Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I visited the Wasatch Mtns in Utah last week. I stayed in a residence at about 8000ft elevation. Wondering about rubber boas..

I know of many records of rubber boas in those mountains at elevations below 7000ft. I am even knowledgeable of the flora in the habitat associated with those sightings. Just curious if rubber boas have been found at or above 8000ft? That 8000 mark seems like a transition. So hard to hike around up there when you are a coastal flat-lander like me. 6000 ft easy, 8000 ft difficult.

Mark:
I have son that lives in Utah so he might have an answer to your question ---I'll ask.

Last week I received a photo a boa individuals came across on the trail around Convict Lake on the East Side of the Sierra Nevada Mts. in Calif., Mono County.

To document that locality sighting, I copied the photo and then Googled Convict Lake to get coordinate and elvation. The elevation at the surface is at 7850 ft., not all that far below 8000 ft.

Richard F. Hoyer

Great stuff, thanks for sharing. I wonder if the rubber boa would be the highest elevation snake in many areas.

Here is the response I received from my son Ryan in Utah:
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I don't recall the year, but there was a point that I started to investigate this very aspect. I was setting up a site, and searching for other sites, near 9,000 ft in an attempt to determine if they were that high near the SLC area. I haven't had time/interest to pursue that in the last 8-9 years.

When I used to commute from SLC to Clearfield, I observed high elevation peaks where there is adequate habitate (cover, food), and the south-facing slopes at 8700 did have sufficient periods of time several years in a row that were clear from snow to allow boas to live and reproduce there. And nearby weather stations indicated enough daytime warmth and frost-free nights to indicate that they could be there.

Since then, I have become aware of other finds at elevations above 8,000 nearby, but not specifically within the Salt Lake/Ogden area of the Wasatch. Near Logan, they are common near a lake above 8,000. And there is the one found recently to the east in the Unita Mts at over 9,400 ft.

Especially in south-facing areas at or near 9,000 along the Wasatch Front there are many areas that I have observed that seem like likely spots to hold boas. I think at the highest elevations, food sources become a limiting factor more than temperatures or cover/access to underground. As long as the vegitation and substrate are sufficient for the rodent populations, I highly suspect they are at 9000 ft elevations just east of SLC.

Ryan

I did see some habitat just above 8000 ft that looked quite nice. Like Ryan said, this was on the South and West side of the mountain I was on. Would be fascinating to find a boa up there. Most of the records that I have seen, including unfortunate roadkills from this year, are well below 8000 ft in the area I was in. Then again, how many people are looking at 8000ft.

Thank you Richard and Ryan for answering this question.