First record for Placer county Spea Hammondii

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Porter
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Joined: March 19th, 2011, 7:43 pm

First record for Placer county Spea Hammondii

Post by Porter »

Last night was a huge discovery.... :mrgreen: :thumb:

I'm working out in Rocklin now, very close to Lincoln. There is a road in the area that I only cruised about 3 times and 2 of those times were off season habitat scouting. My original thoughts on the road were, if there are longnose rhinos still in the area, along with nightsnake cateyes, they gotta be here... or at least this looks like the best possibly to cruise one (fenced of habitat). Then I saw it after the rains a couple years ago and thought hmmmmm...looks good for spades. Then I saw it again this winter while taking the long way home from work. Again, looked good for Spea...

This wasn't my target however... I saw a deep high yellow and light brown dor king on the road a few years back. When I was a kid, in 6th grade, me and a buddy found two baby kings in a Rio Linda field together in the same scrap pile. A black and white (light cream & dark brown) and a light brown and high yellow. Same size. We also found adult that were light brown and high yellow as well over the years. The colors of the dor brought back memories, so I've been wanting to find another like that to photograph.

Now that spring is here, I've decided to take the road home each night. Although I won't be cruising it until after 12am each time, 5 drives a week should survey the hell out of it :lol: it is also a high traffic road...so what I don't find alive, I'm likey to find dead. :?

So yeah....last night this little was in a frantic hop as my headlights hit him. Stopped for a quick voucher. Saw anotjer that was dor and a dor king as well (not the type I was looking for). Awesome find :crazyeyes: :thumb:

....I feel like dancing!





I put in the info and searched for a Placer Spea...nothing poppped up. Does that mean this is the first county record for the species or are private/sensitive records absent in search results?

ImageScreenshot_2018-04-10-02-26-29 by California Reptile & Amphibian Appreciation, on Flickr

Image20180410_012204 by California Reptile & Amphibian Appreciation, on Flickr

Image20180410_012143 by California Reptile & Amphibian Appreciation, on Flickr

Image20180410_013157 by California Reptile & Amphibian Appreciation, on Flickr

Image20180410_013206 by California Reptile & Amphibian Appreciation, on Flickr


Image20180410_015052 by California Reptile & Amphibian Appreciation, on Flickr
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jonathan
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Re: First record for Placer county Spea Hammondii

Post by jonathan »

Great record Porter!
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SurfinHerp
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Re: First record for Placer county Spea Hammondii

Post by SurfinHerp »

Nice find Porter!

It would be a HERP County Record if you entered it into the database. I just checked and didn't see a record. You ought to get that in there before somebody else comes along and beats you to it.

Jeff
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Porter
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Re: First record for Placer county Spea Hammondii

Post by Porter »

Thanks guys! ..and thanks for the heads up. I've been so busy with work lately I forgot. I'll try to get that in soon
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sjfriend
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Re: First record for Placer county Spea Hammondii

Post by sjfriend »

Cool find! When I lived in Citrus Heights I loved herping up that way. But I hated the sadness of all the DORs. Just WAY too much traffic around that area anymore.
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Porter
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Re: First record for Placer county Spea Hammondii

Post by Porter »

sjfriend wrote:Cool find! When I lived in Citrus Heights I loved herping up that way. But I hated the sadness of all the DORs. Just WAY too much traffic around that area anymore.
Yeah, it's a slaughter zone... There's only a few roads that you can actually find snakes on now and even those are high traffic roads.
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Porter
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Re: First record for Placer county Spea Hammondii

Post by Porter »

Alright... count down is here! The Placer Porter challenge :lol: If you want that 1st Placer find better get on it... there ain't no "I" in team but if you ain't got the eyes, then I got it ;) :mrgreen:

:P find it!!!!!
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