I went to the infamous Whitewater Canyon near Palm Springs, CA on Saturday night. I was able to combine going herping with meeting in person a couple friends. I have traded emails with Tony Lanzi and John Michels, but had never met them in person. Finally, Tony and I decided to plan a night out herping in Whitewater Canyon. Tony had been there numerous times so I had the advantage of his experience. We planned the trip for Saturday. I sent John Michels an email congratulating him on obtaining a Brimaris and letting him know who bred them. I mentioned to John in my email that Tony and I were going to the Whitewater Canyon area. John said he was going to the IRBA show in Pomona on Saturday and had planned to herp the same area we would be. I met Tony about 6pm Saturday evening a few miles from Whitewater Canyon and we drove around and took a run up the canyon road. There is a road that runs for about 7 miles through the canyon. Now if you might not happen to know, this is the infamous home of the Whitewater Canyon rosy boa and is the original canyon yielding the albino gene. Tony and I made several runs up and down the canyon road with one run yielding a longnose. It was one of the largest longnoses I have seen. On one of the runs, we met John Michels. I was glad to see John as he told me he was bringing me a California lyre snake that he had collected in the canyon a week earlier. I have wanted to get a pair of California lyre snakes to work with for awhile now. I have one to go now. I haven’t sexed the one I have yet, but will shortly. We met several people making runs up and down the canyon. One group had seen 7 snakes the night before which included rosy boas, shovelnose, longnose, rubber and glossy snakes. My wife, Brenda, who came along spotted a speckled rattlesnake on one run. She was even driving and caught sight of the rattler before I did. There were a couple white/black longnoses that John had. These look so much like a California kingsnake it’s amazing to me. I will post some picks shortly. I was amazed how most everyone who was road hunting were trying to work together to make sure everything went good for the herpers and the reptiles. Everyone except one or two cars would spread out and work the road up and down in a slow pace that gave us a better chance to see something instead of just driving everything off the road. I let someone from another car take the speckled rattler and they started keeping an eye out for a lyre snake for me. If you go to Whitewater, get your California Fishing license. Tony had to show his license when he jumped out to check out a dead gopher snake that was put there by the Fish and Game. We heard from other people in the canyon that the Fish and Game was there and they were putting out a dead gopher snake. Whitewater Canyon is a great place to enjoy and herp. It was great for me to meet Tony and John in addition to seeing some reptiles. Oh, I almost forgot that Tony brought a San Diego Banded gecko that he had collected in Whitewater for my wife Brenda. Brenda has Leopard and Madagascar Geckos and has wanted a pair of Western Banded Geckos to work with and it was great of Tony to bring one of the Western subspecies for her.
Terry Parks
-----
Terry Parks
