Help ID

[jpccusa]

My friend sent me this picture of a wild snake.
The trail where the picture was taken is in Lake Forest, Orange County, Southern California.
Any guess what type of snake that is?

 

[K. Rene]

Could be a (pacific) gopher snake?

http://images.google.com/imgres?img...a=N&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&tbs=isch:1

 

[Outcast]

I would say a bull or gopher snake. though I could very well be wrong.

 

[martin-bernstein]

Could it be a very large checkered garter? I don't know if they have those in SoCal?

 

[Lovin2act]

We mostly get San Diego gophers here, but it could very well be a Pacific as I believe they overlap a bit. I have had several gophers that I caught when I was a kid and looooved them! Still do

 

[tyflier]

I'm almost certain it is a Gopher Snake. There are no true bullsnakes in California. As to which subspecies it is, it is very difficult to tell from a puicture that is so far away. Given the location, it could be either Pacific or San Diego. The color of the iris would help...

 

[jpccusa]

These pictures were taken yesterday at the parking lot where my friend works. Such a nice snake. It found a nice rabbit to eat in front of an audience. Show off.

 

[Lovin2act]

Niiiiice!!!! Was this in Aliso? That's a big boy there!!!

 

[Outcast]

Geeze, I am jealous, I have been looking for bull snakes, and gopher snakes, but I have had no such luck... Only seen one....

 

[jpccusa]

That was in Lake Forest - the parking lot of Western Digital.

 

[Daenerys]

Wow thats a pretty neat find!

 

[diamondlil]

Wow! What a great find, thanks for sharing!

 

[tsst]

Cool pictures JP!

 

[DaGiant]

Yup.. it's a big Pacific Gopher..
Nice find.. bad part is alot of them end up road kill
or whacked by paranoids..

 

[Outcast]

Yeah. Some idiot was in the pet store yesterday when I was verifying if what they had was a lie or not, well he started talking about the snake he killed. I asked him what type it was and he said it was a gopher snake... I asked him why he killed it and he said it was too close to his house and he kills all snakes that come close to the house because he has kids... I tried to tell him that part of the reason that NM had the outbreak of bubonic plague and Hantavirus was because people kept killing the predators and that keeping snakes around the house would benefit him more than killing them, because he is just making a haven for rodents to thrive... He didn't want to listen to me and kept saying that his kids safety was the most important thing, I tried telling him that not all snakes are venomous, but he wouldn't listen...
I wish instead of codling to people like this that the government would try to educate them, and let them know that snakes aren't mindless killers of man, but instead serve a purpose.... ugh... people make me angry sometimes...

 

[Lovin2act]

That was in Lake Forest - the parking lot of Western Digital.

Right on! Wow thats so odd that it went into the open like that there of all places!

 

[Lovin2act]

Yeah. Some idiot was in the pet store yesterday when I was verifying if what they had was a lie or not, well he started talking about the snake he killed. I asked him what type it was and he said it was a gopher snake... I asked him why he killed it and he said it was too close to his house and he kills all snakes that come close to the house because he has kids... I tried to tell him that part of the reason that NM had the outbreak of bubonic plague and Hantavirus was because people kept killing the predators and that keeping snakes around the house would benefit him more than killing them, because he is just making a haven for rodents to thrive... He didn't want to listen to me and kept saying that his kids safety was the most important thing, I tried telling him that not all snakes are venomous, but he wouldn't listen...
I wish instead of codling to people like this that the government would try to educate them, and let them know that snakes aren't mindless killers of man, but instead serve a purpose.... ugh... people make me angry sometimes...

He needs to be shaken very violently. Karma will probably have it that one of those kids gets bitten by something deadly due to his "kill and ask questions later" nature.