Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Here are a couple western rattler pics from southern British Columbia, Canada a couple months back.

This was a great trip. Found lots of yellow-bellied racers, my very first great basin gopher snake, and some wicked looking rattlers. Wasn't able to take nearly enough pics though..


This was my first time finding lots of reptiles in the southern interior and it was great. I'd like to talk with anyone else that has experience field herping in southern BC.
Holler at me.

Kris

Kris,
Have twice herped in Southern B.C. A number of years ago I helped a researcher obtain a larger sample of the Rubber Boas in the Creston area. There clearly was a very good population of the species in that region. Also numerous were N. Alligator Lizards and W. Skinks.

Richard F. Hoyer

Hey Richard thank you very much for the reply!

I haven't been quite that far east yet but I hear Creston has its share of herps. I've heard much about these rubber boas but have not been lucky enough to observe any yet. Did you see them mostly in near forrested areas?

I've also never had a chance to see the skinks either (although I do not really care as I'm far more interested in the snakes) and I have only ever seen one alligator lizard which oddly enough was found in Chilliwack BC along the vedder river by a friend. He actually collected it and brought it back to me so I immediately went back and released it where he got it from. I have fished and herped that river for about close to 15 years now and am still there on the regular to this day, and have still never observed an alligator lizard there.

I've been fishing (mostly the lakes) in the Nicola/Thompson/okanagan areas for a long time now but was usually pretty unsuccessful at finding much of anything herp related besides garters and toads and such. My last trip to Oliver was GREAT though. I was mostly wanting to find my first BC Pituophis (and thats still what I'll be mostly on the lookout for) but the first snake I found out there was a YB racer which I had also never before observed. These snakes are so cool I wish I had access to my pics I got of them. We found far more of these than anything else and from now on I'm definitely going to keep my eyes open for them. Really cool snakes. They remind me alot of mambas for some reason lol.

Are you located anywhere near BC?

B-W,
There is a research reserve on the west side of the valley that is forested to a greater degree but with enough opening in the canopy cover for both the N. All. Lizard and Rubber Boa to exist in reasonable populations. I found one specimens on that reserved the day I arrived. Where I was staying was at a residence on the valley floor a few miles SW of Creston. A couple of miles east was a small rock covered hill with some trees. I mentioned to the researcher I was helping that the hill was prime boa habitat. The next day I drove to that hill, found a cooperative land owner that allowed me to explore the area and promptly found a couple of boas. I believe the next day a party of 4 individuals made searches and came up with a few more boas. It was on that hill I observed a good number of W. Skinks as well as NALs. There was a good population of painted turtles in the region as well.

I am from Corvallis, Oregon which is about 85 miles south of Portland. A few years ago I traveled up highway 97 in Washington to Chase B.C. which is north of Vernon.
That is Okanogan territory I believe. There are two Sharp-tailed Snakes in the Brigham Young University collection in Utah reportedly from near Chase. Since I was conducting a study of the species, I wished to view the habitat in that region.

Richard F. Hoyer

Hi Richard. Thank you for sharing your experience with rubber boas and lizrads in BC. I will take all that info into consideration when I'm out looking for them. Such a fascinating species. When I'm done with the pituophis and racers I think rubber boas are definitely going to be the next species I want to observe in the wild and study a bit..
And yep I'm pretty sure Chase is in the Northern Okanagan. Did you observe much suitable sharp-tail habitat there? From what I have read, it is thought that they no longer exist in BC except a few on the island. In fact I also read that those two specimens in Utah actually might be from somewhere else. Apparently it was never confirmed that they were collected from Chase and the sightings were believed to possibly be frodulant. From what you saw there, what are your thoughts on this?
I do not doubt that they may have once resided there (or other places aside from the island) and that there may very well still be small isolated populations in the region but I have never been there so obviously I have no idea..
Large pieces of certain types of habitat in the region no longer exist and I'm surprised we don't have more extirpated species...
Thanks again for shooting the s*** and sharing your experiences.

Kris

B-W,
The two specimens of Contia were from a lake about 10 miles from Chase up in the mts. The area was semi-muskeg, forested habitat which did not resemble typical Sharptail habitat. I spoke to the collector on two or three occasions and he seemed rather steadfast as that was where he found the two specimens. The habitat round Chase at lower elevations looks suitable for a number of species including the Sharptail. Although after observing the habitat where the snakes were claimed to have been found, although I am skeptical, I have learned not to discount such observations.

Due to a number of other considerations not the least being the species is very secretive, its true distribution is far from being totally established. Besides being known to occur on 3 or 4 islands in Puget Sound, it is also known from Vancouver Island southwest of Victoria. I believe it wasn't until the 1960s that the species was documented east of the Cascade Mts. in Washington. In 1963 the species was also found near Carson, Washington which is in the middle of the Columbia Gorge. And since the 1960's, the range of the species has expanded north and south in central Washington with the most recent range extension being reported in Yakima, Washington.

It wasn't until 1970 that it was discovered east of the Cascade Mts. in Oregon when myself and two sons found some specimens about 40 miles south of The Dalles, Oregon at Rock Creek Reservoir which is almost due east of Mt. Hood. The next year we found some specimens in Tygh Valley about 10 miles northeast of Rock Creek Reservoir. During my study of the species, in 1998 I went back to Rock Cr. Reservoir and with difficulty, found that the species persists at that locality. And two Ore. Dept. of F & W biologists have observed the species in The Dalles, Oregon.

And in 2002, myself and another gentleman found two specimens in southern Tulare County south of Sequoia National Park that represents a new southern range extension of the species in the Sierra Nevada Mts.

Richard F. Hoyer

just perusing the forums and wanted to say thanks for the interesting discussion. I'm an Albertan that needs to go south for any type of diversity in herptiles, and BC is always fun to visit

Ian