Rattlesnake Attacks Woman Outside Her California Home in Terrifying Video

A California woman’s ordinary morning in the garden turned into a terrifying fight to save her own life after a rattlesnake suddenly struck her outside her Los Angeles County home.

Linda Martin, who lives in Stevenson Ranch near Santa Clarita, had stepped outside to tend to her roses when the nightmare unfolded. She was barefoot and wearing no protection on her legs, never realizing a venomous rattlesnake was hiding close by.

Moments later, the snake lunged.

Security camera footage captured Martin in her garden just before the rattlesnake sank its fangs into her toes. Her screams could be heard on the video as the quiet suburban morning exploded into panic.

Martin said she never heard the snake’s warning rattle before the attack.

“I went and lifted the bush, and that’s when I saw the rattler,” Martin told CBS News.

She immediately ran back inside, but within seconds, she said, she could already feel the venom spreading through her body.

“Within 30 to 45 seconds, I started feeling tingling in my fingertips,” Martin said. “It moved into my jaw, my cheeks, my tongue.”

The frightening ordeal became even more dangerous when Martin tried to call 911 and her phone would not connect. Her cell signal failed on the first call. Then the second call failed. Then the third.

With every second feeling more desperate, Martin’s husband made the decision that may have saved her life.

“Dialed a second time, it didn’t even connect,” Martin recalled. “Dialed a third time, and my husband just said, ‘Get in the car.’”

The couple raced to the hospital, about 10 minutes away, where Martin was treated with antivenom.

“Had my husband not been home, and I was here alone, I don’t know what would have happened,” Martin said.

Martin survived the bite, but her terrifying encounter comes as California officials warn that rattlesnake bites appear to be rising across the state.

Lee Cantrell, a director at the California Poison Control System, told CBS News that California is already outpacing last year’s number of rattlesnake-related calls.

“Last year, we had a little over 400 calls about rattlesnake bites,” Cantrell said. “And so far, in the first six months of 2026, we’ve had 250 calls.”

At that pace, California could see about 20% more rattlesnake bites this year. Three people have already died from venomous snake bites in the state in 2026.

Cantrell said one possible reason is that warmer weather brought rattlesnakes out earlier than usual.

“This year, we had kind of a warm early spring, and so that could have fostered rattlesnakes coming out of hibernation earlier,” he said.

For Martin, the lesson was painfully clear. Her beloved roses are not going anywhere, but her gardening routine has changed for good.

“I was laughing. Next time in the garden, I’m going to wear a hazmat suit, because I’m afraid to go,” she said. “But I certainly won’t go gardening without wearing boots.”