Introducing myself and some of my finds last weekend

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spider-man
Posts: 11
Joined: April 15th, 2012, 12:52 am

Introducing myself and some of my finds last weekend

Post by spider-man »

Hey guys I've been lurking on this forum since October and finally decided to join. I'm forum LA County and I've been herping since I was a young kid back when I use to call it snake/lizard hunting. I use to love to collect a lot back then but now I just like the thrill of the "hunt" (finding them and taking pics). Over the years I some what lost interest in herping during my high school and college days until about last October. That's when my friend found a Ball Python in his apartment and asked me to remove it (we couldn't find the owner so I decided to keep it). This brought up all my old memories which lead me back into my old past time and that's how I found this lovely forum. The pictures on here were enough to get me back herping again. Immediately I found a neonate helleri and adult gopher in November. I know that may be a small number to some of you seasoned guys but that's most snake I've seen in one day; This became my new spot :). Since it was close to winter I've jus been lurking until the season was right to go to that spot again. Which brings me to my finds in april and last weekend (The BEST herping experiance in my life):

fyi:I just have a point 'n shoot camera so please bare with my crappy phhotography skills :)

The Snake that got me back into herping:
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on 4/7 I found a juvenile gopher near my house, unfortunately I'm not used to packing a camera with my usual checklist of herping gear so no pics. sorry :(

4/15 Went to our local county natural park but only found a DOR gopher
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Some Habitat shots with my friend Jamie
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4/18 Road cruised on a path near in my area. Heard a lot of chorus frogs but saw nothing except this western toad.
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4/20 I went to my new spot I found in November and literally 1 minute after we started we ran into this helleri. Up into this point it was the biggest rattlesnake I'd ever seen in the wild (thats because all others were neonates lol).
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5 mins later we ran into 2 hikers and saw us taking pics. We got to talking and he really is a nice man but boy did I hear a lot of ignorance. It was really hard to stay polite and let him ramble. He went on to say that he's killed dozens of rattlers in this area and says seen many "diamond backs" and "mojave greens" none of which are in this city. I lied and said that I was collecting research for a university. He was surprised and said he wouldn't kill any rattlers he comes across this season so that he wouldn't interfere with our "research" ;) .

3 mins after we parted ways he whistles at us yells "snake" he tells us that they came across a rattler down the side of trail. We searched and searched thinking it was gone but finally found it (my friend almost stepped on him!)
in situ
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here is another angle. Believe me when I say he was perfectly camouflage, the flash/camera really messes this effect up.
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10 mins after we took pics of him we ran into another one but my camera had run outta battery. But 3 rattlers of that size in one day is a huge record for me; so of course I was definitely amped and decided to go again.

Later that night we road cruised and found a DOR gopher and a DOR helleri.
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4/21 Went to the same new spot but took a different path. Found this helleri near a power transformer. Very feisty!
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habitat shots
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4/22 Road Cruised this time on a new road and found 2 DOR gophers.
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This last weekend was a blast. I never seen so many rattlesnakes of that size before. I'm glad I started herping again. This is gonna be a great spring/summer. My goal before the summer ends is to find some Scutulatus, Cerastes Cerastes, Atrox, Hammondii and some of course some kings. Thanks for looking!
spider-man
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Neil M
Posts: 285
Joined: April 10th, 2012, 7:27 pm
Location: San Francisco, CA

Re: Introducing myself and some of my finds last weekend

Post by Neil M »

Congratulations on the finds and welcome to the forum! You made a great choice to come back to herping! Hhaha i love your little white lie to save the rattlers :lol: good thinking!
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Mr.Talltree
Posts: 200
Joined: March 22nd, 2012, 10:15 pm
Location: San Francisco, Ca.

Re: Introducing myself and some of my finds last weekend

Post by Mr.Talltree »

Once you start, it's hard to stop :twisted:! Welcome to the forum :thumb:
spider-man
Posts: 11
Joined: April 15th, 2012, 12:52 am

Re: Introducing myself and some of my finds last weekend

Post by spider-man »

Neil M wrote:Congratulations on the finds and welcome to the forum! You made a great choice to come back to herping! Hhaha i love your little white lie to save the rattlers :lol: good thinking!
Thanks. Ya I didn't how to react to his statements really but I didn't want to blow up on him. He genuinely was a nice guy but I didn't want to call him out on his Atrox and scutulatus sightings/kills.

Mr.Talltree wrote:Once you start, it's hard to stop ! Welcome to the forum
Thanks! Lol very true, my friends and co workers are wondering why I've taken a sudden interest in hiking! This whole winter I've been lurking on here looking at all the photos and my urge to herp in the warmer months kept getting bigger and bigger. The wait for spring was killing me!
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KichiMark
Posts: 137
Joined: December 16th, 2011, 5:56 pm
Location: SFV, Los Angeles County

Re: Introducing myself and some of my finds last weekend

Post by KichiMark »

Welcome aboard :beer: . Good call on using the research but in a way you are not lying. You are gathering data and experience for your own personal research :D . What would you say is your coolest find so far?
spider-man
Posts: 11
Joined: April 15th, 2012, 12:52 am

Re: Introducing myself and some of my finds last weekend

Post by spider-man »

KichiMark wrote:Welcome aboard :beer: . Good call on using the research but in a way you are not lying. You are gathering data and experience for your own personal research :D . What would you say is your coolest find so far?
Thanks! heh ya I guess your right. Recently since I started up again I would say my most coolest finds were the helleri's; I've only seen neonates before in the wild. It was amazing to see them so big and exciting to finally hear their rattles in person.
As for overall finds in my life time I would say a Zonata that I found in my backyard when I was 8. I thought it was a jump rope someone left back there and then upon closer inspection I thought it was a coral snake (ran like hell). It wasn't until later I realized corals don't live here and that it was a mountain king. Other notable cool finds were a hammondi (the first snake i caught) and a western pond (first turtle i caught) but that was over around 14-16 years ago.
cerbatrosy
Posts: 72
Joined: August 14th, 2010, 12:38 pm

Re: Introducing myself and some of my finds last weekend

Post by cerbatrosy »

You found a nice place to herp, love the rock formations..
You'll hear a lot more ignorance as you continue
down this rocky road, some you cant educate,
some you can..
G'luck
spider-man
Posts: 11
Joined: April 15th, 2012, 12:52 am

Re: Introducing myself and some of my finds last weekend

Post by spider-man »

cerbatrosy wrote:You found a nice place to herp, love the rock formations..
You'll hear a lot more ignorance as you continue
down this rocky road, some you cant educate,
some you can..
G'luck
Thanks! ya I love that park. As for the ignorance of people I definitely been hearing it since I was a kid and I'm sure I'll hear some more. but your right "some you cant educate, some you can" Usually I stay humble and let them ramble but if they are open to listen, learn and understand I always educate :)
michael68
Posts: 89
Joined: April 9th, 2011, 5:40 pm
Location: North LA County

Re: Introducing myself and some of my finds last weekend

Post by michael68 »

Welcome, nice finds. I live pretty close by although what's funny/sad is I've never even really hiked around the interior of Vasquez and I used to drive by it on the bus almost everyday when I went to elementary school in Agua Dulce at one point.

Too bad to hear about the run in with ignorance lol. It's sad so many people have no respect for rattlesnakes, some of the most amazing creatures out there IMO.

I've been seeing a lot of helleri too, finally saw my first adult gopher snake of the season about 30 mins ago though.
spider-man
Posts: 11
Joined: April 15th, 2012, 12:52 am

Re: Introducing myself and some of my finds last weekend

Post by spider-man »

michael68 wrote:Welcome, nice finds. I live pretty close by although what's funny/sad is I've never even really hiked around the interior of Vasquez and I used to drive by it on the bus almost everyday when I went to elementary school in Agua Dulce at one point.

Too bad to hear about the run in with ignorance lol. It's sad so many people have no respect for rattlesnakes, some of the most amazing creatures out there IMO.

I've been seeing a lot of helleri too, finally saw my first adult gopher snake of the season about 30 mins ago though.
heh It was my first time hiking there even though i live close to it as well. Ya feel ya; rattlesnakes always get a bum rap. But seriously there's been a lot this season.
Nice on the Gopher! :beer:
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RLewisH
Posts: 164
Joined: October 5th, 2010, 5:41 pm
Location: Encinitas

Re: Introducing myself and some of my finds last weekend

Post by RLewisH »

Welcome to the forum! Great thread, especially with all the pictures. I've used the research guise before with the same results, even though I'm 16 and look about 12.
reako45
Posts: 542
Joined: June 12th, 2010, 9:38 am

Re: Introducing myself and some of my finds last weekend

Post by reako45 »

I love the variability of the helleri in your post. I love seeing them. Looks like you've seen more in the first part of "the season" this year than I've seen in the past 2 years (Saw 0 helleri last year, and only 2 so far this year).
Peoples' attitude/ignorance regarding them can be aggrivating to say the least. I'm in the SFV and I've run into more than a few "go-green/friends of nature" folks who think it's OK to kill rattlers so their dogs can go down hiking trail w/out a leash :? .

reako45
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KichiMark
Posts: 137
Joined: December 16th, 2011, 5:56 pm
Location: SFV, Los Angeles County

Re: Introducing myself and some of my finds last weekend

Post by KichiMark »

reako45 wrote:I love the variability of the helleri in your post. I love seeing them. Looks like you've seen more in the first part of "the season" this year than I've seen in the past 2 years (Saw 0 helleri last year, and only 2 so far this year).
Peoples' attitude/ignorance regarding them can be aggrivating to say the least. I'm in the SFV and I've run into more than a few "go-green/friends of nature" folks who think it's OK to kill rattlers so their dogs can go down hiking trail w/out a leash :? .

reako45
hey...I am also in the SFV. Small world haha. I went today on a hike and found a large gopher. I showed some families coming down a trail and talked about it and the benefits of all snakes in any area (first time really doing that in that kind of situation). The ladies and kids were amazed but a couple of the guys showed some ignorance. Nothing a little talking couldn't fix. Snakes just got such a bad rap don't they?
spider-man
Posts: 11
Joined: April 15th, 2012, 12:52 am

Re: Introducing myself and some of my finds last weekend

Post by spider-man »

Thanks again guys. Yeah small world indeed I'm just over the hill from you SFV guys! Nice job on educating folks :thumb: . Today I ran into a family that was blocking the road while I was road cruising. They found a rattlesnake. But this story has a happy ending because instead of killing it they took pictures and moved it off the road. Turns out they were herping too! :lol: I took pictures as well (which I'll post up at the end of the month along with all my other finds this month). We swapped stories and pictures from our finds today. It was great to meet such a nice family. They said they were out for Mother's Day and it was mom's idea to go find snakes which I found very joyful. Boy did we talk and talk. I really hope I run into them again soon. I love meeting other herpers while herping :)
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