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I don't want to bias this by stating the locale yet.

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ok here goes....

eastern CA, with lots of deserticola influence but not straight up deserticola.... intergrade with catenifer?

how did i do?
The neck markings, as well as the number and shape of tail and posterior body saddles gave it away for me.

Ok, since you've jumped in John, I'm sure no one else will put their neck on the block so I'll cough it up

My take is more weighted toward catenifer with deserticola influence but the main reason I posted is to find out rather than quiz (not that quizes aren't fun).

So, this animal is from where the extreme southern end of the Sierras meets the Mojave Desert in high desert. Not what I'd call eastern California but I think that's about what you meant. Certainly at the south eastern limit of catenifer and western most edge of deserticola.

Here's a young snake (~24 inches) from the same area...

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See all my snakes at SerpenTrack.com

A generic but attractive gopher! Color and pattern seem to match the local substrate, a somewhat common denominator shared by many herps, particularly desert country herps. I can see the catenifer in that snake (big bold pattern, high blotch count and minimal spaces between blotches. A little deserticola? How about a 75/25 catenifer/deserticola.

Looks like deserticola to me! Both of them.

Jason

Brad,

Have you seen any of the gophers from the vicinity of Kern/Pixley NWRs northwest of Bakersfield? Those two areas contain unique remnant desert ecosystems at the southern end of the San Joaquin Valley and are also included in that big intergrade zone between catenifer and deserticola that seems to span much of Kern (and some of Kings) County. From recollection, those catenifer looked like they had some deserticola influence, some of them strongly so. I'll see if I can get someone on the refuge staff to email me some gopher pics from that area (if anyone there has any).

These intergrade snakes are lookers in their own right but are not the sort that most people line up to obtain neonates from. The deserticola are probably the most variable of the gophers from one end of their range to the other. I'm glad Jason weighed in as he is our resident GB guy. My view of southern CA GB are heavily corrupted as I wake up to this one every day (and I have no idea what his background is)...

That is what I would call the premium edition of deserticola. Maybe from the same locale as this one from the eastern Mojave.

See more at: serpentrack.com/herps/trips/2010/?a=051410
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See all my snakes at SerpenTrack.com