Reptile & Amphibian Forums

It's been a long time since I've gone out specifically looking for herps. For the past few years, what I've collected has pretty much been what I've stumbled across by accident. Given that I don't drive, it's not uncommon - but still.

It's hot time of the year, so I went early morning before it got to hot. I am specifically looking for femal California King, though I am willing to take a L. Zonata if I come across one

I'm not sure there are any in Redding, I know along the coast they get down to this elevation - but I believe I have to go up in elevation a bit to find them here.

Anyway - I did not find what I was looking for, but I did find some interesting herps.

In one creek, I found hundreds of baby toads, little tiny guys. I only had a pillow case with me, I did not have a suitable container for transfering them - and I'm not sure what species they are. They are not western toads (Bufo Boreas) - I'm very familiar with that species. They looked kind of like spadefoot toads. In the future, I'll go back to where they were and collect a few for further analysis.

Of course, in the creeks that were not almost dry, Bullfrogs were everywhere, which is kind of sad. I'd much prefer Rana Aurora.

I ran into more Alligator Lizards today than I've ever run into here in Redding - one lives in my front yard, but other than him and a single baby that got into my house one day - I've only seen one until today. But today I found four of them (all released as I'm not set up for lizards). They were all Southern Alligator Lizards. I'm not sure if Northern are found here, I know they are further south and west and north (as I've found them s,w,n) but I've not found any yet here in Redding. Not really looked, though, until today.

Of course I found a ton of western fence lizards, they are all over the place. I caught one female, who was clearly full of eggs and ready to lay. I was tempted to bring her home, but reason got the better of me and I released her.

At one point, I heard something in the grass that sounded like it might be a snake crawling - got a closer look, it was a baby shrub jay. I know it was a baby shrub jay because within seconds, I had two adult shrub jays dive bombing me

I did come across one snake, a sharp tailed snake (Contia Tenuis). It was under a rotting log that I hoped might contain a Rubber Boa. Due to the dietary and habitat needs of sharp tailed snakes, they do not make good pets, so I let it go.

By about 10:00 it was already getting too hot for any snakes to be found, so I then headed home, and removed all the ticks from my clothing.

I didn't find what I was looking for, but it was still a good day all in all. Seeing that baby Jay was probably the highlight.

The most disapointing part was finding logs that obviously had been overturned by other people (probably kids doing what I was doing) and not returned to their original position.

Going again - this time leaving before dawn ... wish me luck

Redding's up in NoCal, right? You guys getting roasted up there too. Down south here Chatsworth (L.A. County) you've gotta either be in the field pre-dawn or on the road @ night to have a chance @ anything good. Got a nice Great Basin Gopher, female yearling last Sunday.

reako45

I went to a different location, this time I went to the railroad tracks and followed them north for several miles until it started to get too warm.

I did find a rather interesting Southern Alligator Lizard.
It definitely is Southern (yellow around pupil, lines on belly on middle of scales) but it has a greenish back, which something more common for Northern. Southerns (even the ones I've seen up here) are usually more red or orange on the back. I kept her for that reason. She's extremely docile, has not attempted to bite at all. I'll post a pic later, right now I'm letting her hide in her new cage (15 Gallon). No signs of external parasites.

It's a female, I saw her on the trail (green back kind of sticks out in heavily oxidized soil) not moving. Picked her up, she was so cold I thought she was dead. But after a few minutes she warmed up nicely in my hand, and I had to put her in the snake bag.

I possibly saw the tail of another alligator lizard, though it may have been an adult skink (I suspect alligator lizard).

Tons of western fence lizards.

I did see the tail of a garter snake, not sure what species but I suspect mountain (Thamnophis e elegans).

I found the shed skin from a snake, it was old and the pattern had faded, but the scales looked like garter snake. Found a bunch of bullfrog tadpoles, no other amphibians.

I did see some interesting non herps, a group of mallards, a doe, a couple sasquatch, some rabbits, nothing really too remarkable for the area.

Oh - my southern is probably the California subspecies.
It's possible there is influence of Oregon integrade, it's kind of hard to tell from the range map - the specimen though seems to have all the characteristics of the California subspecies. The green patterning on the back is something I've not seen too often, but I don't think it is unheard of.

Pics of the alligator lizard are in the alligator lizard forum.