I am heading towards the Northwest, Olympia and Lacey Washington this spring. How is the heping up there around the area or surrounding areas?
Hey Tony, we're just on the cusp of garter snake season (just looking for any sunny days above 45-50F) in western washington right now. Expect things to get more active through this month and especially in March/April. I was planning to check out a few sites down in the Olympia/south sound for puget sound garters in particular, just checking different areas in hopes of finding more azure blue snakes instead of the more common white-ish blue colors. In 2018 I hope to get some new video footage of rough skinned newts to pair with some NW garters for a short on tetrodotoxin resistance. I'd also like to get some footage of wild normal and/or blue phase concinnus in northwestern Oregon.
I have heard old timers living in the area who reported rubber boas near Olympia in the past, though I've not seen or heard of many recent rubber boa sightings there. Western WA is so wet that it tends to favor amphibs more than reptiles so the diversity of scaly animals is better in the central/dryer parts of the state. While I'm sure there are still rubber boas in some areas of western WA, I have yet to find one anywhere around the puget sound in particular. Though its certainly possible that these elusive fossorial snakes have outfoxed me here! I have been outfoxed by a few other elusive snakes in my life.
Not much lizard life near the puget sound (northern alligator lizards and northwestern fence lizards in some places but pretty sparse), and for snakes its northwestern garters, common sirtalis, and the occasional pickerengii depending where you are at. While this may sound fairly boring I've never seen so much variability in garters anywhere else in my life. Maybe I just need to get out more? I run into green striped garters, red spotted with faint blue stripes and deep blue belly (I suspect pickerengii or intergrade with one), blue puget sound garters, plenty of the more common yellow striped sirtalis/ordinoids, but also some cool orange striped ordinoids in the alpine mountains of the cascades. We've got rainbows of garter snakes in western washington! I know we've got some great amphibs out here too but I'm more of a reptile person so I'll stick to speaking about the scaly ones.
Not sure if you are coming in from out of state or not but I'll briefly mention the law here. Washington is technically a no-handle state by law for any non-game animal. Some of the state biologists involved with reptile conservation programs have told me flatly its illegal to handle any snake even on private land, but if you talk to the folks working in their wildlife reporting program they may mention a "for purposes of identification" loophole that would apply to state land (not national parks). I'd still encourage folks to get out there and find and appreciate some wild herps though, and I'd rather not bog this post down by telling people how they should or shouldn't act or claim that I know any better.
If you are keen on garters I'd scour google maps for green public land/state parks, look for sites with at least some fresh surface water, and I would favor sites that have some sun exposure like clearings or grassy meadows over thick evergreen forests where the ground is mostly in a dark shade. The areas close to the puget sound (western WA lowlands) aren't always very rocky or having much to flip. I'd just cover ground on a hike around a pond, lake, or other freshwater wetland area on a bright sunny day. Good luck!
Pierce County:
http://www.herpmapper.org/records?level ... vel2=43621
http://www.naherp.com/search.php?r_owne ... _voucher=1
Thurston County:
http://www.herpmapper.org/records?level ... vel2=43628
http://www.naherp.com/search.php?r_owne ... _voucher=1
Looks like the only Rubber Boa in either county in either database was found in 2006 by Joshua Wallace, who is a member of this forum.