A ring for each finger!

[billboard]

I just went out this afternoon to groom one of my lines, and add a little more A/C.
I made a sled out of some carpet and Bombed the hill!

Carpet is easy to find, drive your neighborhood the night before trash day!




after laying some shag baby..........I decided to check some stuff on the way back up.

I found so many ring necks, I got tired of taking my camera out to shoot each one!







Saw a few skinks as well................






some more rings for those of you who like such things.



















































That was it. About a dozen Rings.............No Kings. And with rain and snow on the way, I think we are about to put a freeze on things!

[devilfish79]

Thanks for sharing your adventure! A dozen rings is probably better than a dozen no-shows.

[geckoguy747]

cool stuff bill! i need the snow to melt up here so i can get out and find my lifer ringneck.
josh

[billboard]

You guys are about to get over a foot of snow. Have fun!

[geckoguy747]

i know. and we just got over a foot last weekend. the snow level is supposed to drop to about 1000 feet or so this storm, so there's going to be snow in a lot of strange places too.

[Ted]

Man, I wish i could find rings like you! the only one i ever found was a DOR a couple of years ago... still cool to see!

[hellihooks]

i know. and we just got over a foot last weekend. the snow level is supposed to drop to about 1000 feet or so this storm, so there's going to be snow in a lot of strange places too.

thats why ya go today... jim

[brick911]

I love how your guysesssss rings curl their tails. Ours out in the NE don't do that.

[RobertH]

Ours out in the NE don't do that.

That's because their tails are frozen

[Steve Bledsoe]

Have you seen Ring-necks do this?









This was the second one I've seen this year that displayed this behavior. Noah Anderson and I found another a few weeks ago that did the same thing.
Does anyone have an idea why the heavy saliva secretion?
Could it possibly be venom related?

[Fundad]

Interesting Steve, I wouldn't want that in my blood, I have seen what their bites do to skinks. It's usually over pretty quickly when they do bite their prey..

Fundad

[Lystrophis]

Cool Ringnecks! Steve - that is an odd behavior you noticed... pretty cool

[billboard]

Quit squeezing them so hard!

[Steve Bledsoe]

Quit squeezing them so hard!

You should see what they do when you step on em!

[hellihooks]

Quit squeezing them so hard!

ya beat me to it Bill... been meaning to come back and say that for several days now... jim

[quasimoto]

Does anyone have any tips for finding ringnecks? Not looking for locations, just suitable habitat types and maybe some microhabitat/temp info. . . for as common as they seem to be I have been having one hell of a time finding any. I know they like cooler/moist areas but beyond that nothing.

Thanks guys!
Rory

[Steve Bledsoe]

They seem to be the most common snake in our area near the coast in Orange and San Diego Counties. We easily find lots of them under boards placed on grassy hillsides. They're usually the first snakes to show up under the boards in February and March, but become harder to find as the weather warms up and the soil gets drier. I would imagine that the conditions and results would be similar in the Thousand Oaks area.

[billboard]

Try setting something up on a north facing slope.

[reako45]

This recession thing sucks. Bill, all you could afford to pay those poor ringnecks for posing for you was a penny?!?

reako45

[RobertH]

Rory,

I am having problems finding ringnecks, too. The main difference for us (I am near the Western San Gabes) seems to be that our local species, San Bernadino Ringnecks aren't as numerous as San Diego Ringnecks. I am not sure why that is. It may be just a matter of different habitat and climate, but more likely it has to do with their natural density being much lower. Even near the coast of LA County, they don't appear to be as nearly numerous as in SD County.

The way I look at it is that once I do find one, it'll at least be an interesting find. It's a bit like finding slender salamanders: garden slenders (batrachoseps major major) are super-common in SD, whereas our most common local species, black-bellied slenders (batrachoseps nigriventris), though readily found in LA County, are definitely not numerous. And ringnecks favorite diet, as I understand it, are - slender salamanders.

Robert