Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Would like to show my wife one of these in the wild...I live in Fresno and would like any info on what is the best way to locate on of these. Is road hunting the best way or getting out on foot and and looking under things more productive? Also what is the best time of day and temperature range to find these snakes? Thanks!
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Ron Napier
Fresno, CA
1 Gopher Snake
1 Scarlet King (Wife's)
1 Pueblan Milksnake (Step-son's)
Hunting for a Local CA Mountain King

Your best bet would be to go road cruising this time of year. Since you live in Fresno, you are not very far away from some great hunting grounds in the Sierras. I also would highly recommend that you bone up on their respective natural histories. Mr Brian Hubbs has a book coming out later this on mountain kingsnakes and there should be lots of good info in it for anyone to study. I also recommend taking field notes of your hunting expeditions and notating things like temperature, humidity, cloud cover, other reptiles seen or prey items running on the road( like mice or lizards), time of day, etc. This way you can build your own database of notes and you can refer back to them year after year. I like to think of it as "counting cards" when you play blackjack. When you get favorable conditions for finding what your after because you wrote down the past history of the excursion, you can nail down what the ideal conditions are to finding what you are after. Good luck to you.

Thanks for the help. I'm starting a field journal this week and we are planning a trip into Dinkey Creek near Dinkey Dome. Let you know what we see ont this forum.
Ron
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Ron Napier
Fresno, CA
1 Gopher Snake
1 Scarlet King (Wife's)
1 Pueblan Milksnake (Step-son's)
Hunting for a Local CA Mountain King

I havent heard of road cruising for mtn kings, Id say you will have better luck on foot.

...some with black bellies, others black with thin white bands. No place in particular. You will just have to find your own spots. This time of the year is a bit too hot but If I wanted to catch one, I would hunt little-used roads (dirt or paved, no difference) near canals and waterways at around sunrise. If you don't see anything, wait until late September / early October and road-hunt right after sunset for hatchlings. That has always been very productive for me. Good luck!