WrightwoodCalif.com Forum
Public Forums => Outdoors => Topic started by: Calindy on Mar 31, 07, 09:19:05 PM
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My dog was brking by her water dish, and there is a snake. It looked like it was shaking the end of it's tail too. I think it is a rattlesnake...thank God no one got bit! Man I HATE snakes!!
(http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y63/Calindy/IMG_8844-1.jpg)
(http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y63/Calindy/IMG_8828-1.jpg)
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King snake??? King snakes eat rattlers I think.
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I hope that it is, hopefully someone will let me know FOR SURE!!
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Hello, I believe that is a gopher snake. ;D
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:D Actually, I know it is a gopher snake, sorry to sound so wishy washy. ::)
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No, that is not a rattle snake. Rattle snakes have a noticeably defined triangular head, as do most poisonous snakes. Cool looking snake though! 8)
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Definately a Gopher Snake...one of the good guys in the legless world. They will shake their tail like a rattle snake and will often open their mouth and hiss. As already stated, he doesn't have the pit viper head. Beautiful creature.
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THANK-YOU so much!!! I feel so much better and I can let my dogs out now. The snake has slithered on his way...yeah!!!
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Gopher snake.
You want them. They keep the rats & mice down.
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Lazy Faire Ranch in West Cajon Valley had its first rattlesnake today - a baby one. Paul killed it - it was about 30 feet from some of the horses (including mine!) Guess spring is here!
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Gopher snake.
You want them. They keep the rats & mice down.
Ditto!! Definately a gopher snake. You want these creatures around, especially with all the rats around lately. ;D They won't harm you and are good for keeping the vermin in check.
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Ditto!! Definately a gopher snake. You want these creatures around, especially with all the rats around lately. ;D They won't harm you and are good for keeping the vermin in check.
I wish they would hang around our property and take care of all the dang rats >:(
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Thanks for asking rather than just killing the snake. Gopher snakes will try to imitate rattlesnakes when they are frightened. If there are dry leaves around the tail shaking can resemble a rattlesnake rattle.
Please try not to hate snakes. As others have pointed out snakes eat rodents that carry diseases. Where I work the rattlesnakes are removed from the area (not killed - a fairly easy, safe, process if you know what you are doing) . Now, the ground squirrels are a big problem. Too many ground squirrels mean that plague could be an issue (the same one that killed 1/3 of Europe - before antibotics). I'd rather watch out for snakes (which you should be doing in Wrightwood anyway when it is warm) than worry about diseases.
If there is a snake that anyone thinks is in the wrong place. Let me know. I will try to come rescue it and get it to a safe place.
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I get the Mojovi greens and the regular rattlers here. Along with a ton of the king snakes but I did find a baby once that was a goffer it was scared and did the rattler thing. Now I have a electric wire up and it seems to be keeping the snakes out of the top half of the yard they can have the roam of the back as long as they dont get to my kids or pets. I do believe that with the shock wire on they dont come in. Anyone else ever notice this with any shock wire they have up?
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A friend ran into a black rattlesnake on Ontario Peak. Interesting...I haven't seen a black on in the Angeles yet.
http://fireflyforest.net/firefly/2007/07/27/arizona-black-rattlesnake/
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(http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2644/3782152877_e73337d23c.jpg)
They say it "Didn't happen unless you have pics!" ;)
I am guessing AZ rattler...but he was a bit lost.
Anyone?
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I've lived in Wrightwood for almost eleven years now and have only seen one snake. I was driving down towards Jackson Lake and it had been run over on the road, didn't bother to see what kind it was.
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They say it "Didn't happen unless you have pics!" ;)
I am guessing AZ rattler...but he was a bit lost.
Anyone?
The common rattlesnake here, Crotalus viridis helleri, Southern Pacific Rattlesnake ... they just get darker the higher up you go.
"high elevation populations can be very dark or black dorsally, with little or no pattern definition"
http://www.werc.usgs.gov/fieldguide/crvi.htm
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Thanks Janie, that makes perfect sense to me. I saw 3 rattlesnakes last year on the local trails and they were very dark. I couldn't figure out what kind of rattler they were as the dark color didn't seem to fit. The lowest elevation was 6000' (hiking up to Helicopter Hill) and the other 2 were up in the Grassy Hollow area. The latter were EXCEPTIONALLY annoyed at my dog and me -- scary!
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I have seen them dark but never as dark as the picture. Thanks for the ID.
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Usually when I see them up on Blue Ridge they've always been black. I just figured they were ALL black up at that elevation, as I've run into many rattlers over the years in the Angeles National Forest and at the higher elevations they have always been black.
Then, two weekends ago we ran into a nice four footer (6 rattles) crossing the road near Blue Ridge campground and he had the typical brown or brindle coloring and pattern that is more typical of what I see at lower elevations.
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Last week a friend and I were hiking up the Dawson Saddle trail, and within a few minutes, up that steep part at the beginning of the trail, a baby rattler was laying there, right across the trail. It was the regular brown patterned color. Pretty little thing, it was maybe 10-12 inches long, not very big around, but definitely a rattler. This would have been at about 8000 ft. elevation (Dawson Saddle is 7901, and the trail climbs steeply at first). Maybe they have to get older before they turn darker?
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Looking over some of the posted rattlesnake photos from this area, it appears they all are pretty dark/black in color.
Blueridge 2003
(http://www.incidentcontrol.com/images/nature/BlueRidgeRattler.JPG)
Lone Pine Canyon 2004
(http://www.wrightwoodcalif.com/bighorn/tracking/rattler4_15_04a.JPG)
(http://www.wrightwoodcalif.com/bighorn/tracking/rattler4_15_04b.JPG)
Wrightwood 2005
(http://www.wrightwoodcalif.com/nature/RattlerBlue2.JPG)
(http://www.wrightwoodcalif.com/nature/RattlerBlue4.JPG)
(http://www.wrightwoodcalif.com/nature/RattlerHead1.JPG)
Angelwolf took this photo 2006 on 3N3 offf LPC before Clydes ranch
(http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b390/Digitalsbydanna/snake.jpg)
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The dark ones are Timber Rattlers. We had one living in our garage when we were inundated with woodrats. He was no trouble. He would go in and out without bothering us.
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Perhaps you were mistaken. Timber Rattlers are not found this far west. It's a common misconception. Here's a link that can help with the distribution of Timber Rattlers.
http://herpcenter.ipfw.edu/index.htm?http://herpcenter.ipfw.edu/outreach/accounts/reptiles/snakes/Timber_Rattlesnake/index (http://herpcenter.ipfw.edu/index.htm?http://herpcenter.ipfw.edu/outreach/accounts/reptiles/snakes/Timber_Rattlesnake/index)
Click on Species Accounts and scroll down for Timber Rattlesnake.
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Thanks for the info!. Maybe we have a whole new species.
My Audobon book makes no mention of the rattlers any where near here being this dark.
Let's name it!
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I have a book that ID's this snake as a Western Pacific Rattler, closely related to the Timber. Maybe I can scan in the relevant pages and post them and see what everyone else thinks.
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Hmmm. Looks like someone I dated once to me....
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I do not trust my ID abilities, what is this snake??
I think it is a gopher snake:
(http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y63/Calindy/IMG_2534-1.jpg)
(http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y63/Calindy/IMG_2534.jpg)
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He looks like he has a triangle head here, that is what confuses me:
(http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y63/Calindy/IMG_2539-1-1.jpg)
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It must be a Gopher snake..
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(http://www.californiaherps.com/images/signs/knowyoursnakessignmt306.jpg)
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Totally gopher. And very cute.
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Thanks! I like that sign!!