Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I spent the last three days working at the Salton Sea; a large, accidental, man-inadvertantly-made lake in Riverside/Imperial Counties in Southern California. Of course while there I had my eyes open for herps (and birds) and found some cool ones.
I came upon this beautiful, thinly banded, California Kingsnake at 5:20 pm crossing a road in a heavily agricultural area. Great snake:
.
This morning I found this awesome Western Coachwhip hunting holes in the side of an irrigation canal levee:
Saying my mantra, "I have no harm in my heart for you"

Look at that face:

And a very happy, unbitten, herper:

And yes, this USGS representative did not find any evidence of Burmese Pythons near the Salton Sea
Thanks for looking,
Paul

Thanks for sharing your finds. I wish it was that easy to run across snakes around here!
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Renee

2.0 amel & anery corns (Foxfire & Daguerre)
1.0 BRB (Loki)

Renee,
I commented to the guy I was working with, who's been doing bird studies down there for years, that he must run into a ton of snakes. He commented that he had'nt seen any!! When I spotted the large Coachwhip he did'nt know what I was seeing (and I'm talking about a large, pinkish snake against a bare dirt canal).
Just goes to show if your not interested they aint there unless you run over one.
Thanks,
Paul

My brother works for the park service in the Santa Monica Mountains and he's run into snakes without trying. There's very little light in the area where they live and once in the dark while packing for a trip he saw a dark strip on the ground and thought he'd lost a strap from a pack. He picked it up and discovered the "strap" was a rattlesnake---which he immediately dropped. The snake took off instead of biting, luckily. I use that as an example for people who fear/hate snakes---that most are afraid of people, and would rather escape than attack.
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Renee

2.0 amel & anery corns (Foxfire & Daguerre)
1.0 BRB (Loki)

I would have thought that was an Eastern Chain King till I saw the head of the snake. If one handles even snakes that are usually aggressive they can avoid being bitten all together.

>>I spent the last three days working at the Salton Sea; a large, accidental, man-inadvertantly-made lake in Riverside/Imperial Counties in Southern California. Of course while there I had my eyes open for herps (and birds) and found some cool ones.
>>I came upon this beautiful, thinly banded, California Kingsnake at 5:20 pm crossing a road in a heavily agricultural area. Great snake:
>>.
>>This morning I found this awesome Western Coachwhip hunting holes in the side of an irrigation canal levee:
>>Saying my mantra, "I have no harm in my heart for you"
>>
>>Look at that face:
>>
>>And a very happy, unbitten, herper:
>>
>>
>>And yes, this USGS representative did not find any evidence of Burmese Pythons near the Salton Sea
>>Thanks for looking,
>>Paul
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=========================================================
Roberts Realm Of Reptile Research
=========================================================
Thanks,

I opened my mouth and out flowed a melody black.

My thoughts too Frank. Really interesting looking Cal King. I've caughten alot of snakes over the years and have only been bit by a Western Aquatic Garter Snake that I surprised and even it calmed down quickly (musking is another matter!!). It is not just in the handling IMO.
Thanks,
Paul

Hey Paul, cool snakes, always fun to find them in the wild!!!

So how does one accidentally make a lake????
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Thanks,

Dave Colling

www.rainbows-r-us-reptiles.com

0.1 Wife (WC and still very fiesty)
0.2 kids (CBB, a big part of our selective breeding program)

LOL, to many snakes to list, last count:
26.49 BRB
20.21 BCI
And those are only the breeders

lots.lots.lots feeder mice and rats

Dave,
It is alot of fun to encounter snakes in the 'wild' (hard to say that around the Salton Sea).
The 'Sea' was created in 1905 when the Colorado River had a big time flood and blew out a diversion channel built to by-pass a silted in canal (Imperial Canal). Imagine the Colorado depositing silt!! Who would of thunk it. All this was done to bring in Colorado River water into the Imperial Valley. Done deal.
Its actually a fascinating area. Now that the Sea is there it has become a avian wonderland and major breeding ground. It is also sporadically a death trap for both birds and fish. Most of the discharge into the Sea is from ag. runoff which brings in all kinds of goodies (Selenium, salts, pesticides, exc). There is no outflow. Anyway, they are proposing to divert the ag. runoff to southern California municipal uses (yumm) which will spell the death of the Salton Sea.
Probably a bit more info than you were looking for!@!
Thanks for asking,
Paul

Uh, Paul, you sure about that?

Please don't release this picture to the press!!!

Cool snakes, thanks for sharing.

Ed

>>And yes, this USGS representative did not find any evidence of Burmese Pythons near the Salton Sea
>>Thanks for looking,
>>Paul

Ed,
Seldom do I laugh out loud when perusing these forums. Thanks for a good one.
Paul

No problem, I had my son do it so he could practice his PC skills. (Translation: He knows more than me about basic PC applications.) I wanted to place a python sneaking up on you in the picture, but that was too tough to do with Microsoft Paint.

Thanks for the pics, those are neat snakes.

Ed

>>Ed,
>>Seldom do I laugh out loud when perusing these forums. Thanks for a good one.
>>Paul

Another pinkish snake on a hill/bank side?
Great pic lol.

Sean.
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1.1 BRB
1.1 Triple Het TPRS's
0.1 Silver TPRS
1.1 Amel Bloodred Corns
0.1 Abbott Okeetee Corn
0.1 Blizzard Bloodred Corn
1.1 Thayeri Kingsnakes
0.1 Reeve's Turtle
0.2 Amstaff's
1.0 Pudytat

Hibernating Burmese Pythons will overrun the country!!!

www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,355104,00.html

Funny, though, notice who is eating who in the picture.

Thanks,
Ed

>>Another pinkish snake on a hill/bank side?
>>Great pic lol.
>>
>>Sean.
>>-----
>>1.1 BRB
>>1.1 Triple Het TPRS's
>>0.1 Silver TPRS
>>1.1 Amel Bloodred Corns
>>0.1 Abbott Okeetee Corn
>>0.1 Blizzard Bloodred Corn
>>1.1 Thayeri Kingsnakes
>>0.1 Reeve's Turtle
>>0.2 Amstaff's
>>1.0 Pudytat

>>Uh, Paul, you sure about that?
>>
>>
>>
>>Please don't release this picture to the press!!!
>>
>>Cool snakes, thanks for sharing.
>>
>>Ed
>>
>>>>And yes, this USGS representative did not find any evidence of Burmese Pythons near the Salton Sea
>>>>Thanks for looking,
>>>>Paul
>>
>>
>>
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=========================================================
Roberts Realm Of Reptile Research
=========================================================
Thanks,

I opened my mouth and out flowed a melody black.