snakes not native to the area until they can be released back into their natural habitat.