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Baja Rattlesnakes
..In Your Neighborhood Now

BY VIVIAN STRATTON

Gruesome, yes, but it's either you or the snakes. Occasionally, the family dog will stick its nose where he shouldn't, and end up getting bitten.
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Rosarito vet Dr. Raul Damian suggests ad-ministering an anti-histamine and an an-tibiotic, such as Di-clofenaco, which is available at local pharmacy. Subdue the dog and rush it to the vet.
Rattlesnakes aren't the only critter to watch out for in the Baja outback. Scorpi-ons, Brown Recluse spiders, and Black widow spiders are all creeping around, dro-pping down from your bedroom ceiling and crawling around in your bathroom sink. Red Cross doctors say that a bite from the Brown Recluse spider or the Black Widow is extremely serious, and often deadly. Follow the same advice as for the snake bite.
Call 066, stay calm, take an antihistami-ne, and get to the hospital as quickly as possible. Red Cross docCtors say there is no available anti-ve-nom for a Black Wi-dow spider bite. Be careful when throwing out old clothes, books, or papers. Black widow spiders can be found any-where, even in urban areas. The best ge-neral advice for Baja residents is to keep a supply of antihistami-nes handy, and don't forget the Baja emer-gency number, 066






Three snakebite vic-tims were admitted to Rosarito's General Hospital or the Red Cross in only one week. The Rosarito firefighters have an-nounced that we are now in "rattlesnake season", and the critters are definitely out and about. One American lady recen-tly found a baby rattler sleeping under a blanket in her back-yard. Rattlesnakes are fearsome and misunderstood crea-tures, so if you meet up with one, it is a good idea to have some facts.
According to the fire-fighters, Baja rattle-snakes (Crotains En-yo) like to hide in trash dumps, piles of uncut brush, in loose dirt and rock piles, or in heaps of old clo-thes. In other words, you could meet up with one of these gu-ys just about anywhe-re, even in your own backyard. Urban are-as, such as downto-wn Rosarito, aren't really much safer than the surrounding hills. Last year, a number of rattlesnakes were discovered on a pro-perty just one block from the main Rosa-rito Boulevard Juarez.
Snakes like to eat rats, mice and li-zards, which are plentiful everywhere.
You can usually iden-tify a rattlesnake by its thick scaly-looking body. Often the snake will be brown in color, with black markings on the top of its back. Usually there will be rattles, but not al-ways. The rattle is a keratin-like substan-ce, like fingernails or the stem of a feather.
A rattler usually has

about 4-5 rattles. 10 rattles is rare, altho-ugh snakes have been known to grow up to 20 rattles in captivity. A cornered snake can strike a distance about ½ the length of its body. There is a debate over whether small rattlers are more dangerous than big ones.
If you think you've spotted a rattler, or hear one, you should calmly back away, keeping an eye out for the snake's family or pals. If you are unlucky enough to get bit, call the emergen- cy phone number 066, and they will send help immediate-ly. In the meantime, stay calm and lie down. Remove jewel-ry, shoes, and rings from the bitten limb. Try to keep the bitten limb lower than the heart. Doctors disa-gree about whether you should cut the wound and suck out the blood. Instead, they do agree that taking an antihistami-ne will help neutralize the poison. One me-dical person suggest-ed drinking milk. On-ce emergency help arrives, you'll be ta-ken to a local hospital At Rosarito's Red Cross hospital, a doctor said that they administer anti-hista-mines as part of the snake bite treatment. The Red Cross Hos-pital does not have anti-venom on hand; they must order it from the Tijuana hos-pital. The antidote can take several ho-urs to arrive from Tijuana. Rosarito's General Hospital also treats snake bites with antihistamines, but they do have anti-venom on hand. It is crucial to quickly call 066 and get hospital treatment. Don't try to catch the snake, or handle it in any way.
If you think that you have a rattlesnake family hanging out in your yard, the Rosa-rito fire fighters are the ones to call. They will come to your home and flush out the snakes, pouring Clorox in the suspec-ted holes and then whomping them with a machete when they poke their heads out.