Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I found these guys recently. I know these shots are crummy but I'll do better as I go along. I got a used camera with no manual.

I found the zonata in what I am told is atypical habitat--virtually on the valley floor in the South Bay area. I found a baby here in early March, which at the time I thought might be a fluke animal that got washed downstream and found its way up the hill. But then I found this clearly gravid female on Monday so I know that they're breeding here. What is interesting to me is that I've herped here for years and have found only getulus and other scrub/grassland species like coluber, piuttuophis, masticopohis, diadophis, etc.

Here's a question for the experts: I built this particular habitat by hand a couple of years ago by piling up carpet and rocks in what I deemed was the proper exposure with ample moisture, at the cost of some strained muscles and scraped knuckles. An observer watching me drag refuse up this hillside would surely have thought me mad. In any event, is it possible that I attracted the zonatas here by creating an island of suitable habitat or have they been here all along and I merely erected a place for them to congregate?

The crotalus lives under some pallets about fifty feet from the zonata. I relocated it here a couple of years ago from a place where kids are known to play on rocks next to a trail. It was a juvenile then--now it's big enough to eat a rabbit. I thought it was sleeping, which could have been a disaster had I been standing closer because the moment after I snapped the picture it lunged toward me, luckily blindly.

The getulus was on Mt. Hamilton.

All were photographed in situ and left be.

Regards.

.

Hi Bayareaherper,

Zonata are found right into the Silicon valley fairly commonly, believe it or not! When I lived in the area, I would find them very close to habitated areas at low elevation in oak woodland/grassland. Certainly, as you found, "rearranging" habitat or placing artificial cover will attract the animals. They are there all the time, just hiding underground or in dense foliage. That really is a neat area and has, in my opinion, some of the prettiest zonata around (as demonstrated by your photo.) Keep the zonata pics coming!

FH

This is pretty much what I figured. I'd always thought of them as a montane species, but I guess that's what I get for going and thinking again...besides, it would be a stretch to think that they're willing to risk busy freeways and peacocks just to check out some [bleep]in' new habitat like it's a snake rollerpark or something.

Thanks for the input,

SA

Steve,
No such thing as an 'expert' with respect to the subject of cover be in natural or artificial. I would agree with fieldherper that the species were already occupying the habitat where you set up the artificial cover objects and such A/C made it simply easier for you to find these species.

Since I have been purposefully deploying A/C to obtain my research samples since the late 1960's, I can tell you that there have been times that within 24 - 48 hours after setting out roofing tins or plywood boards, I can find all manner of species that have taken advantage of such cover and obviously were present before the A/C was deployed.

However, there remains the distinct possibility that an increase in structural cover could eventually result in an increase in predator numbers by 1) providing a more favorable habitat for prey species and at the same time, provide a greater
degree of safety for various species of reptiles.

Richard F. Hoyer

Richard, it's good to hear from you. I thought I sent you an email last week but it turns out I only THOUGHT I did, rather I wrote one and stuck it in the draft folder. I'll be in touch with you soon on that front to see what's new to report.

Regarding the construction of habitat, my aim in this project was, interestingly, to encourage skinks. Call me a purist, but I keep a couple of native animals over the summer, as you know, and I wanted to have a ready supply of food at hand. I don't know what it is about skinks but I've never had an animal fail to enthusiastically thrive on them. I never thought my exercise would bring the Mtn kings out, but I'm not complaining--wait until you see what I found an hour ago!

"Ride like you just stole it."

Steve,
The subject of skinks is of interest in that the conventional wisdom in herpetological circles (or at least in some quarters) has been that the Rubber Boa is not capable of preying upon skinks due to the type of scales possessed by skinks and the type of teeth / jaws possessed by the boa. I had heard that point expressed by an acquaintance in the mid 1990's who indicated it came from a professional herpetologists.

Then during the review process of the two papers Dr. Glenn Stewart and I published on the S. Rubber Boa, one of the reviewers mentioned this very thing in his comments of our section that dealt with the diet of the Rubber Boa. The reviewer is a well known professional and even signed his name to the his review of the manuscript whereas reviewers are invariably anonymous. In an unmistaken manner, he also openly criticized me for using total and tail lengths instead of snout / vent lengths.

At any rate, before the papers were published in 2000, I happened to find a juvenile boa in Wasco County, Oregon just east of Mt. Hood. It passed a scat with part of a reptile skin in which the scales looked as though they could be skink scales. I sent them to Dr. Robert Stebbins requesting an opinion and he came back with the same information, that the scales most probably were those of a skink. The only other smooth scale species in the region were Racer, Ringneck Snake, and Sharp-tailed Snake and the scales did not match those species. Then I began collecting juvenile W. Skinks and even hatched a batch of skink eggs and then presented the juvenile skinks to various juvenile and subadult boas. They gobble them up almost as if they were ice cream.

So much for the former conventional thought about the boa not being able to grasp and prey on skinks.

Richard F. Hoyer

If I could catch my ONE **solitary** boa (which is verifiably and incontrovertibly NOT an SRB--LOL) eating dinner I'd post a picture but he only eats when the lights are out. I put one in with him at bedtime and when I get up there's a lump in his tummy. So, while there's no real "proof", the evidence is nevertheless compelling. He's eaten a Sceloperus, a pinkie, a Uta, and several Eumeces. The only thing he turns his nose up at are Elgaria.

Ciao.

SA

Thanks for the post.Is that a Diablo Range Zonata?What a beautiful animal.Thanks, Chip...

The animals I'm finding lately are in far-Southern Santa Clara County. My area of "study" (which is euphemistic for "places where I ride my motorcycle" stretches from the back side of Mount Hamilton to San Gregorio. I've always wanted to herp Mt. Diablo but never seem to find the time.

If you're familiar with Santa Clara County there is a population of zonatas out by Calero Reservoir but I've seen one and they're nearly all black. I have some pics of animals from the southwestern rim of the valley that I've snapped in the last two days that I'll post when I get more than a minute or so to sit down.