Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Here are some shots I took of some hibernating pits while changing water. Two female Great Basin gophers(Yuma AZ. locale)and a very grouchy young adult female bull(Yellowstone county, MT.) Found her on the road very late in the year and didn't have the heart to turn her out. It snowed here three days after I found her. Other than her displays, she is good and eats like a pit. More pics to come when it's warm up time! Rich

LOL! She IS a grouchy girl! I can dig not wanting to turn her out with winter in the offing. I kept a young rattlesnake over winter a few years ago because it was starting to snow and he was coiled up under my wood pile, not the best hibernaculum.

Yuma is that southern Arizona? Great Basin Gophers only range in Northern AZ.

Jason

Correct on the northern AZ. locale, but their range also includes central and southern California which Yuma county is right on the so. cal. border. Also notice a little pattern variation from their northern counterparts? Like the ones you find in Utah. Rich

Hi Rich

I could be totally wrong. I just dont think GBs range that far south. Affinis and Deserticola have alot similarities and can look alot a like. Again I could be wrong. It would be interesting to get Ginter's, Shannon or some other opinions.

They are nice animals.

Please dont take my post wrong, I'm just interested myself.

Jason

Jason, what book is this map out of?

I'm not sure what book. A friend sent me this map a few years ago.

Jason

Hi, Jason! This is entertaining! I guess it depends on who's map you look at for range of a certain species! LOL! This map is out of "Variations and Relationships in the Snakes of the Genus Pituophis", by Olive Griffith Stull. The material in this book has been around for some time and was reprinted in it's current form in 2005. I have never collected any deserticola in so. cal. personally, but I trust the people I bought them from.
I have however caught a couple crossing the road at night coming from Miller Motorsports Park by Tooele. It seemes their pattern wasn't as broken as the ones I have now. Interesting to say the least! Rich

Not to detract from the epic, detailed work of Stull but check out the map on page 36 and notice the range of P. d. deppei. On page 29 she(?) accounts for two specimens from Texas and one from California. Unfortunately I have to suspect that in those early days, locality info was not entirely reliable and this casts suspicion on some of the other locality records.

HI Rich

Yeah I dont know So Cal and Southwest Az very well. I never herped those areas so I know if deserticola range that far south. Everything I ever heard is that they dont and that Yorba Linda is a intergrade area. Maybe they do in South eastern Cal. It would be interesting to heard from some people that know that area. Either way they are good looking animals weather they are Affinis or Deserticola.

Yeah Tooele valley is loaded with GBS were Miller Sports park is. They are high veriable in that area. Here is a pic of a WC 10 miles away from there in South Willow.

Jason

Jason you're right about SE Cal. You can find deserticola there. We found a nice male outside Indio. Yorba Linda is Orange County bordered by Riverside County. I believe in Riverside (herped there a couple f times, but Ross is the expert) you're still finding annectens.

reako45

Nice looking snakes! The top two gophers are Sonoran's NOT Great Basin's. In southeastern CA, the southernmost Great Basin's typically occur well north of I-10 near the common boundary separating Riverside and San Bernardino Counties. Yuma County, AZ and Imperial County, CA are Sonoran country. The top photo is a very typical SW AZ Sonoran and the middle photo is a darker individual but definitely a Sonoran...

The middle photo(the pissy one) is a "sayi" I caught here in MT. As for the Gophers, I was wondering about that pattern they have. More broken and not as clean as some examples I've seen. Never did think about the affinis option, though. Doesn't affinis have a broader saddle and not as choppy as my pics? With localities overlapping, kind of makes you wonder.

Rich,

Where did you get the two that are labeled "Yuma type locality"? The top photo is a Sonoran fairly typical of the ones found in or near Yuma. Missed the bull as I was following the sequence of your description (two gophers and a bull) rather than the photo sequence. Should have known by those facials and head shape. The bottom photo may be a GB or an intergrade. Jason may be able to pin that one down. As for Yuma, I don't think so. Maybe from the big intergrade zone over near Whitewater in So Cal but it still does not look quite like those gophers either. Many of the GBs at the extreme southern in of their range (in CA) have a lot of color and pattern contrast. Here's an example of one...

I have allways heard the same as what you posted. I dont know area well enough though.

Jason