Have I Mentioned That We Have Snakes in The Yard? C-P-R

[Moke]

C-P-R ?
Caught - Photo - Released

I see quite a few threads about snakes, but, most are about shooting them.  This is about the catch and release ethic.

We moved here in late 2-11, early 2012 ( early Jan. '12? no matter,...)
In that time, I've been involved in the Rattlesnake Relocation Project
In that time, I have caught and released 16 Rattlesnakes, released to a rive bottom wildlife refuge at the end of our road.
So, those Rattlers came on a single acre of land.

I've also caught and released back into our plot, literally dozens of non-venomous snakes, that the wife and I both love having here. Those include King Snakes, Gopher Snakes, Ringneck Snakes, and, very recently a very rare Rosy Boa.
I've lived here my entire life, in SoCal, in different areas, and, have caught snakes my whole life, now 64y.o. And, i was raised in an area of L.A. county where there was thousands of acres of grain fields, which caused a massive abundance of rodents, and, attracted and sustained a huge Rattlesnake population, amongst other rodent predator snakes. My folks bought into one of the first tracts that was built in the center of those "wheat" fields. And every morning, they had to do the rattleasnke sweep of the yard, as we had immediate contact with the edge of a sea of grains; our neighbors found one in their house, on the couch.
So, stupidly I killed them whenever I crossed paths with them in my wanderings. So, now to try to right that Karmic debt, I only catch and release them.  I spend so much time now, reaching onto a wild edge of land that surrounds us, that I hope that debt repayment might keep me from getting bit.  And, I've managed to first see, and then capture a bunch of them in our dozen of years here.

I recently replaced my old computer, and only have access to pictures of these two snakes that were recently caught.

I named this one, Number 16, probably 15" of pure biteyness:

[Moke]

I got this one perhaps a week ago, or ten days ago now.
It is a very rare, and very reclusive Cal native, Rosy Boa. It is a true Boa Constrictor. In my 64 years here, I don;t know if I've seen another one?
Its demeanor was extremely mellow. Its coloration was like crystalline gems, sparkling.
It was every inch of 3' long, and perhaps a bit more. I didn't measure it.
To say that I was thrilled is an absolute understatement.

[Moke]

Why so many snakes?
Lots of open land, and, directly across the street is likely 5 acres of unattended Macadamia Nut farm, and a huge amount of rodents from that.
The rodents get the pellet. The snakes get the free ride; we need them.

[Madd Hatter]

I caught a Rosey boa 2 or 3 decades ago. I was riding a dirt bike at the time. Went over and picked it up and put it inside my shirt. I brought it back to where we were staged at and gave it to my friend who is a big snake lover. I was really p.i.s.sed 🤬🤬 a few months later when I found out his son had accidentally killed it when the cover where they were keeping the snake. I will never try and keep a snake ever again.

[airgunaut]

A coworker at one of my former workplaces had a side job:  catching rattlesnakes found on site. He also owned a reptile shop in town. IIRC, he would relocate the rattlers or transfer them to someone who did that.

[Moke]

We live out in the sticks of SoCal, at least in our SoCal version of hillbillyism.  And we get loads of agricultural rodents.  This includes them living in cars, generator sheds, tunneling under foundations, etc.  This area is acres and acres of Avocados, and Citrus groves.

So, a couple of months back, the wife and I had gone to grab a burger for dinner. So, we loaded up, and rolled to town, and had dinner.

We're rolling back home from dinner, and we're in the last quarter mile stretch, which is a big sweeping turn, with a narrow shoulder. Suddenly the wife suggests in more than normal volume (think Charlie Browns teacher),.... Mike, there is a snake in the car!!
So, I'm rounding that sweeping turn with no shoulder at 45mph (legal), and now I see our street, and our place is about 100yds down road,... I'm running for it, as there is no where to stop until our road, and then stopping is stupid.

So, I lean over to her side, and big as day, there is a fairly large Cal King Snake, a harmless constrictor, that was looking for mice in the car, which if it looks hard enough, it will likely find a nest in the AC ducting, or cabin air filter - that kind of annoyance.
She knows King Snakes, and, was comfortable being immediately next to it.

So, we park the car, and left the doors open overnight. We haven't seen it in there since.

Have I Mentioned That We Have Snakes in the Car?

[Moke]

4th attempt to post to this thread, this morning. testing, testing, testing,...

OK, this try worked. But, what the heck is happening w/ the others?
I was just getting deleted and blanked out, with no post.

[avator]

Sounds like it may be something in your browser. I'm not having any issues.

[Horatio]

Temecula area?

[Horatio]

BTW. I wish we had snakes.

I got gopher #23 the other day.

Our Dobie would probably kill them though. I’ve seen her “play” with mice and lizards.

[Moke]

Temecula area?

Fallbrook.
We are in the Santa Margarita river drainage area, to the south and west of Temecula, in the Rainbow Creek tributary canyon.