Upon reading the subject line, "Snake on Corralitas," in an email from a neighbor, I thought, "Don't these developers ever learn?" But I was pleasantly surprised to see a photo of a beautiful 3-ft long gopher snake (Pituophis catenifer). My neighbor found the snake in the cul-de-sac atop Corralitas Drive. Gopher snakes are not poisonous. They eat gophers, rats and mice. You often see small snakes that have been hit by cars in the street at this time of year. They crawl out onto the street to warm up in the morning.
www.CaliforniaHerps.com has a good photo index and info on native snakes and other reptiles. Also see last year's: "Snake vs Hawk."
Photo: Benjamin Harvey, March 18, 2009. Gopher snake at the top of Corralitas Drive.
Send us photos of your urban wildlife encounters in the Corralitas Red Car Neighborhood. Include your name, date and approximate time of photo and what the animal was doing at the time of observation: redcarproperty@gmail.com.
