Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I'm new to this board and was curious where the L.A County people are finding rattlers..namely Eastern L.A. County

I've been looking in Azusa Canyon, Glendora Mountain Road, San Dimas Canyon...I plan to look in the Bonelli Park area in San Dimas thsi week and I'm heading to the Rio Hondo College Campus in Whittier on friday..I know for a fact that there are rattlesnakes on the rio hondo campus because when I attended their police academy we encountered a young southern pacific..they have had sightings in the past as well so I know that a good place to look...But I have come up dry in the other areas I have listed..I know they are there..but I havent had any luck yet..Anyone have any good areas?

I am located in Los Angeles (SFV) and run a small business removing rattlesnakes from people’s yards. So far this season has started out slow. I'm not sure if it’s the cooler weather or not.
Today I received a call from a woman in Riverside claiming to have found a western diamondback on her property. Unfortunately a neighbor killed it and threw it away.
The only rattlesnakes we ever find here in Los Angeles areas (Malibu, Thousand Oaks, Sherman oaks, Sun Valley, Whittier, and ECT) are Southern Pacific’s. It is amazing to me how many are here, and what a pain they are to find when they see you first.
Many a times I have searched a bush looking for a snake that I new was in the bush, only to see the snake in that bush 30 minutes later.
Southern Pacific’s are masters at playing opossum. Chances are that the snake was watching you the entire time you were looking for it.
A hot spot you might want to try is Chino Hills. I have heard many complaints from people of the area having snake problems.
They should also have a nice variety of rattlers. I have heard of sightings of (Ruber,Helleri,Scutulatus) in this area.

Stay Safe and happy lookin.
Take lots of pics if you find anything.
Jason Mc

I didn't know the southern pacifics were that good at playing opossum..I probally have ran acr5oss a fair amount and didnt even know they were there...I jsut figured they would atleast rattle if I was poking around their bush/rock with a snake hook...oh well...I've heard a lot about chino hills having a lot fo them..but I jsut havent had a chance to head out there...I will definately take pictures of whatever I come across..Yesterday I found a snake that I can't identify up on glendora mountain road...Its not a kingsnake nor a rattler...But for the life of my I can't figure out what it is..

on a side note...do you need anyone out in my area to take your calls that are out this direction..>I'm a little closer to riverside then you are in the SFV.

Thanks for your input
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Kevin

Hey Kevin, how about a description (color, pattern, size, etc) of that "mystery" snake. We might be able to ID it for you. And what do you think a helleri would do on a hundred shot?...lol.

Eimon

It was about two and half or three feet long...not heavy bodied..maybe about an inch or so around...shades of brown and tan...the head was narrow and shiney and about the color of your finger nails..I have a picture but I need to uplaod it first..when I do that I'll throw up a picture...

on a 100 shot..it would be more fiesty then they are now
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Kevin

I jsut uploaded the picture...its a little large..and i didnt realize that until I uploaded it...

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Kevin

Kevin, That is a Gopher snake. Good luck finding those rattlesnakes. Dean

Well, I jsut got back from the chino hills area..The CHino Hills state park was closed because of the rain on thursday...so I took off down carbon canyon road and came across carbon canyon regional park...I crashed around there for about 2 hours and came up empty handed again...I saw the tail end of a snake...but i saw so little of it I couldn't identify it...other then it wasn't a rattler..it was also in such thick brush I couldn't relocate it. I jsut seem to be having a bad week thsi week..haha.Hopefully next week will turn up some.
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Kevin