Snakes crawling into homes to beat heat in Bengaluru

Creepy guests

This summer, residents of Bengaluru have to brace themselves for encounters of the creepy kind with the scorching heat driving snakes, particularly cobras and rat snakes, into homes for cool respite.

From March onwards, there has been a rise in the cases of these reptiles coming out of their natural habitat to beat the heat.  The Forest Cell of Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) has been flooded with rescue calls from people across the City. Snake catchers and NGOs too have been getting calls from frantic residents. 

Sharath Babu, Wildlife Warden, BBMP Forest Cell told Deccan Herald that eight zones of the Cell such as East, West, South, Yelahanka, Dasarahalli, Mahadevapura, Bommanahalli and R R Nagara get calls every day. 

According to him, the Cell has been receiving around 150 calls a day since the beginning of March from residents for catching the snakes that have entered their homes or compounds. Even though the City has 23 species of snakes, majority of the snakes that enter homes are cobras and rat snakes, he said. 

Before the start of summer, the Cell used to get between 50-100 calls a day. Due to the early onset of summer this year, reptile and rodent menace has increased. Snake catchers attend only calls where the snakes have entered  homes and ignore calls if the reptiles are spotted on roads, a BBMP official said.

As summer is breeding season for reptiles, snakes come out of their habitat for mating as well, Sharath Babu noted. 

Manjunatha, a resident of Uttarahalli, said recently he spotted four snakes, including a huge cobra on the bund of Subramanyapura lake. “I have been residing in this area for the last nine years but spotted snakes for the first time,” he said.The only silver lining to this scary situation is that no snake bites have been reported since March.

Residents may contact the Forest Cell on telephone number 080-22221188 in case a snake slinks into their house.