Cruising for Snakes
I went out last night for a short snake cruise, hoping to scare up some Sidewinders and Panamints, but alas, the rattlers didn’t want to come out and play with me. I did find a couple of other snakes, though…
California Kingsnake--Lampropeltis getula californiae
This king was absolutely gorgeous! He was about 4-4 1/2 feet in length, very healthy and crisply colored with jet black and pure white bands. This is a true “Desert Phase” California Kingsnake. Quintessential in color, size, and attitude, but he did settle down and stop trying to bite for long enough to get a few pictures…
Further down the road I found this guy…
Great Basin Gophersnake--Pituophis catenifer deserticola
I have found and played with a ton of Great Basin Gophersnakes over the years. This species is always fun to find, because you never know what kind of attitude they are going to have. Some are incredibly calm, content to be picked up, held, and moved out of the road, and others…well…not so much. This was one of the most defensive Gophersnakes I’ve ever had the pleasure of encountering. He was medium size, about 3 1/2 feet in length, but he was absolutely FULL of piss and hatred for me. He was easily one of the loudest hissers I’ve ever encountered, and he struck at me more times than I could possibly count. Not little strikes…2/3 body length, almost aerial, lunges towards me, the flashlight, the camera…anything that moved in front of him. Of course, he was determined to convince me that he was gonna kill me, but that’s what I like to see. If a snake is that angry at me, it means he will treat every other human he encounters the same way. When this dude reaches 6 feet or more in length, he will be one helluva snake to deal with. Hopefully, I will get the opportunity to meet him at that point. Think he’ll remember me? 
Here’s another shot of the same Gophersnake. Notice the similarity of pose and attitude? He didn’t stop for a second…
Even after picking him up, moving him across the road in his intended direction of travel, and calmly setting him down inches from the cover of sagebrush, he had his sights on me. What a great little snake!
Thanks for taking the time to look!
Great Basin Gophersnake
Found an absolutely outstanding specimen of gophersnake last night. At about 4 foot long, this guy was fairly calm and posed very nicely for me in a pile of rocks. Outstanding coloration, and just a gorgeous snake in general–
Great Basin Gophersnake--Pituophis catenifer deserticola
I love these snakes. You never know what kind of attitude you are going to get with them. Some are large, angry, and ready to bite, and others, like this one, are quite gentle and content to pose. Whatever you get, it will be a wonderfully adapted desert species, and a natural beauty.
Thanks for looking!
