Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hi,

I came across this video on youtube. This guy found a wild zonata and i am so surprised to see how calm and docile it is!

In the video, the zonata kept moving towards the guy while rocking it's head. Any idea what this behavior means?
Link

Hi again,

well, neat video but if the guy said "oh my God that's cool" one more time I was gonna toss my laptop across the room.

Yeah, very docile but not entirely unusual. I have yet to find one in the wild (I'll get back to you on that in the future however) in recent years, however growing up in SoCal I located some with a friend and his dad that, as I recall, were pretty mellow. Too bad the area they "discovered" this snake in wasn't mentioned, but I'm venturing on it being a San Bernardino zonata (parvirubra). As far as the head movement, it's nothing that I have not seen other snakes do but can't say exactly what it means. I've noticed it in other snakes particularly when in sunlight, as was the case in this video. I'll venture further to say that this video was taken possibly before noon and if, in fact, it was indeed "found" it was probably the first sunlight of the day it was experiencing. Okay, analyzing this video wayyyyy too much at this point. LOL.
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Jerry Kruse

"Fall is my favorite season in Los Angeles, watching the birds change color and fall from the trees."
David Letterman

Thanks for the reply guys.

Jerry, i have looked at many pics of different zonata localities on the net. Honestly, i cant tell much of a difference between them. Its cool that you can determine the locality from watching the vid.

I thought the head movement was something unique to the mountain kings or meant something...thanks for clarifying. As you can see i am still learning....

Regards,
Kenny

Many snake species do that, some back and forth, some up and back(hognose), etc. This is most likely a method to detect objects and or depth perception(a combination of these and more).

The reptile eye is keen on picking up movement. But not so good at picking up non moving objects. Its possible they move their heads to difine objects. Instead of waiting for the objects to move. Consider, Their eye most likely functions much different then ours.

Snakes normally do this when they feel at home, non threadened and moving slowly. Cheers

I agree. Its their way of sizing things up.
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Darwin Rocks!

Very informative FR. I really appreciate the info...your explanation makes a lot of sense.

Regards,
Kenny

Zonatas are not necessarily climbers but you will often see tree dwellers do this as well. It may be they are hunting and "sizing" things up and/or mimicking the slow movements of the (blowing) leaves and limbs so as to be more hidden from others too.
I think they are just getting a better look at their surroundings.
:Mark
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Surrender Dorothy!

crimsonking.piczo.com/

Odd that he gives the sometime inaccurate red and yellow poem with respect to a species that is not found anywhere coral snakes are found.

The rings are totally different types of rings, that's a much better indicator, as there are coral snakes that are lacking a color of the saying.
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Arrrggg!
It's like Shalom, but for pirates.
- iCarly

Funny... I was thinking the exact same thing!

~ Mike Russo

Imo, it's acting like a cold animal. My agalmas behave the same way when cold, but they're very agile when warmed up. They are very good climbers. Their long body is evolved for climbing so they can exploit their habitat fully. I have seen footages of the closely related Arizona mountain kingsnake climb into a tree to feed on hummingbird nestlings. I'm sure zonatas do the same, since they inhabit similar habitats and their body design is the same.
Just look at some of my agalma photos, they are agile climbers by design...

wow...up till now, I did not realize mountain kings could be such great climbers

Btw..very nice king and great pics!