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Santa Fe will have most everything ABQ has. Bottom line? Some areas of NM will have a higher concentration of rattlers, scorpion, widows, etc (ie Las Cruces), but ALL areas of NM share these critters, there is nowhere in NM you can go that wont have rattlers, scorpions, etc. Just learn to respect them and leave them alone and youll have no problems. But yes, since its warming up, the critters are becoming more active and bites/stings will occur if youre not careful. There were 4 people bit in the Phoenix area last weekend alone, one of them a child playing in the yard.
PORTION OF THE ARTICLE: Rattlesnakes are a dog and people hazard around New Mexico from early spring through fall. Not all snakes are poisonous, and most will slither off if left alone and not threatened. The Veterinary Emergency and Specialty Center in Santa Fe is seeing a steady number of dogs bitten by snakes. "This is the standard rattlesnake season," said Lauren Richman, a veterinarian with the emergency center. "In the past three years, the earliest bite has occurred in March and the latest bite in November." Richman said the center averages 75 to 100 snake-bite dog cases a year. Warmer weather brings the cold-blooded snakes onto trails and paths in the midmorning and late afternoon to early evening. Curious dogs can hear a snake's rattle before a person and may run over to investigate. A startled or threatened snake can lunge far and strike rapidly, sinking its fangs into a leg or canine muzzle. The Ark Veterinary Hospital hasn't had a rattlesnake bite case yet this season. Neither has Smith Veterinary Clinic, but it usually handles half a dozen a year, said veterinarian Mike Dobesh.
Wow - it's been almost four years since I started this topic and it popped up at the top again. Just in case anyone is thinking about Santa Fe and wondering what critters we've all seen... in four years:
2 bull snakes
1 black widow on my kids' wooden swing set, and several possible nests on our flagstone steps leading down to the garden area
1 wolf spider by the front door plus a few other large interesting spiders on webs outside
4 centipedes, 3 outside and 1 crawling on my daughter's bed as I was tucking her in (talk about reactions - I flung the covers off the bed, grabbed a shoe, found where the centipede had landed, and whacked the heck out of it)
1 brown recluse under a rotting wooden water barrel
and 10,000,000,000 red ants
I've never sprayed at my house and live on 5 wooded acres, so I figure that's not too bad for four years.
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