Pacific gopher snakePituophis catenifer catenifer
Thanks to Cindy at Dipper Ranch, I feel very confident in identifying gopher snakes now. I look for the dark line that drops straight down below the eye. Gopher snakes sure can get big! This one was easily over 4 ft. long.
3 comments:
Nice! Yes, they can be LONG, substantial snakes. Got to handle one fairly recently (pics of same snaky on blog)--every time I hold a snake I am re-impressed by how sleek (and strong!) they feel. And gopher snakes are frequently pretty tolerant of handling. Not sure I'd be so generous if lifted from the ground by another species! Great cue re: line by eye. Cool.
I'm amazed by how many ID sites and books don't point out basic identifying traits for the non-expert. "Buffy or grey with dark brown blotches" doesn't inform me much about differentiating this snake from others.
Thanks for the i.d. info!!! Nice shots.
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