Cancun, Q.R. — The Cancun Fire Department says they are handling around three residential snake reports a day due to the cool winter weather. The reports involving reptiles in general have increased in recent weeks due to the official arrival of winter.
Aquileo Cervantes Álvarez, Operative Coordinator of the Cancun Fire Department, says the cool weather causes reptiles to move to other places often in search of warmth and food.
A majority of the reptile removal requests are made by citizens who live in Cancun suburbs. He said during the month of October, approximately 100 reptile removals were attended to with over half being removals from homes.
According to Cervantes Álvarez, around 55 cases were citizen requests of crocodile and snake removals from homes, while they responded to around 45 general reptile rescue and release cases from public areas.
Cervantes Álvarez says the areas with the most citizen reports are made from Manglar in region 77, Avante, Valle Verde, Colonia México, the Tres Reyes colonies and the continental Zone of Isla Mujeres.
The most commonly captured snake by Cancun Fire Department personnel, he says, is the boa constrictor, being the snake that reproduces the most in the region.
According to the National Epidemiological System, so far this year in Quintana Roo they have recorded three cases of rattlesnake bites, two cases of coral snake bites and 18 cases classified as “other” snake bites throughout the state.
