It's been a couple months since the babes have been hatching or transforming here in Cali. Show me some. I'll start:

YOY Coluber constrictor mormon. Yes, it's in my hand (crawled under my foot while I was shooting along a pond). One of the rare ones that I pick up.


YOY Pituophis catenifer catenifer. Crossing the trail.


YOY Thamnophis atratus zaxanthus


YOY Rana draytonii


The classic coyote turd pose. Sceloporus occidentalis bocourti

Awesome pictures, including the turd shot

From a couple of months ago, but this five inch zonata still qualifies, I think. (See the sand grains around it for comparison):


Coast Mountain Kingsnake, Lampropeltis zonata multifasciata by J. Maughn, on Flickr

I was fortunate enough to observe some YOY Western Pond Turtles last week. (no bass or bullfrogs inhabited this pond)


Actinemys marmorata by Mo'o, on Flickr

Beautiful shots, guys! Killer Racer and Zonata! That baby Pond Turtle is AWESOME!

I really got to get out...

Great shot of that racer, awesome find. In all the racers I have seen I have never got a chance to see the YOY color phase.I have caught them pretty darn small too, Do they loose their markings after the first shed or something?

Nice babies all. Jim, it's hard to believe that zonata is so small. I just think about how small a 4" Contia are and I can't picture zonata that small.



From what I've seen, they loose most of the patern at around a year old. Here's one from early this spring that would be around 7 months old:



This snake from November 2011 was about 21"-22" long and should be about 15 months old. It had very slight traces of the juvenile pattern:

I'm looking at a ruler as I type this, and think the snake might have been 5", maybe. No more, though. It was a tiny thing. I'm confused a little, because I'm reading that young zonata are 20cm. Weird, maybe it was a runt?

Another view:

Coast Mountain Kingsnake, Lampropeltis zonata multifasciata by J. Maughn, on Flickr

JimM

PS- El Garia, I love that YOY Pond Turtle. Awesome sighting!

Nice idea, Owen.

Here's a juvie Striped Racer Nicholas flipped under an old 4x4 in the San Gabriels just the other day:



Note the recent meal in its stomach.

And a YOY Two-Striped Gartersnake from the same weekend, this one found in the Santa Monicas along with two others:



It was our first Two-Stripe from this mountain range, where they are underdocumented at this time. This is also were we found several of these:





Robert

Really nice photos guys. I especially like the tiny zonata!

Here are a couple of baby helleri that I've found recently:

night-walked this one on a dirt road


road-cruised on Sunday night



I'll add more newborns later as I find them. With a ton of luck, I'll post a baby Switaki!

Later,

Jeff

Does this count?

Cause... other than yoy SB's running round my yard, the only yoy I've seen this year was this RSG, with El Garia, several weeks ago.

I GUESS this little guy counts too...

Haven't got out to herp since... But... rather than being 102 today, as forecasted... it's raining...soooo...
This MIGHT have been a really large yoy, cruised on 4th of July... but probably a yearling... but still... very nice...


Hopefully I'll have some more to add to this, in a few days... jim

do captive bred count? like cal kings?

North American Field Herping Association - California Chapter

Of course, I'm just messin' with you I saw your stripes and dots on the Herpetoculture forum. It wasn't my intent, but technically, they qualify.

Dang gartersnake killers

More cool stuff, everyone. Thanks for posting. I saw a YOY California Whiptail today, but failed badly on the picture. It has a blue tail

Here's another Pond Turtle:

i will post them anyway because they are native and indeed gartersnake killers thats probably the only reason why ive only seen 2 two-stripeds before




a nice king

his side

one of the babies is super light hypo?


the bunch


the "hypo"





what do you guys think?

Great stuff... everyone!
Jim - I love that teeny zonata... very cool!
Repaphin - congratulations on your success!
Robert - Nice range extension!

Derek,



Well, thanks a lot, but a range extension it is not (I wish ...). The gartersnakes were found well within their known range, but for whatever reason have not been documented much in the Santa Monicas. And the few records that there are appear to be more or less all from the same major watershed. Ironically, we were going to go to just that same major watershed, but couldn't find parking and so drove on to the new place instead.

Robert

PS I am going to give you a call sometime next week.

I'm really having a hard time wrapping my mind around a 5 inch baby zonata...because even a 7 incher is a runt...

TWSS...
Derek... I meant to add... way cool on the yoy WPT... If ANYTHING can give yoy HL's a run for the money, for flat out cuteness... it would be baby turtles/torts. jim

Not from 2012, but a YOY...


Baby Western Pond Turtle by tricolorbrian, on Flickr

Hey all, been years, but I thought I could actually contribute to this thread! I found all these within the last 3 weeks.


Red Racer


Uta


YB Spiny


GB Collared Lizard


Neonate scute


Neonate Mountain Garter


I'm sure there are others, but I have to dig 'em up. Hope you enjoyed!

best,
-Phil

Welcome back Phil,
Looks like you herp some of the same areas as me... dig the little Coach and collie...

jim

Keep'em coming. I'll link this one off my record voucher. Taken on the right hand road cut out my passenger window today:

...and baby mellon collies are cute (really old pic)

Great stuff, all. My first YoY Gopher of the year showed up today:

Pacific Gopher Snake, Pituophis catenifer catenifer by J. Maughn, on Flickr

Great shots everyone. I really like that little Z, and the Cal kings (Desert & striped) are awesome too. That little Collared lizard is really cool.

Sorry it's cb... but hey... my 1st baby hondo ever...

I went out to look for yoy's last night... couple of yearlings was all I saw...


going for rosys tonight... jim

Not California, but I will sprinkle some AZ flavor in here. I posted this in the YOY thread in the main forum as well

How about some in-situ shots of some baby crotes? I was fortunate to find a few of my favorites. I saw other YOY species but the shots aren't in-situ. Nothing beats finding babies and photographing them how they are. Then, leaving.

Last year, I found this neo Crotalus tigris coiled up where mama usually coils up. This was the first baby rattlesnake I hiked out. I don't know many people who have hiked a baby tiger rattlesnake coiled up.



This year I got to see -
Crotalus willardi basking/hunting. Pretty neat!


Close up with flash. The snake never budged. Was there a few hours later until the sun got too warm


I love finding specks coiled up, so I was very happy to find this baby Crotalus mitchellii pyrrhus doing its thing.


Not a big fan of Banded Rocks, but it is the montane that I get the most in-situ shots of. It makes it nice when you can get in-situ shots of a baby montane hunting. Crotalus lepidus klauberi

Though not a lifer, this little bugger was the first Western Sagebrush I've encountered in my home county. From yesterday's hike:


Sceloporus graciosus gracilis by Mo'o, on Flickr

Norman D - Nice in-situs

Nice baby button tails, Norman. I've seen a tiny winder and I'm betting those little mtn rattlers are about 6-7".

El... those sagebrush were pretty tiny. I wish we got YOY Elgaria there!

I would throw up this weekends CA Giant Sallies, but I'm not sure if the larvae or transformed would actually quallify.

In my driveway, this afternoon...



You can tell it's God's Country... when you have 10 different species of herps living in your yard... jim

How about 14 different species? lol

Nice pics everyone.

Haven't seen much lately besides a couple adult helleri. Here's a neo (or a yearling?) helleri found as is going under a pot on the porch a couple weeks ago and released right outside the yard. I've found two so far this year, right by the front door. Gotta watch where you're walking when you step outside...

That is way awesome!!!

Actually FOUND in your yard... or potentially in your yard? I could add a bunch more that COULD be found... just counting the ones I HAVE found... Be a cool thread... jim
Oh yeah... forgot Med Gecko... add one more...

Actually found, but only 13 now that I think about it... Only see about 5 species regularly though. I live on 5 acres in a somewhat rural area so it's probably not that impressive but still pretty cool.

What have you seen? I got Cal toad, Cal tree frog, granite spiny, fence lizard, side-blotch, night lizard, horned lizard, whiptail lizard, Cal Kingsnake, gopher, red racer, helleri, and Gilbert's skink.

By the way do you know if med geckos have been found in the Antelope Valley or near Santa Clarita? Man I know invasives are bad but it'd be awesome to have some geckos chilling around the house...

I only have 3/4 of an acre... but lets see... Lizards: SB, Fence, Spiny, Night, Whip, Hl and Med Gek. Snakes: Coach, Gopher, Night, King and one yoy helli 10 yrs ago (decent pop 1 mi away)
My daughter found a yoy Desert tort, once in our driveway, but several neighbors have breeding pairs. Expatriated in Hesp.
Forgot Ca Toads...see them every year... and have Baja's show up in my turtle pond every few years... the ponds at Hesperia golf course a mile or so away has them.
So... 15...one invasive, one cb hatchlng, since 96...
I'm sure there's probably Med Gecks in Palmdale... I believe they come in on lumber shipments to Home Depots/Lowes ect. They're in the Victor Valley and there was just a report of one found in Helendale...
Shouldn't you have slender sal's, as well? cyaaaaa jim

That's an excellent thread idea, Jim I don't have anything to contribute, but I would like to see what others have found on their property.

Michael- sounds like you have a great herpin' yard. Envious, I am!

Yeah... we'll see... Busy, I am. jim

Hmmmmm... Busy, is hellihooks. Time for posting new thread, he has not...

25 by Mo'o, on Flickr

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nzbhbetw ... page#t=22s

Orcutti... in N La... are you sure? S. uniformis, I could buy. Not really looking for the chance to correct anyone... just had this little voice telling me something I read somewhere seemed off... took me a while to put my finger on it... jim

You are right, it was a yellow-backed spiny after looking it up. Gonna go edit the record I entered in the database.


Also, nice variety of herps and very cool that you've seen a night snake in your yard. I might have to hunt the streets of Palmdale shining the walls for geckos one of these nights . I doubt there's any salamanders in my specific area, too dry and barren, maybe in some parts of town closer to the San Gabes with more moisture and vegetation.

http://youtu.be/M7242jsP6Xs

Good deal... Are your Hl's Blainevilli? if so... sounds like your on the west end of (basically) the same thin transition zone (transverse ranges/desert) that I live on... so yeah... you should see a lot of cool herps... just a little further north and those helli start Xing with Oreganus...

Well... trying to get Owen's thread back on track ( )... here's a yoy blainvilli from my back yard (couple of years ago, before I became such a great photographer... )

jim

PS... I am seriously butt-hurt that No one seems to appreciate Mel Brooks, in one of the funniest parts, of one of the funniest movies EVER.

Almost back on track anyway (2012). I did photo a YOY Sagebrush today. I have voucher photos on 25 of 28 CA Giant Salamander larvae. Some were small at less than 3", but I guess they're only YOY if they transform this year. I'll need to wait for the early November rains to get the really small 4" transformers.

All's good in NorCal. Giants beating Dodgers; Athletics beating Angels; Ooops... going to the Stanford - USC game tomorrow. It was good while it lasted

Hi all,

Visiting from AZ for the week. Fortunately my favorite snake here is also probably the most common in many areas - the Pacific gopher. Tons of neonates out right now and here are some that I found within the past several hours...





Wish I could come up this way every September!

I got a 3 second glimpse of a YOY getula; a first for me at about a foot long. Also, two catenifer of which the first was about the standard 13-14" and the second was a puny 10".

Crote from yesterday:


Northern Pacific Rattlesnake, Crotalus oreganus oreganus by J. Maughn, on Flickr

JimM

Beautiful photography, Owen and Jim. That's one of the most interesting juvie oreganus shots I have seen.

I don't have anything quite that nice to add, so hopefully these two will do:





This little Fence looked and behaved as though it just hatched. It was sitting on top of a large, flat rock bordering a small waterfall under which I also found these six fellows:



Speaking about frogs, what about this guy?





Pale phase cadaverina from the San Gabriel are not uncommon, but this one was about as white as they get. Or does anyone have pictures of a lighter one?

Robert

I've got a few ghosts, but photobucket's not loading right...
Till then... viewtopic.php?f=6&t=3991&hilit=ghost+Ca+treefrog