Rattlesnake lunges at pest controller with breakneck speed in 110F heat in Arizona

Video captured the heart-stopping moment a rattlesnake lunged at a pest controller at break-neck speed when disturbed in Arizona‘s blistering 110-degree temperatures.  

Rattlesnake Solutions shared the footage of the wrangler attempting to pick up the western diamondback that made itself at home in a backyard in Phoenix.  

The hissing snake is seen launching two open-mouth lunges at the wranglers stick as it was lifted into a bucket. 

One of the lunges was so swift it could be missed with a single blink.  

Video captured the heart-stopping moment a rattlesnake (pictured) lunged at a pest controller at break-neck speed when disturbed in Arizona’s blistering 110-degree temperatures

Rattlesnake Solutions shared the footage of the wrangler attempting to pick up the western diamondback that made itself at home in a backyard in Phoenix

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The hissing snake is seen launching two open-mouth lunges at the wranglers stick as it was lifted into a bucket

Rattlesnake Solutions owner Bryan Hughes said temperatures hit nearly 110 degrees when the clip was captured. 

He explained that the extreme heat wave torching the western US in recent weeks has left rattlesnakes especially irritable, as they’re known for disliking high temperatures.  

‘This level of heat can be lethal (for rattlesnakes), which may cause added stress and increase the tendency to bite,’ Hughes told McClatchy News.

‘It’s hard to say if the bite speed itself is faster than it would be at more reasonable temperatures. In either case, it happens faster than the eye can see and certainly faster than a human can react.’

In recent weeks, temperatures in Arizona have reached almost 120 degrees, hitting an all-time high.

The Northwest has been under heat advisories for days as millions swelter in record temperatures; including Portland which smashed it’s all time previous high record of 108 degrees, set just one day earlier, when the mercury hit 112 just last week.

Just over a 100miles away, in the Oregon town of Eugene where the US Olympic trials are being held, the temperatures were so intense that heptathlete Taliyah Brooks had to be carted off the field in a wheelchair after collapsing due to the heat.    

Last week, the Pacific Northwest was plagued by a historic heat wave, with temperatures smashing all-time records and continuing to climb higher throughout the week

The National Weather Service has warned that record heat – the highest experienced in the city since records began in 1940 – could be smashed again by midweek, with experts warning the blazing weather could be ‘life-threatening,’ for the elderly, homeless and those with underlying medical conditions

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The heat wave was caused by what meteorologists described as a dome of high pressure over the Northwest and worsened by human-caused climate change, which is making such extreme weather events more likely and more intense.  

The common misconception is that rattlesnakes enjoy hot weather, but Hughes says  that’s not the case. They prefer temperatures in the upper 80s, and prolonged exposure to heat around 105 degrees can be deadly, says Hughes.   

‘To avoid this, each summer they enter a behavioral phase called aestivation. It’s similar in concept to hibernation (in winter), except it is to avoid hot, dry conditions,’ he said. 

‘In our part of Arizona, rattlesnakes typically aestivate in small groups through June and early July. They may use the same den every year throughout their lives.’  

According to Hughes, rattlesnakes captured by his company are taken to wilderness areas and released into a compatible habitat.

Summer is considered a “slow time” of year for rattlesnake captures, but Hughes said the company still catches up to 10 a day.