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Some accidental herping in Kings Canyon National Park

Blue Apple Herps

Blue Apple Herps

aka Matthew, PhD
I was in California vacationing last week and spend most of it in Kings Canyon backpacking. We spent three nights/four days in the back country. Wasn't expecting to see many herps, but saw a ton of lizards and one snake. No idea what the lizards, but the snake (I believe) is a California Mountain Kingsnake. These lizards were actually like rats; they were everywhere.

This was the only snake I saw; happened by chance, just saw a flash of red out of the corner of my eye and was able to grab him before he went under the rocks. He didn't bite or musk. Looked to be a yearling.

Anyways, someone want to help me identify the lizards and confirm the snake?
 

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Beautiful King...
The 2nd lizard looks like a good old obnoxious
aligator lizard that has his tail regrowing..
They are all over the place...
 
The king might be a Zonata.. Not sure though, I think the Zonata are only in the San Bernadino mountain Range.. Not sure where King County, although I suspect further up northern Cali considering the nice lush green, instead of the burnt up and dried out desert I am used to seeing..

Nice finds anyway and thanks for sharing the pictures..

Regards.. Tim of T and J
 
So we have a vote for spiny lizard and aligator lizard. I'm not even sure these are the same species of lizard. Their body shape and coloration are so different; but I suppose it could just be color variation and size differences?

TandJ said:
The king might be a Zonata.. Not sure though, I think the Zonata are only in the San Bernadino mountain Range.. Not sure where King County, although I suspect further up northern Cali considering the nice lush green, instead of the burnt up and dried out desert I am used to seeing..

Nice finds anyway and thanks for sharing the pictures..

Regards.. Tim of T and J
Click to expand...

Thanks! I did a search for Zonata and came up with this: http://www.kingsnake.com/king/zonata/multicincta.html

A Sierra Mountain Kingsnake. Looks like the California Mtn Kingsnake ahs a Sierra subspecies, which seeing as this was found in the Sierras is probably it. (Here's the page of the subspecies I found if you're interested: http://www.kingsnake.com/king/zonata/zonata.html)

And thanks for the kind words about the pics. I get jealous seeing all these other herping pictures. I spend soooooo much time outdoors and have only seen probably 5 snakes, including this one. It's neat to finally be able to share.
 
Oops, I only saw the first lizard. I didn't even notice the second pic. I think the first one (the lighter one) is a spiny lizard.

The second one (with the stubby tail) could be an alligator lizard...but I don't know for sure. Never seen one.
 
When I was a kid, I'd have said those are a couple of old blue bellies. (lol)

I would say fence swift on the first and spiny lizard on the second. Is there a difference? Maybe fence swift is just a general term for sceloperous spp. Neither is alligator lizard though. As for the king snake I just don't know..

That first one looks gravid though. I've hatched these before when I was a kid and didn't even know I had eggs in the viv.
 
Great pics Matthew. Congrats on the finds, that kingsnake is really a beautiful specimen. I really like the blue belly on that first lizard too (whatever it is :grin01:). I'll keep working on planning that trip in the fall and hopefully we can find a few more snakes in Tejas! :cheers:
 
awwwww that is so cool i wish i had a chance to see that kind or snake whatever it is but sorry dont know what they are sorry :awcrap:
 
Great pictures. The lizards are cool but that King is awesome. I would love to find something like that. For a wild caught animal the colors are amazing. Did you end up keeping it or is it illegal to take wild fauna there? Great King.
Jay :cool:
 
Pruddock said:
Great pics Matthew. Congrats on the finds, that kingsnake is really a beautiful specimen. I really like the blue belly on that first lizard too (whatever it is :grin01:). I'll keep working on planning that trip in the fall and hopefully we can find a few more snakes in Tejas! :cheers:
Click to expand...

Thanks :) Hopefully if we manage that trip we'll have even more success than this!

PJCReptiles said:
Great pictures. The lizards are cool but that King is awesome. I would love to find something like that. For a wild caught animal the colors are amazing. Did you end up keeping it or is it illegal to take wild fauna there? Great King.
Jay :cool:
Click to expand...

I didn't keep it. It was the first day of our backpacking trip, so nowhere to keep him; let alone the legality of it (which I have no idea of). I, too, thought its colors were remarkably vibrant. That's what gave it away; just saw this flash of red out of the color of my eye.
 
All the Mountain Kingsnake's, Zonata are protected in California some areas allow locals to collect one specimen. The San Diego and the San Bernardino may not be collected. Although they are bred in other states by breeders.
 
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