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In SoCal a few days - any good snake places?

Aurora

Aurora

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Hey folks!

I'm in Southern California (SF valley area - Encino) until Tuesday and my boyfriend and I are interested in doing a little herping, maybe road cruising or flipping. The *ultimate* for me would be a mountain king. I've only ever seen lizards and a couple racers while hiking, so anything more than that would be spiffy.

Anyone from the area have suggestions on somewhat nearby places we could check out? The only field herping I've done before was back home in MN for garters and redbellies lol. I know to watch out for the rattlers, no worries.

Thanks in advance!
 
hate to break your heart, but down in your area, youre not going to find a Zonata. you can head up the 5 till you hit Castiac, could try field herping there. (not on the lake lol. go up Lake Hughes, after about 5 min youll see many places you could pull over and go field herpin.)
 
I've lived in So Cal my whole life and the only mountain king I've found was in Warner Springs, a no-take area about 3 hours south of Encino. If I were you I would head up the 405 to the 5 to the 14 (Antelope Valley Freeway) and go to Palmdale/Lancaster area - the outskirts have many desert roads good for cruising at night for snakes. Use Google Earth and locate some rocky outcroppings near roads and target those areas. Good Luck.

Kevin
 
im in lancaster. i still say she should go up the 5 to Castiac and go on Lake Hughes road. out here is just rattlers, gophers and the occasional coachwhip, king and fence swifts.
 
Ive only heard of one mountain king & it was a buddy who found it up in big bear by deep creek. Ive yet to find a good spot within 40 min of riverside. Everything out here is dead with reptiles =/ Phelan is where its at! Ive found scorpions, snow lizards, fresh baby red racer, shovle nose, glossy snake tons of huge gophers, kangaroo rats, ground sqirls & tons more stuff! Its full of life up there just havent been up since last yr....
 
Thanks for the input guys. :)

I'm not *just* looking for mountain kings lol. Anything I can find is cool. I was pretty excited about catching a fence lizard in my boyfriend's back yard yesterday lol. Pretty blue belly.

I was wondering about areas that might be good places to flip too - places where people have dumped old stuff like doors and boards and such.

But thanks! I'll keep these places in mind probably for next time. :)
 
Auroa Hey there,listen while you are there in the a.m. just as it starts warming up you should be able to find many things coming out to bask. If it happens to rain while you are there the stuff should be jumpin everywhere,remember a lot of stuff is stll out breeding. Look for animals to be congregating under the rocks,just becareful where you put your fingers under the rocks. Also if you go out 1 hr before dark and start roadrunnin for the next 2-3 hours after your success rate should go up.Good Luck out there to you and your beau. By the way i am one of the leading experts on introduced exotics here in S.Florida as well as the native stuff. If the 2 of you get the chance to come to my neck of the woods,I'd be honored to take you guys out in the field here. Hit me up on my e-mail [email protected] or you guys are more than welcome to call me anytime @ (772-240-3456) Hope the 2 of you have a safe and great field time out there. I still haven't got to make it out there yet.Just most of the rest of the U.S.,Mexico and Puerto Rico,and Canada in the days of my youth 7-9yrs.old then,almost 50 now. ONCE AGAIN GOOD LUCK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
 
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