I have had many herps over the last 40 years and have had a passion for reptiles and amphibians since taking an advanced after school Herpetology class while in the sixth grade. We used Stebbins' first edition of "A Field Guide to Western Reptiles and Amphibians", which at the time had been published only a year before!

I was recently at a friend's house in Santa Ana, CA for a July 4th weekend BBQ and made an unusual find. At around 6:00pm, we found an adult Coastal Rosy Boa lying on the cement patio at the side of the house. My friend discovered it basking on the cement and wasn't sure what species it was so he called me over. I had been sitting in another area of the yard and didn't see where the snake came from. The snake made no attempt to escape as more and more people walked up to observe it. I identified the snake immediately, explained that it wasn't a venomous or aggressive species, and proceeded to pick up the snake to examine it. I discovered it to be very docile, in fine condition, and not at all bothered by being handled.

My friend's wife has the typical phobia for snakes and was not very excited about us finding a snake in her backyard. She definitely did not want us to leave it be, and considered calling the County Animal Shelter to come and collect the snake. My wife and I decided to bring it home and determine later what to do with the Rosy.

My friend's house is in an older, somewhat rural section of Santa Ana but I'd still consider it an urban area. Their backyard backs up to train tracks that service Amtrak, Metrolink, and Southern Pacific railways. Supposedly there is a small creek in the vicinity, but it definitely seems odd to me to find this snake where we found it. My thought is that it belonged to someone in the area and escaped. The snake appears to be very healthy. It is approximately 26" in length. It ate two fuzzies the day after I brought it home, which was also within the first hour of putting it in a different terrarium after spending the night in a temporary housing enclosure. I haven't wanted to handle it since it ate recently so I haven't yet determined it's sex.

I have previously had native California Kings, a Striped Racer, a Western Ringneck, and numerous garter snakes, as well as a captive bred cornsnake, but have never had a Rosy before. While surfing the web, I found a picture posted on rosyboa.com which looks exactly like the snake we found. The website photo is of a San Diego Coastal Black & Blue. I don't know if Santa Ana is within this subspecies', or similar appearing subspecies', native range.

My wife initially had a phobia for snakes (in fact when we got married 4 years ago, she convinced me to give away a beautiful captive bred coastal phase California Kingsnake which I had raised and had for 6 years) and suggested we keep the Rosy temporarily until we found someone else to take it. We've had the snake for less than two days now and she seems to be warming up to the idea of us keeping the Rosy.

I'm interested to hear from people with more experience with Rosys about their thoughts on this find. I considered posting "Found Snake" notices in the neighborhood where it was found, but one of my friends thought this could be alarming to certain people and could be problematic. I know that if indeed the snake is a captive bred escapee, then it would not be wise to try to release it in the wild - even in it's native habitat.

Thanks for taking the time to read this somewhat lengthy post, and for any posted replies.

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