The Garbage Can Stomp: Rattlesnake Safety Every Arizona Homeowner Should Know
The Garbage Can Stomp: Rattlesnake Safety Every Arizona Homeowner Should Know Arizona rattlesnake safety tips every desert homeowner should know — including strike distance, baby rattlers, and the simple habits that prevent most bites. A few steps into my fifty-yard trek to the big garbage dumpster, something made me stop. Not a sound. Not a movement. Just that quiet alarm desert living eventually programs into you whether you ask for it or not. We had already seen temperatures warm enough for snakes to be stirring. My brain said the risk was probably still low. My body said: be careful anyway. So I stomped. Loud and hard. I kicked a rock toward the dumpster and let it bounce off — enough vibration to announce my presence to anything resting nearby. I scanned the rocks. Checked the shady spots. Looked under the can from a distance. I never saw a snake. This is what I now call my garbage can stomp. I probably looked completely unhinged to my brand-new neighbors. And ho...