Lorenz Krassnitzer, a biologist who teaches science at Los Lunas High School, has seen more prairie rattlesnakes outside his Valencia County home in the past few months than he has in 30 years of living there, the Valencia County News-Bulletin reported.

"They come off the mesa," Krassnitzer told a reporter on a recent tour of the pens where he breeds exotic birds. "My dad used to have a dairy farm here, and in these dry summers, we'd get two or three (snakes) a week, depending."

But this year, prairie rattlesnakes are showing up with greater frequency than ever -- as many as 10 in one recent month, Krassnitzer told the News-Bulletin.

"It's not that unusual. The more we encroach on their environment, the more we're going to see them face-to-face," said the science teacher. "They're always going to be going when there's food."

Krassnitzer said his pens provide the snakes some food -- but not the exotic birds who live there, but their feed, which attracts mice, which in turn are eaten by the snakes, the News-Bulletin reported.

He said he recently caught two rattlesnakes near his pens, one at least 5 feet long, which he released far off in the hills behind his home, the paper said.

"I used to kill them when I was younger," Krassnitzer told the News-Bulletin. "But these days I try not to. They're such beautiful creatures. And they help us out, too."

Krassnitzer said that by keeping the mouse population down, rattlers and other snakes help protect humans from Hantavirus and other mice-borne diseases, the News-Bulletin said.

He said people living on the outskirts of Los Lunas and Belen can protect themselves by simply knowing the habits of snakes and being vigilant, the paper reported.

Your Name:

Your Email Address:

Rate this article:
Poor Great

Comment:

BOLD

"QUOTE"

UNDERLINE