Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I saw a very nice Sonoran gopher snake this morning at work. What is strange is that she seemed to be out looking for a mate. She was about 50" long but not gravid and with actively discharging cloacal scent glands.... Seems late to me?

Were do you live?
In the Motherlode of the Sierra Nevada foothills were I live the winter was very long and the spring was very cold. It was so cold in May it snowed and the ground didn't warm up, as my measly garden can attest. So any cold blooded animals would also have quite a set back with their normal routines. I am surprised my pyros and bulls mated and produced eggs, but then they are indoors. I heat my cabin with wood and was having to start a fire every morning until just a little over a week ago.
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Bob
Pyromaniac AKA Greatballzofire
Keeping cats allows man to cohabitate with tigers. Keeping reptiles allows man to cohabitate with dinosaurs.

Gosh, if I even lit a match my stuff would get over-heated it is so damn hot where I live in central Florida now..LOL!

~Doug
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"a snake in the grass is a GOOD thing"

we are now having a relatively "normal" summer, although still more on the cool side. I am dreading what will happen in September, which used to be dry but is now beginning to have weather fronts coming in with heavy rains in mid month. It is like we are getting Oregon's weather. I think this is because of Global Climate Change. I hesitate to refer to this as Global Warming, as things certainly did not get warmer in my neck of the woods. It is more that the weather all over the world has become more extreme. Adapt or die; the wildlife will have to adjust to changing patterns, as will we all.
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Bob
Pyromaniac AKA Greatballzofire
Keeping cats allows man to cohabitate with tigers. Keeping reptiles allows man to cohabitate with dinosaurs.

Yeah, but what many folks don't really undestand about "global warming", is that it doesn't really mean it will get noticeably hotter in any given area per se, it really has to do with just a very small increment of prolonged average higher temps of like only one or two degrees to the overall world climate to effect the poles, and it then starts a catastrophic chain of world climate events in motion in the large scheme of the planets dynamics. And alot of this can actually be quite the opposite with much colder temps too. One tiny thing is all it takes to throw the earth's countless millions of years "balance" into a tail-spin that it cannot recover from nearly fast enough. It has done this many countless times before in it's long history, only we humans have only been around an incredibly short time in the overall scheme of the earths long existence to see any of these types of disasters.

If one looks at the dynamics of the earths weather swirling and spinning around in a constant several day weather loop, this is what changes drastically and makes all sorts of freaky weather events happen. A few degrees difference also greatly alters the course of the Gulf Stream which acts as a "governor" of sorts for the entire earths weather. This is the stuff most of the general public doesn't even begin to understand. It is FAARR more complex than say feeling one or two degrees warmer in the summer on any given day.

Anyway, just saying.......carry on!..LOL!

If you want to know more about the earths dynamics, I'm sure someone like Davis could tell ya all about it..HAHAA!!

~Doug
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"a snake in the grass is a GOOD thing"