Skip to content

PHOTOS: Snakes slithering all over Okanagan

Sightings include rattlers, rubber boas and lots of gopher snakes

It’s snake season and there are lots of them slithering in plain sight throughout South Okanagan.

Chance Breckenridge came face to face with a large Northern Pacific Rattlesnake near Skaha Lake May 26. Breckenridge managed to snap a couple pictures and post them to Facebook, saying the large snake was near Okanagan Falls.

Steve Zed took a picture of a good-sized rubber boa he saw on Green Mountain Road near Calla Ranch June 8.

The Channel walkway is a known spot to see gopher snakes slithering across the pathway. Gopher snakes look like rattlesnakes but are not venomous.

The ones on the channel are often seven feet long or longer. They can bite if provoked but there don’t seem to be any known reports of them going after dogs or humans.

Gopher and rattlesnakes can also be found on the KVR Trail, Wiltse trails and Skaha Bluffs.

VIDEO: Penticton man has close encounters with massive snakes twice in one week

Last year, someone got the fright of their life going to use the porta-potties at Skaha Bluffs. A baby rattler was curled up at the base of the toilet.

READ MORE: Rattlesnake curls up beside outhouse toilet at popular Penticton climbing spot

v



Monique Tamminga

About the Author: Monique Tamminga

Monique brings 20 years of award-winning journalism experience to the role of editor at the Penticton Western News. Of those years, 17 were spent working as a senior reporter and acting editor with the Langley Advance Times.
Read more