SAN DIEGO -- An Ocean Beach man spotted a seven-foot long snake slithering along Sunset Cliffs while walking his dog Monday.
"I saw this giant snake just lying there," said Ryan Devine, who walks his dog Dakota often at Sunset Cliffs. "But [Dakota] was just staring at it when I was kind of taking the picture."
Devine says he's never seen anything like it at Sunset Cliffs.
"I originally thought it was going to be like a rattlesnake," Devine said. "I mean, that's like the first thing that came into my head."
However, experts told 10News it is actually a gopher snake. It is not venomous, although it is aggressive. The saliva of a gopher snake can also be filthy, since it eats mice and rats. A bite can transmit rabies, salmonella poisoning and even tetanus.
"I would just say, keep a pretty good eye on your dog," Devine said. "A bite to the face is a bite to the face. I mean that's still, that's going to hurt."
Experts say to immediately wash with hot soapy water if you do get bit.
