Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Found this attractive adult lady crossing the road, mid summer in the afternoon; southern sierras about 5500 ft elev. Just love her wide white bands.

Todd

I also like the wide bands on Sierras. That one is exceptional though and looks like it has real clean white too. Thanks for posting the pic which is real good too.

Excuse my ignorance, but I was wondering if it's ok to keep one that you've found like that? I believe CA law says you can keep two mtn. kings with a fishing liscense? I have a pair of Coastal mtn. kings, CB. I believe they have the same status, correct? Thanks for any response.

TC

The bag and possesion limit on all suspecies of zonata native to CA is one and you need a fishing liscense. So if you are a resident you can only have one. If you are a nonresident you can in theory collect one ship it home and then collect another one ship it home, etc. However the subspecies pulchra (San Diego Mtn. King) is totally protected as are all poulations of zonata west of Interstate 5 from Los Angeles County south to the MX border.
CA residents can also obtain a non-commercial breeder license which will allow you to keep your bag limit of all wc species & subspecies of herps plus any number of species & subspecies of non-prohibited cb herps up to a combined total of 30 individuals. So a CA resident could collect 1 zonata and if they could somehow obtain a cb zonata of the opposite sex then under this permit they could keep up to 28 of their offspring. Offspring in excess must be given away or turned over to Fish & Game.

Great. Thanks for the info, Aaron. But residents can only have one zonata? I live in another state, so I can have a pair then, if I understand you correctly. That doesn't make a lot of sense to me...I can have two, but a resident can only have one. That must be quite frustrating for CA residents. Later...TC.

Very Nice looking zonata,thanks for sharing the pic too.Never gets old looking at pics of these guys,
Jeff Teel