It's not your imagination. This is a weird rattlesnake season. Here's what's happening

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Emily Taylor has lived in California for 20 years and has never gotten as many calls about rattlesnakes as she did last month.Taylor owns Central Coast Snake Services, a serpent consulting business, directs the Physiological Ecology of Reptiles Laboratory at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo and is part of a network of volunteers who help ethically relocate rattlesnakes into the wild.Her phone was “ringing off the hook,” she said, with people who were calling about rattlesnake sightings all over the state.

In March, two people were fatally bitten by rattlesnakes in Southern California alone, a 46-year-old woman from Ventura County and a 25-year-old man in Orange County.Nationally, about five people die from rattlesnake bites in an entire year, according to health officials.

Ventura County reported four rattlesnake bite incidents since March 14, compared to a total of nine in 2025.The California Poison Control System has reported 77 calls of rattlesnake bites in just the first three months of 2026.

On average, Poison Control reports 200 to 300 rattlesnake bites annually.In her work on the Central Coast, Taylor said she had responded to calls from people who had encountered rattlesnakes in their backyards.

“We typically only get one or two [calls] in March before it goes crazy in April,” she said.Taylor said she’d already had about 10 to 20 times the number of calls she usually receives from those in her community.

Why? Simply put: The snakes have been more active — and so have people.Unseasonably warm weather patterns, including the unprecedented heatwave in March, have driven rattlesnakes out of their winter retreats in search of food and mates a month ahead of the typical start of rattlesnake season, Taylor said.Similarly, the warmer temperatures have compelled outdoor enthusiasts to hit the trails, increasing the odds of a run-in with the serpents.

Rattlesnake season i...