Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I know many of you are as "Z" crazy as I am. If so you have been keeping track of your Lampropeltis zonata sightings over the years or can recall at ease to brag to other herpers, here is a chance to pool that collected knowledge. I am currently piecing together a thesis at the University of California Santa Cruz on this topic that will hopefully bring to light certain flaws in current L. zonata policies in California.

My goal is to define the range and the sites of aggregation for the California mountain kingsnake partnered with current population data. I will then compare the state policies, range, and when possible population of 3 species of California snakes to Lampropeltis zonata: California common kingsnake (Lampropeltis getulus californiae), California subspecies of the rosy boa (Lichanura trivirgata), and California subspecies of the gopher snake (Pituophis melanoleucus).

I am trying to make the information as complete as possible so, what I am looking for is your sighting information. I understand that you want to protect the regions that you have discovered. All I am asking is for you to list the:

County/Mountain Range (or river bed)/ elevation/ time of year/ and size of the individual.

This amount of information will not compromise your site and will greatly assist me in my research. Please email me or reply to this post if you think you can help or if you have any questions about my research.

As for my experience I am currently feeding and breeding a L. zonata colony on the UCSC campus with around 200 snakes from localities all over Northern and Southern California. I already have a pretty good grasp of where they are but every new locality addition is as valuable as the first.

PLEASE ONLY FACTUAL RESPONSES, it will not help the cause to have false data incorporated into the project.

If you are working with the Department of fish and game, then I hope you can pass this message along. The banning of private collection breeding of Lampropelis zonata in California is a bad policy all around. Due to their secretive nature and their mostly inaccessible habitat, Zonatas are very common and easily found if you know where to look and if you are willing to endure the long hikes up to their usual haunts. I do understand the DFG's intentions are to protect Zonatas from exploitive collecting. But to ban the breeding of the species by responsible hobbyist in California is absurd. If a hobbyist collect a pair of Zonatas in the wild and breed it, the price of the animals will come down as the number of animals available in the market goes up and eventually this will make it economically unfeasible for illegal collecting of the animals by unscrupulus collectors. Just look at the Lampropeltis getulus for example, I doubt if any unscrupulus collectors are willing to spend the time to go out to hunt for them in the wild. This can also be true for Zonatas if the DFG would just let responsible hobbyist breed zonatas here is California and put them up for sale. If a hobbyist is able to buy a captive bred snake free of parasites, then they will not buy one collected from the wild that is full of parasites and other associated problems. This would enevitably drive the illegal trade out of business.

I believe you have hit the nail on the head. That is the basis of my thesis. If you noticed I am comparing zonata to 3 species you can currently commercially propagate in captivity for sale. I mean to show that there is no reason for the current policy and furthermore the policy does more damage than the policy enforced upon the three other species.

The idea that you can take one a day with a fishing permit if you are eating it or using it as bait but you cannot take one a day for 2 days and breed them is absurd. I am trying to show how extensive their range and population is.

That is why it is so important to get as much data as possible from the people who know, you the hobbyists who are out there every year checking your sites throughout California.

If you dont mind Myspace... there is an active group to join called "SoCal Field Herping". Many of them could help you .
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1 Eastern Blue Tongue Skink
2 Tarahumara Mountain Kingsnakes - Knoblochi
1 Thayer's Kingsnake - Thayeri
2 Golden Greek Tortoises
1 Pyxie Frog - 14 years old

I sent you a message......
My Home Page

Jim,
Thank you for your addition.
Dustin

Are you aware of the work being done by Dr. Rick Staub on Zonata? If you send me an e-mail I'll send you his e-mail address.
-Phil

Thank you for the information, but I just contacted him a few days ago.

Send me a private message at gab200176@yahoo.com