Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I have herped So Cal since the 70s. I have noticed that Western Yellow Bellied Racers were comon in the Westlake Village / Thousand Oaks area. But Striped Racers were not very common (although I did catch a couple). I found the oppostie to be true in the San Gabriel Foothills. Striped Racers are abundant in this area. And in 30 years I have not seen a single Yellow Bellied Racer. I know they are there but I could locate them. Since both are present in each area it cannot be a matter of one being dominant over the other because each one dominates in seperate areas. Has anyone else observed this? Just curious.

Regarding the San Gabes, there used to be coachwhips in many of the wash areas on the south side, but now they are essentially gone or at least very rarely seen. I have a fantastic paper written in the late 70s that goes into great detail about the species and changes that have occurred since the 40s and 50s, I'll pull that out and see if anything was said about the racers.