The Basics:
I found this adult male Rosy Boa on Saturday morning about 30 minutes after sunrise near Barrett Lake (30 miles East of San Diego) down near the Mexican boarder.
Here’s the long version, with an unusual encounter and a lot more detail then you probably want:
I had success finding rosys in the spring a little before and after sunset, but recently that hadn't worked. I had heard that down here, in very Southern California, during the summer when the air is very dry and the rain is months away, Rosys will restrict their activity so as to avoid breathing away the limited moisture in their bodies. I had planned to try again just after dawn on Saturday because that is the part of the day with the highest humidity. Friday night there were some very unexpected, and very short, thunder showers which dropped a barely measurable amount of rain. It wasn't enough to make any puddles, or even any mud, but it would certainly contribute to higher than normal humidity. About 30 minutes after sunrise, before I even got to my usual parking spot, I found this nice male Rosy boa stretched across the one lane road. I stopped about 15 yards from the snake, and since rosys are very slow moving, and generally happy to stay put, and this one was in the middle of the one lane road, I took my time in the front seat getting my camera ready. This is a remote area and the mostly dirt road runs between no place and nowhere, so I would have been surprised to see another car on this narrow curvy road at any time. I was very startled when a pickup truck appeared from around a bend in front of me heading toward the Rosy. I saw the tragedy that was brewing, tossed the camera on the seat, leaped out of the car and tried to "will" the pickup to a stop while frantically pushing both palms at it and running toward the snake. The driver looked surprised and stopped about 10 yards from the snake. I reached down, picked up the boa, and held it up as an explanation of my odd behavior. Then I ran back to my car to get it out of his way. I back down the hill and found a spot in the road that was wide enough for the other driver to pass me (It was a little tricky to back down a narrow, steep, curvy, mountain road, in a car with a clutch, with a rosy boa in one hand.) When the pickup truck stopped along side I noticed that it was a US Boarder Patrol pickup with a large night vision scope mounted on a five foot tall post in the truck's bed. That explained what he was doing here 30 minutes after sunrise in the middle of nowhere, but the look on his face told me that he hadn't yet answered that question about me yet. Looking at the snake in my left hand, which was completely docile and calm (as even freshly caught rosys are, he asked "Is that yours?". I guess the most reasonable explanation he had come up with, in the 30 seconds it had taken this bizarre scene to unfold, was that I was a guy taking his pet snake for an early morning walk (off leash). I explained who I was, and what I was doing out there, and dropped the names of three I have who are local Boarder Patrol agents. He recognized one of the names, and his expression indicated that he was satisfied that I wasn't smuggling drugs or Mexicans, but I don't think he was certain I had all my marbles (I'll bet that he only spends time out there because he gets paid to, and if he had to pickup snakes he'd probably want more money). After he drove by I realized later that I had just blocked the road, surprised, and run toward an armed Boarder Patrol agent while waving my arms and yelling "stop" for no visible reason. I’m glad he was merely puzzled and didn’t feel “ambushed”. It was a good day to look like a white guy.
