Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I was going through some pics and found these of zonata with more black on them. There has been a lot of pics posted lately of zonata but most are of the highly confluent subspecies and localities. Since some here prefer the high black ones, here is the darker side. Of course the real black non-anery ones come from further north. I have always liked the central Sierras for the variety you see there in zonata. Flip a rock and find a red one with few crossovers and a low band count sitting next to one with a high band count and a lot of black.

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Rick Staub

Great looking specimens you have there Rick! Very Nice!
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Jimmy Tintle

Great looking specimens you have there Rick! Very Nice!

I don't have any of them. They are hopefully still crawling around out there.

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Rick Staub

Ooops sorry, Nice photos from the field!
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Jimmy Tintle

It doesn't matter how much black, there's no way a zonata can be ugly. I like that middle one.

>>It doesn't matter how much black, there's no way a zonata can be ugly. I like that middle one.

I agree!
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John Lassiter
Poor planning and procrastination on your part does not constitute an emergency on my part...

Now those are some smokin' zonatas! Maybe I will find one someday; am in right area or so I've been told...be nicer than finding just another dumb old rattlesnake...
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Bob
Pyromaniac AKA Greatballzofire
Keeping cats allows man to cohabitate with tigers. Keeping reptiles allows man to cohabitate with dinosaurs.

Rattlesnakes are not that bad. They keep you busy between finding zonata.

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Rick Staub

Holy crap. Look at 'em all crammed into that crevice. Do they think we can't see them? hahahaha!

"I see Sidewinders".

that is a very VERY nice set up.
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www.Bluerosy.com

Awesome.

A friend found a fat winder on a road nearly hit by a car. She had a slight cut. He brought it to me, I housed it for the purpose of release once the cut healed. She gave birth a week later! Baby sidewinders are awesome.

One tidbit of info - consider only offering water once a week for only a day. Remove it the rest of the time. And overhead heat (especially CHE) works very well with sidewinders. So does undertank, but something about CHE really seemed to stimulate their appetites with the babies I had, since initially some were stubborn to feed. No scientific evidence, just what I observed. I also provided a few hours of UV light. Does it help? Don't know.
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Mark

I'm not sure if the UV light really helps, apart from the fact it is my best attempt to provide them with a daytime-nighttime cycle. Because they're primarily nocturnal, they are generally all hiding during the day and come out only at night. The other day when I snapped these pics they were all out and moving around soaking up the rays I guess. The large greyish colored male is the king of the sand dune in there. He chases the other two males aroung the unit, and once they go back to their hide, he then goes back to the female and curls up with her. They've bred several times in the past few weeks...AND last November just before I cooled them. It's funny because the other two smaller males are trying to get in on the action but he chases them away...a very jealous boyfriend I guess! HAHAHA! Later on in the year though, during the warmer months they all get lazy and the activity in their play pen slows wayyyy down. They eat, poop, and sleep. They large male has been a long termer of mine for about 6 years. The others for about 3 1/2.

simply gorgeous. Multicincta's? As said early, no zonata can be ugly. My favorite zonata are the ones with high band counts and high black...simply awesome!

I love the ones with the REAL high crossovers and flame sides. These are real nice looking Rick. The variety in Zonata is one of the things that makes them so cool.

Joe

The variety in Zonata is one of the things that makes them so cool.

What is funny about that statement is most people, even some other herpers, cannot distinguish a zonata from a milksnake much less see the variation within a zonata subspecies.

Thanks every for the kind replies.

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Rick Staub

I hate cross-overs! Oh, wait... no I don't. Super cool animals, Rick. I like cross-overs in triangulum and pyromelana, too. Here's a few crossed-over triangulum I've seen over the years:

-Cole

i like my arched crossovers to be west mexican.

>>i like my arched crossovers to be west mexican.

Nice arcifera......
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John Lassiter
Poor planning and procrastination on your part does not constitute an emergency on my part...