Today my buddy Elke and I went for a 6.5 mile hike in La Jolla Valley. Among other sights, we spotted this snake. Can anyone tell me what kind it is? Elke actually stepped right over it without noticing. It wasn't moving ... was it playing dead, or actually deceased? It wasn't swarming with ants, so if it had expired, it had to have been in the extremely recent past.
2 comments:
Looks like a gopher snake to me.I used to see them in Chatsworth all the time, sometimes around the house.
Cris
" Alerted to danger, the snake coils up, vibrates its tail and hisses a warning "
The hiss is produced by use of an organ in the mouth called the glottis. The glottis opens and closes rapidly, giving a fair imitation of the rattle of a rattlesnake. The Gopher snake can also spread and flatten its head, thereby resembling a rattler even more. An unsure predator mistakes this behavior and the somewhat triangular head of the Gopher snake for a rattlesnake and backs off from its pursuit."
Cris, yep, I think you're right!
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