Snake Season

Neighbors on NextDoor are reporting finding snakes in their yards, including a rattlesnake and a San Diego Ring-necked Snake, Diadophis punctatis similis.   The Ring-necked snake is not poisonous, but rattlesnakes are definitely a danger to humans and pets.  When a neighbor found one in her front yard a few years ago, I wrote a post on how to tell a Rattlesnake from a harmless Gopher Snake.

 Recently I've been seeing a California Striped Racer, Coluber lateralis lateralis, also known as a Whipsnake, in my yard and the neighbors' veggie bed. These snakes move very fast and apparently can climb trees. I found this one sunning itself in my front yard the other day and again on my garden steps this morning. I thought at first it was part of the irrigation system, but then it quickly scooted into one of the succulents to avoid a dog passing by.

California Striped Racer

And then I also found a Western Skink, Plestiodon skiltonianus,  in the back yard this morning. This lizard with a very long tail lives up to its racing stripes and moves very fast but hung around just long enough for me to get a photo of it.  

Skink

The large gopher snake may still be around in the canyon somewhere, too, to the peril of the California Ground Squirrels that hang out under the bird feeder.   It pays to watch where you're walking these days.