San Luis Obispo herping over spring break

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apantaleo91
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San Luis Obispo herping over spring break

Post by apantaleo91 »

Over spring break we decided to take the fam to our house in San Luis Obispo where the weather just happened to be beautiful and perfect for some herping ;) we hiked all day and as the sun began to set we did some flipping in some of my favorite spots. Didn't intend for this to be a herping trip, it just worked out this way so sorry for poor picture quality. We were woefully unprepared

We saw a ton of these juvie Coastal Fence Lizards (Sceloporus occidentalis) everywhere; more than usual that is.
Image

Pacific Gopher Snake (Pituophis catenifer)
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and again
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Next we found an Alligator lizard (Elgaria ???) with a nasty attitude sunning on a rock
Image

On the way back to the car, alongside a creek, I flipped a log and found several California Newts (Taricha torosa)
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While we were out and about that night we went to one of my favorite spots and we flipped several NorPacs including the extremely dark phase (nearly solid black) Norpac i posted a picture of previously. Just as we were about to leave i flipped this little critter

Night Snake (Hypsiglena Ochrorhyncha
Image

-Antone
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Neil M
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Re: San Luis Obispo herping over spring break

Post by Neil M »

Sounds like an unplanned herping day turned out great! My uncle lives in San Luis Obispo and sees california kingsnakes pretty often, so with that and your post I am gonna need to plan a trip there soon. Sick night snake. Thanks for the post
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KichiMark
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Re: San Luis Obispo herping over spring break

Post by KichiMark »

sweet finds. I myself just got back from carrizo today. Found a lot of stuff.
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apantaleo91
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Re: San Luis Obispo herping over spring break

Post by apantaleo91 »

Yes there are a ton of kingsnakes in the area along with NorPacs and gophers. Together the 3 make up a huge portion of the areas herps. Great place but season tends to come later and end earlier considering the coastal climate never gets too warm:/ still a fun spot to herp and one of the most beautiful on the coast!
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monklet
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Re: San Luis Obispo herping over spring break

Post by monklet »

Is that look typical for the nightsnakes up there?
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apantaleo91
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Re: San Luis Obispo herping over spring break

Post by apantaleo91 »

Pretty typical I would say although to be honest I have only found several night snakes in the area so I dont know if its enough conclusive evidence to say its "typical" haha. It was most definitely a night snake though. I would assume they don't vary much from SLO to Ventura since both are of the same species and subspecies. Do you have any shots of night snakes from down in that area, would love to see them :D
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Fundad
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Re: San Luis Obispo herping over spring break

Post by Fundad »

We only have one night snake from SLO county in the Database. It would be a nice addition to have your find in there as well.

Fundad
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monklet
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Re: San Luis Obispo herping over spring break

Post by monklet »

apantaleo91 wrote:Do you have any shots of night snakes from down in that area, would love to see them :D
Had one piece o' night snake jerky a long time ago ...that's about it, sorry :( But thanks for the follow-up.
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apantaleo91
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Re: San Luis Obispo herping over spring break

Post by apantaleo91 »

Fundad, I entered it into the nafha database!
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Ryan Sikola
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Re: San Luis Obispo herping over spring break

Post by Ryan Sikola »

Very cool nightsnake and newt!

That gopher is a san diego gopher rather than a pacific.
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Brian Hubbs
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Re: San Luis Obispo herping over spring break

Post by Brian Hubbs »

I love SLO county. Here's something I saw this week while I was there:

Image
Western Pond Turtle and Crawdad dinner by tricolorbrian, on Flickr

Yes, that's a little crawdad in its mouth...
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