Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hi,
I live in southern Oregon and have been herping many times. Not that I am complaining or anything, but I have only found colubrids, alligator lizards, other small lizards, and a few types of amphibians. The only thing I have never seen is a Crotalidae. I know there are some around here as I have heard many people mention their encounters with rattlers(even though they could have just been harmless gopher snakes). I know Crotalus viridis oreganus is a species that is throughout a lot of the Northwest(including southern Oregon). Do I just have bad luck as I can never seem to find any, or am I just not looking in the right places? Has anyone seen these in the wild? I am going to the Sacramento area in the next couple of weeks, would anyone know a good place to find ratttlers? Thanks for the help, Josh

I do not live in oregon but I have been to northern california one time for herping. The actuall reason i went was to find rubber boas but none of those turned up! I did have good luck with northen pacifics in a town called greenville. The locals there will point you into the right direction. I found one at an old graveyard!!!! but there are more than that to be found. I am not exactly sure how far away greenville is from sacramento but pretty much any place with boulders and water, check your boards too. If this helps they are often found around water, to my knowledge. Hope this helps, jon
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1.2 Hypo Borrego rosy boas (proven)
1.2 Whitewater rosy boas
1.2 Bay of L.A. rosy boas (proven)
1.1 Ensanada Uniclor rosy boas
1.1 Cottonwood rosy boas
1.1 Yorba linda rosy boas
1.1 Desert Banded geckos (proven)

I live in central oregon and know of a few places find some northern pacs around here and some great basins east of me around burns and that area.

Jeremy

hi,

i've never herped oregon, but i lived in humboldt and del norte counties (ca) for quite a while and there were plenty of really nice oreganus there. just get away from the coastal spruce/hemlock zone (the fog belt), into the doug firs and tanoak/madrone stuff. grassy balds are even better, or any place with serpentine soils (no pun intended). you can just drive quiet roads in late afternoon, or hike and hunt. you'll see a ton of gopher snakes and racers too. rocks are good, and water doesn't hurt, but deep shade is no good. and more than an hour or so after dark is pretty futile too, unless it's hot (which it can get there!). i can recall finding oreganus from about april through about october in coastal norcal (in other words, the dry season).

if you get into the rogue or applegate valleys, i can't see how you could spend much time looking, unsuccessfully. maybe try siskiyou nf. i'd say if they're growing apples, grapes, or weed around, you can find what you're after.

cheers,
jimi gragg

to northwest of the "sacramento area", lake county is pretty much crawling with oreganus. try hwy 20 west of williams (or willows??? - been a while). once you get up in the oaks and digger pines (the scraggly grey things), you're in. just be careful not to trespass on private ranches - blm has a lot of land up there, go with them. don't know if the sac valley itself has many snakes, and it's mostly farms anyway.

good luck, and be careful, they're pretty hot and not so friendly. oh yeah, watch the poison oak too, ha ha.

jg

Go to Cave junction, there are so many out there that they post signs warning you about them. look in the rocks on the north side of the road between the town and the I5 freeway!

I live in Sacramento. They are common around here. I usually find then on or near the american river. Last week me & my gf found one 2 days in a row.