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I was at Big Bear Lake this weekend. Unfortunately I couldn't get away long enough to go down to the more zonata-friendly habitat at lower elevations before Big Bear, but I did take a short hike up into the rocks at around the 7000 ft level near the lake. Found a few nice lizards (skink, alligator and sceloperous), and while I was hiking my wife saw a snake near a woodpile about 20 ft from our cabin door (she doesn't know what it was, but it was "dull brown" ..) Anyway, my question - has anyone found or know of occurences of zonata around the lake?

yes they are up there to answer your question
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Not to argue with my good friend Mr. Bartlett, but the occurence of zonata at Big Bear is spotty at best. If the snakes occur around the lake, I couldn't document that fact before I published my book. The only locality that I could find was directly in front of the dam, along Big Bear Creek. I'm sure that at one time the snakes ranged farther along the creek, but the construction of the lake may have destoyed the prime habitat for them. The same thing has happened at higher elevations in the Sierra Nevada, and for some reason the snakes don't seem to colonize the habitat on the edges of higher lakes. Now, this isn't to say that there are no zonata at Big Bear, just that i am unaware of any. I would assume that they may occupy riparian corridors at that elevation and higher, but in smaller densities than at the 6,000 foot level.

Brian Hubbs
www.mountainkingsnake.com

Thanks for the info.

Supposedly on the south-facing side of Big Bear Lake, there have been findings of rubber boas (more in the hillsides above the lake.) That is one area where one can see from the road loads of rocks jutting out from between the trees. But we are well out of the transition zone at this point, and it didn't "feel" right for zonata.