Rattlesnake caught in Hill City home

By Esther Noe 

 

No one expects to come home to a rattlesnake in their kitchen, but that is exactly what happened to Hill City resident John Bintliff. 

Bintliff recently bought an older house on North Newton Avenue near the Hill City Post Office. 

“The kitchen was needing remodeling, so I knew there were some gaping holes underneath the sink and stuff. I brushed it off ‘cause it’s no big deal. I didn’t fully expect a rattlesnake in my house.” 

On Monday, July 29, Bintliff’s mom was watching his toddler and dog at the house when she heard a strange noise. 

“That’s actually what first alarmed my mom. She was getting ready to take the trash out, and she reached under the sink to get another trash bag and she heard a rattle,” said Bintliff. “She thought it was the sink making noises, so she double-checked. When she closed the cabinet door, it was right next to her on the left side.” 

The rattlesnake had wormed its way through the crawlspace and up to the kitchen where it situated itself between the dishwasher and the sink cabinet. 

Bintliff said, “I come home, and she is like panicking at the front door. And I was like, ‘Oh, something must be wrong,’ and she said, ‘There’s a rattlesnake in your house.’” 

Immediately, Bintliff was alarmed and thought, “What the heck? Of all things in my house, a rattlesnake. 

“I knew there were rattlesnakes in the Hills. I grew up in the Hills my whole life. I’ve never seen one in the wild outside of Reptile Gardens. It wasn’t on my bingo card of things to come home to.” 

As the shock faded and relief in knowing everyone was safe set in, he said, “It was also kind of cool at the same time. I was like, ‘There’s an actual rattlesnake in my kitchen.’ It’s cool, but it’s also extremely frightening.” 

Bintliff could hear the rattle when he stepped inside the house and found the snake curled up in the kitchen. 

“Half its body’s just kind of peaking out in between the sink cupboard and the dishwasher,” said Bintliff. “It was just kind of hanging out there.” 

The snake appeared to be three to four feet long. Bintliff kept his distance, took a few pictures and then called someone his mom knew who had tools to deal with snakes. 

“He had one of those pincher things that they use and a bucket. So he grabbed a hold of the snake. I kind of helped with trying to keep it from going back in,” said Bintliff.

“It wouldn’t come out. It kept trying to fight to go underneath the sink, and that was like the big no-no for me because I didn’t want it to go back underneath the house. So I grabbed some tools and started hacking away underneath the sink to try to figure out if it was underneath,” Bintliff said.

The rattlesnake was not under the floorboards of the cabinet so Bintliff kept “hacking away.” 

Finally, the rattlesnake gave up the fight and allowed itself to be placed in the bucket. Once inside, the snake curled up and continued to rattle its tale. The rattlesnake was then taken outside of town to be released in the forest. 

“That wasn’t my call,” said Bintliff. “The guy who came over and put it in the bucket—that was his decision. He got it in the bucket and he took off with it, and I was like, ‘That’s all I care about is getting it out of here.”’ 

“I spent the rest of the evening basically remodeling underneath my sink to fill up all those holes. Didn’t hear any other rattles underneath. I was poking down there to try and see if there was maybe a small nest or anything like that,” said Bintliff. “Kind of crazy that the snake found a way through into my kitchen where I had a 2-year-old toddler and a pug. That was kind of freaky.” 

Using several cans of spray foam, Bintliff said, “I found every little crack and crevice, underneath the sink and behind the dishwasher that I could find, and that led to the crawlspace.”

The belief is that the snake was driven up into the kitchen by the heat. 

“I was talking to a couple people who had some ideas and experience with rattlesnakes, and it was probably just passing through, found a hole in the crawlspace and I think the heat just kind of pushed it,” said Bintliff. 

During the winter, Bintliff said he could feel a draft when he opened the cabinets. In fact, the kitchen was the next project on his list. 

“I’m sure he felt that too coming from my AC unit and found a way up. I found some of the holes it probably came through, and I filled those in,” Bintliff said. 

“Just kind of a shocker. I’ve been hearing that rattlesnakes are thicker this year, and just because we’re in town doesn’t mean they’re not there. So that was kind of an eye-opener. We’ve been a lot more careful around the yard,” said Bintliff. 

Wishing to remain anonymous, the person who caught and released the rattlesnake asked Joey Rodriguez, a self-proclaimed reptile person, to post about it on the Hill City Happenings Facebook page later that day. Their goal was to bring awareness to the fact that there are rattlesnakes in the area because some people are complacent or unaware. 

“There are rattlesnakes here. People should be aware of that but not live in fear about them being here,” said Rodriguez. 

The post triggered a flurry of comments including many saying the snake should have been killed rather than released. Some said that by releasing the rattlesnake, more families, children, pets and animals were put in danger. 

In contrast, Rodriguez said, “It was good that the snake was caught and released rather than just killed because of the good that snakes do.” 

“It’s okay to have a fear of snakes, but treating them as though they are a monster for existing is not really fair to the animal,” said Rodriguez. “It’s not good to just kill things just because they’re scary or dangerous. Having them go live free in the wild where they belong away from people is good because they are part of our natural ecosystem. They don’t deserve to just be killed indiscriminately just for existing.” 

Rodriguez said it would be different if the snake was actively attacking someone, but that did not seem to be the case in this instance. 

“There’s a big misconception about snakes being aggressive and people thinking that snakes want to hurt you. But really all they want to do is just be left alone. And the most common time when someone gets bitten by a snake, is when they’re trying to mess with it,” said Rodriguez. 

While he did not want people to be afraid of snakes, he wanted people to treat them with the respect they deserve.