Three Coyotes and a Snake

RichardK · Post by **RichardK** » Sat Jan 25, 2014 8:32 pm

We hiked Chino Hills today in search of the elusive bobcat. Alas, the beast refused to appear. As a consolation, three coyotes and a snake came out. Does anyone know the species of the snake?

arocknoid · Post by **arocknoid** » Sat Jan 25, 2014 8:56 pm

That is a Pacific gopher snake, Pituophis catenifer catenifer.

Probably the most often encountered non-venomous snake species in SoCal. Nice photos.

Thanks for the Ken S. Latrans photos, too. Those furballs are ubiquitous...

kind regards,
Arocknoid

Mike P · Post by **Mike P** » Sat Jan 25, 2014 8:58 pm

Gopher snake. San Diego Gopher Snake, to be exact.

Thanks for the beautiful pictures!

Edit: I just noticed that arocknoid posted Pacific Gopher snake. I'm reasonably sure that the San Diego subsp, P. c. annectans lives in Chino Hills State Park. The Pacific subspecies, P.c. catenifer, lives further north.

mattmaxon · Post by **mattmaxon** » Sun Jan 26, 2014 6:28 am

Those are healthy looking Coyotes.

Post by **Uncle Rico** » Sun Jan 26, 2014 7:30 am

Super nice pics Richard. I don't know that I've ever seen a coyote in the middle of the day and its been another year without seeing a snake for me.

longcut · Post by **longcut** » Mon Jan 27, 2014 9:23 am

gorgeous photos. healthy looking pups. i get every few days, often for 10 miles at a time, and have noticed seeing significantly less critters in the last few years. Anyone else seeing similar patterns or am I just getting paranoid? For instance, last summer I was out locally at least 100 miles per month and I dont recall encounterin a single rattlesnake.

I'll feel a bit better if you guys are seeing tons off them. somebody lie to me.

lilbitmo · Post by **lilbitmo** » Mon Jan 27, 2014 1:54 pm

Yorba Linda and Chino Hills provide plenty of food for those pups, they have climbed over six foot fences and attacked my dog Charlie before, 14 puncture wounds to be exact, but alas he got great mouth fulls of fur as well, such is the cycle of life. Great pictures Richard

Post by **tekewin** » Wed Jan 29, 2014 10:37 am

Great quality photos. Thanks for posting.

I've been expecting to see snakes out with the warm weather, but haven't seen any since late last summer.

JerryN · Post by **JerryN** » Wed Feb 12, 2014 9:18 am

How do you tell the difference between a Pacific Gopher Snake and a San Diego Gopher Snake other than the laid back attitude of the San Diego Gopher?

Mike P · Post by **Mike P** » Thu Feb 13, 2014 8:22 am

JerryN wrote: ↑How do you tell the difference between a Pacific Gopher Snake and a San Diego Gopher Snake other than the laid back attitude of the San Diego Gopher?

The more southern San Diego snakes tend to use the definite article "the" when referring to roads. For example, "No way I'm going to cross THE 15, I could get squashed." The more northern Pacific snake would never say that. However, the Pacific spp. tends to use the word "hella" for whatever weird reason...

And there you have it...

JerryN · Post by **JerryN** » Thu Feb 13, 2014 8:56 am

Mike P wrote: ↑
JerryN wrote: ↑How do you tell the difference between a Pacific Gopher Snake and a San Diego Gopher Snake other than the laid back attitude of the San Diego Gopher?
The more southern San Diego snakes tend to use the definite article "the" when referring to roads. For example, "No way I'm going to cross THE 15, I could get squashed." The more northern Pacific snake would never say that. However, the Pacific spp. tends to use the word "hella" for whatever weird reason...

And there you have it...

Good to know. I thought it might have to do with the Pacific Gopher Snakes having a slight pinot color and the San Diego ones more of a hoppy look.

Mike P · Post by **Mike P** » Thu Feb 13, 2014 9:03 pm

In all seriousness, here is a table that summarizes the differences between California Gopher snake subspecies: CA Gopher Snakes

JerryN · Post by **JerryN** » Sun Feb 16, 2014 8:11 am

thanks, I did not realize there was that much difference between the two.

Jerry