Had an unbelievable day of snake finding in April. Went looking in a rocky hillside area in Riverside, figuring it was about time for stuff to be getting really active. My nephew and I came upon an old garage door that had been dumped and clearly hadn't been disturbed in a while, as it was becoming grown into the dirt and weeds. It took both of us to lift the board, and then the fun began. Under this one piece of cover were: 2 adult red diamond back rattlesnakes, a 4' gopher snake, a 4' red coachwhip, and a night snake. It was a fire drill to say the least, as we tried not to get bit while trying to catch snakes at the same time. The coachwhip and night snake (rear-fanged) escaped before we could grab them and get pictures, but below are pictures of the other snakes. A few feet away, another board held a little dark colored snake we can't identify. Anyone know what it is? Its the next-to-last picture below. A little later, about a mile away, we found a coastal phase california king snake. All snakes were released.
I've spent all night driving desert roads and found fewer snakes than we found under one old door.
Kevin