Biggest Contia I ever done seen...

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Natalie McNear
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Biggest Contia I ever done seen...

Post by Natalie McNear »

Found this big girl today...

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The Clif bar package is about 6" long, so I would estimate the snake to be within the 12-13" range (TWSS). Not a record, but definitely the biggest one I've flipped. What surprised me most was her girth though, she was probably about at big around as a pencil, which is pretty hefty for this species (they are normally a lot smaller than Ringnecks). At first I was thinking she was gravid, but apparently they don't lay eggs until the summer, so now I'm assuming she's just had some really good meals this year. Has anyone else found humongous sharp-tailed snakes before?

Also, here are some Arboreal Salamanders and a California Forest Scorpion. I found a Ringneck that was probably about 14" long, but I didn't get any pictures (I had just finished putting all my photo gear away).

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SDherp
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Re: Biggest Contia I ever done seen...

Post by SDherp »

Nice finds Natalie. Those scorpions look a lot different than the transparent yellow ones we have down south. Very cool little Sharp Tail too.
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FunkyRes
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Re: Biggest Contia I ever done seen...

Post by FunkyRes »

I've found a couple huge Contia like that - but not often.
Only once since I started putting them in the database, I'll see if I can find it.

The big ones are nice finds :thumb:
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geckoguy747
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Re: Biggest Contia I ever done seen...

Post by geckoguy747 »

i really like that salamander shot!
josh
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Natalie McNear
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Re: Biggest Contia I ever done seen...

Post by Natalie McNear »

Thanks guys. That reminds me, I need to enter this stuff in the database.
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Fieldnotes
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Re: Biggest Contia I ever done seen...

Post by Fieldnotes »

WoW that is a nice size Contia :thumb:
Contia longicaudae are typically larger than C. tenuis.
By chance, did you find that snake in an area where they are unaccounted for such as southern Sonoma or Marin County?
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Natalie McNear
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Re: Biggest Contia I ever done seen...

Post by Natalie McNear »

This was in Marin County, and definitely C. tenuis (you can see how tiny her tail is in this photo). As far as I know, C. longicaudae has never been found in Marin, though I don't know how many people have gone looking for them... I know all the snakes in eastern and central Marin are C. tenuis, so if the other species is present here it's going to be in the west.
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reptileKid
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Re: Biggest Contia I ever done seen...

Post by reptileKid »

Cool finds!
That sure is one healthy contia, it definitly has some girth to it.
I found my biggest this year too. Also nice salamander shot! :thumb:

-Cody
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Fieldnotes
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Re: Biggest Contia I ever done seen...

Post by Fieldnotes »

Interesting, i didn’t even notice that tail length until now. That dorsal looks identical to the longicaudae that I have seen. Did you happen to get a ventral shot?
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Re: Biggest Contia I ever done seen...

Post by hellihooks »

Short-tails got no reason..Short-tails got no reason.. they got little bitty tails, on little bitty males.... nooo reason to live! :lol: :lol:
All I've ever found have been longicaudae in the Santa Cruz's... biggest was like 14"... but the same uniform brn. I LOVE to find a orange/red striped C. tenuis some day... :crazyeyes: jim
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Re: Biggest Contia I ever done seen...

Post by rjadams »

Love the scorpion photo! pop that baby on Bugguide!
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Natalie McNear
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Re: Biggest Contia I ever done seen...

Post by Natalie McNear »

Cody - Thanks!

Will - I only got a crappy shot of the ventral surface with my cell phone, but you can see that the black bars are very wide (in this individual, more than half of each ventral scale).

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Jim - I still need to get my C. longicaudae!! :lol: I think both species get pretty dull brown as adults - I've never found any large C. tenuis with the bright red coloration that juveniles have. My favorites are the ones with the two bright red stripes going down their sides, they look like neon signs. I think those ones live mainly in the north, the ones down here are usually solid red on top.

RJ - Thanks! Don't you think BugGuide has enough photos of U. mordax though? :lol:
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Owen
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Re: Biggest Contia I ever done seen...

Post by Owen »

Nice Contia. I found a 13" one in '09 and yes... no orange. I think they out grow the orange at around 8".
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Natalie McNear
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Re: Biggest Contia I ever done seen...

Post by Natalie McNear »

Thanks Owen. :)

Here's a BBW of a Coastie ( :lol: ) from today...

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This snake was probably about 30 inches in length (maybe a bit more) and pretty girthy as well. When I was photographing her, a couple from the UK came up to see what I was taking pictures of, and were really excited to see the snake - they said it's only the second one they'd seen in America so far. This girl was as docile as any captive garter, so they got to hold her for a bit too. A family with some younger children also walked by, and the kids were ecstatic to see and pet the snake as well.

I try to take time to educate people about wild snakes when possible if they take an interest in what I'm doing, because although we don't have too much of problem with snakes getting killed around here specifically, if they go and tell others everywhere else, it might just be the difference between life and death for some snake far away from here. It seems like lot of people only think they're scared of snakes - when given the chance to learn about them, many of them come around (at least around here).
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sjfriend
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Re: Biggest Contia I ever done seen...

Post by sjfriend »

My biggest Contia I ever found, just over 14 inches, was in the Sierra Nevada Mts at just under 4000 feet.

Back when I lived in Marin Cnty there was only one species so didn't check all the snakes but used to find quite a few near Hamilton AFB.
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tspuckler
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Re: Biggest Contia I ever done seen...

Post by tspuckler »

Nice. That reminds me of this monstrosity I found when vacationing in Los Gatos a couple years ago (though I never measured it):

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Tim
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Natalie McNear
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Re: Biggest Contia I ever done seen...

Post by Natalie McNear »

Steve - Awesome. I'm pretty sure the one I found was under 14". All the snakes at Hamilton AFB would be C. tenuis, as they are at my house several miles NW of there.

Tim - What a fatty! Did you get any ventral shots? From what I can see in the photo, your snake looks like it could be C. longicaudae, though I'm not sure if their range includes western San Mateo County.

EDIT: Santa Clara, not San Mateo.
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FunkyRes
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Re: Biggest Contia I ever done seen...

Post by FunkyRes »

That fatty may be gravid.

Here's a gravid female I found last year -

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I also found another gravid female close to my house that had a gouge in it, probably from a cat, I kept her in a sterilite tub and was planning to hatch the eggs and release them in my garden, but when her wound healed up remarkably fast (less than a week) I just released the female.
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RenoBart
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Re: Biggest Contia I ever done seen...

Post by RenoBart »

That's funny, Natalie, because I recall the one (and only one) I found ever seemed to be quite a bit bigger than that one, from the Cliff Bar reference shot. Unfortunately, I don't think I have any size reference shots, but you should be able to kinda tell how big this one was:

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Bart
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Natalie McNear
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Re: Biggest Contia I ever done seen...

Post by Natalie McNear »

Haha, I think the moss makes it look smaller than it actually was... If I didn't know that it was actually larger than the one I saw, I'd say it looked about 8" long. Probably also because it still has a lot of the bright red coloration.
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Owen
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Re: Biggest Contia I ever done seen...

Post by Owen »

Here's the 13" one from '09 (not measured, but at least as long as my size 13 shoe). Only size ref. is the Eleodes dentipes assuming the position:

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One between 4" and 5" from about 100 yds away (2010):

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RenoBart
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Re: Biggest Contia I ever done seen...

Post by RenoBart »

That snake was definitely bigger than 8"s, I would say it was at least 12"s, I know, I know, but if memory serves is was a mighty sharptail. Being this was the first one I found, I didn't have any size reference, but I know this snake was much bigger than 8"s. The only other one I have seen was that baby one you found on the hill when we herped together.

Bart
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tspuckler
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Re: Biggest Contia I ever done seen...

Post by tspuckler »

Tim - What a fatty! Did you get any ventral shots? From what I can see in the photo, your snake looks like it could be C. longicaudae, though I'm not sure if their range includes western San Mateo County.
Natalie,

This probably isn't the shot you want, but it may solve the ID question. The way the tail was turned in the photo made it look like it was longer than it actually was. According to californiaherps.com "C. longicaudae has from 43 to 58 caudal scales, while C. tenuis has from 24 - 43." I'd say this has somewhere in the high 20s for a caudal scale count.

By the way, that's a nice profile of you in the latest "Herp Nation" magazine!

Tim

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Natalie McNear
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Re: Biggest Contia I ever done seen...

Post by Natalie McNear »

Owen - If those beetles are the same size as the ones in Marin, that's one big Contia!

Bart - Haha, I'll take your word. :)

Tim - Thanks! Yep, caudal scale counts would indicate that is C. tenuis. In the other photo you posted, from what I could see of the ventral coloration, the bars looked very thin like what C. longicaudae is supposed to have. I guess the coloration can be quite variable though.
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RenoBart
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Re: Biggest Contia I ever done seen...

Post by RenoBart »

Yeah, If I ever find a big one like that again, I'll be sure to whip out the ruler!!!

;) Bart
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Re: Biggest Contia I ever done seen...

Post by mikemike »

RenoBart wrote:That snake was definitely bigger than 8"s, I would say it was at least 12"s, I know, I know, but if memory serves is was a mighty sharptail. Being this was the first one I found, I didn't have any size reference, but I know this snake was much bigger than 8"s. The only other one I have seen was that baby one you found on the hill when we herped together.

Bart
Is that the one from the place I told you to go that you went before we met up that day and went to the other place??? haha
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RenoBart
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Re: Biggest Contia I ever done seen...

Post by RenoBart »

mikemike wrote:
RenoBart wrote:That snake was definitely bigger than 8"s, I would say it was at least 12"s, I know, I know, but if memory serves is was a mighty sharptail. Being this was the first one I found, I didn't have any size reference, but I know this snake was much bigger than 8"s. The only other one I have seen was that baby one you found on the hill when we herped together.

Bart
Is that the one from the place I told you to go that you went before we met up that day and went to the other place??? haha
I think so...yeah.

:) Bart
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RenoBart
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Re: Biggest Contia I ever done seen...

Post by RenoBart »

DMJY wrote:I don't like the salandam it is horriblle..and snake.they are animals.




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Very interesting. :crazyeyes:
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