The March Trip

Changes in plans:
A few monkey wrenches got thrown into my plan for the March trip this last weekend, but it all ended up working out.
I had been watching the weather variables and all seemed perfect, but at the last minute the temperature for the day1 spot shifted, and it ended up being ~8 degrees colder than I was expecting.
It was obvious from that couple degrees that those high desert boas would be subterranean, and so I instead we hit a few spots in the low desert. The conditions here we better, but not great.
We decided to move to a milder location closer to the coast.


The real hunt begins:
We hunted hard all day seeing a bunch of salamanders, geckos, scorpions, and centipedes. Right around dusk my brother Greg and I found the first snake of the trip, a big adult female rosy boa.
Her eyes were solid black, and at about 3 and a half feet she was a very impressive snake.
Day total: 1 rosy boa


The next morning we were joined by my friend Bill. We hit a nearby coastal area and I quickly found the first snake of the day. Less than a minute after leaving the car I looked under A PIECE OF TRASH and found a very nice male rosy boa, about 2 feet long. Her eyes were orange and bright, nothing like the first boa.
Within 10 minutes and about 30-40 yards, Bill had found another one, a very similar looking female about 2 feet long.


About another hour later Greg flipped a GORGEOUS female. She was about 3 feet long without a mark on her, and was really nice looking. 30 minutes later my other brother Adam showed up with his 9 year old son. We took them to the place where we had found/released that 3 foot female but she was no longer in the same spot. After a few minutes of searching I found her out cruising a short distance away.
I then found a Lyre snake, which looked slightly different than the ones I'm used to seeing out in Trona. We played with it a few minutes and sent it back to where we found it.
Bill then found a rosy boa deep in a crack. It took us several minutes to coax it out, but we finally got her out. It was a female as well, and about 2 feet long. After putting her back in her home, Greg spotted another boa about 20 yards away. This one was a male, and had by far the brightest orange of any that I've seen in from this area. He was a serious screamer. We sent him back home packing too.
Having seen 5 rosy boas and a lyresnake, we decided to break for lunch.
After lunch we hit the habitat again. We went near where we had caught the big female the day before, and we decided to release her (we had bagged her). We videoed her as she slithered off.
A little later we found a pair of red-diamond rattlesnakes (rubers). The bigger of the two was the biggest rattlesnake I've ever seen, but both were really big.

We then headed to the cars to call it a day. We decided it would have been better to release the big female a little higher up on a nearby hill, so we looked for her where we had released her after lunch and found her nearby.
Day total: 5 rosy boas, 1 lyre snake, 2 red-diamond rattlesnakes.


The next day we met up with several more guys down near the border. Shatty, sideblotched and makoman hit one locality while Bill, Kent, my brothers, and I hit another. First two snakes of the day were found by Greg and Adam separately, two nice big red-diamond rattlesnakes.


Next was a speckled found by Kent. Seeing a speckled in this area was really odd.


None of the guys had seen one in that location before, and considering we had the president, vp, and several other members of the field herpetological society with us, it was actually kind of a big deal to see one.
Bill then found the first rosy boa of the day. It was a female, about 2 feet long, and had an odd pattern for that area. Instead of the normal unicolor look, this one also had more visible orange stripping.


Then about an hour later we found Bill and Kent found separate red-diamond rattlesnakes. Bill then found another boa, this one a little more typical for that area. It was a darker unicolor male.


Adam then found a nice big southern pacific rattlesnake. It was extremely aggressive, and so we took pictures with extreme caution.

At the same moment Adam found the rattlesnake, I found a stripped whipsnake (Masticophis lateralis). It was in the same rockpile as the rattlesnake, and I wasn't able to catch it before it got away. On a far off hill, Kent then found another whipsnake.
We then met up with the other group for lunch. They hadn't seen any boas, but had seen several (4 or 5) red diamonds. During lunch I picked up some snakes from a friend who was with the other group. Two pairs of Long Canyons, and a trio of San Gabes. One of the pairs of Long Canyons are more than ready to breed, and the other pair should be ready next year. The San Gabes trio are screamers, and could be ready next year too.
After lunch we hit the habitat again. About half hour later I was taking a break and talking to Greg when I noticed a big southern pacific about 10 yards behind me. He was cruising between two bushes like I wasn't even there. He rattled and struck a bit while we looked at him, then we let him cruise off.
Greg and Bill then both found separate red-diamond rattlesnakes. A few hours later we decided it was time to call it a day.
Day total: 2 rosy boas, 9 red-daimond rattlesnakes, 1 speckled rattlesnake, 2 southern pacifics rattlesnakes, 2 whipsnakes

Love is in the air

Most people start introducing their rosys several weeks after they end brumation, but Jerry Hartley recommended that I start introducing them now to ensure not missing the fertility window.

Here are some pictures.

Rosy boa morphs- Albinos, Anerys, Axanthics, and Snows

-Snow white. pic by albinorosy.

This information should all be covered (and more accurately) in Jeremiah's book.

---Mutation background
There are various mutations that snakes can have that affect the way they look. I'm only gonna talk about three.
Albinism - What we call Albinism is not actually the lack of all color, rather it is the lack of only dark pigment. Depending on certain underlying factors, the eyes are sometimes affected.
Anerythrism - This is the lack of all red coloring. The snake ends up looking bluish grey.
Axanthism - This is the lack of all red and yellow colorings. Looks similar to anery.

We label snake mutations as albino/anery/axanthic based on how they look to us rather than on any actual genetic testing. Axanthism and Anerythrism can be impossible to distinguish, so naturally there are disagreements about it.


---Known rosy mutations
There have been several of these mutations found in rosys. They are:
*Albino White Water - an albino rosy was found in white water canyon in 1993. Eyes are not affected.
*Albino Limburg - an albino was found somewhere in the temecula valley and then purchased by Randy Limburg. Only albino rosy with red eyes.
*Albino Harquahala - produced in captivity from wild caught stock. Quite rare. I only know of 2-3 people who have these.
*Albino Borrego - found in the wild. Currently only 3 in existence.


Albino Harquahala, pic by Jerry Hartley.

Albino White Water

*Anery Borrego - although quite rare, probably the most common of the rosy anery/axanthics.
*Axanthic Limburg - Most people call them anery, but they're probably axanthic. The original was purchased by Randy Limburg.
*Axanthic Morongo - Appear to be axanthic. Very rare.
*Anery pioneertown - Just produced in 2008 from locality captives.



Anery pioneertown with possible het sibling, pic by albinorosy

Borrego anery, Limburg, and Morongo Axanthics. pic by makoman.

---Snows
If you breed animals with two different mutations together, you will end up with offspring that are carriers of both mutations. Breeding two of these "double carriers" together gives a 12% chance of producing an animal with BOTH mutations expressed.
A "snow" is an animal with both Albinism, and anerythrism (or axanthism) expressed. Naturally they are hard to produce, and very expensive.

So far, the following have been produced:
*Carlson Line Snow - WW albino and Borrego anery. They have a light yellow pattern, and dark eyes.
*Limburg Snow - Limburg albino and Limburg axanthic. Solid white with red eyes.
*Snow White - WW albino and Morongo axanthic. Solid white with solid black eyes.



Snow White and morongo axanthic. Pic by albinorosy.

Carlson Snow with Albino WW. Pic by AncientDNA.

People have also crossed some of these morphs with various other localities, to bring out extreme colors or traits. One of the many interesting crosses is Kent's cross of the WW albino with a really bright Anza-Borrego. He then bred the Hets back to each other and produced this animal.


50% anza-borrego. Pics by Kent. So cool.

Warming up time!

Spring time has arrived for my rosys!.

A couple days ago I opened the door and heat vents in the snake room to begin the warming up process, and then today I cranked up the heat.

The snakes are cruising their cages, but especially the males. Breeding time will arrive soon.





The snakes that did not brumate are also all are doing well. The 07 male Bahia de LA, and the 07 Female San Matias have both transitioned to fuzzies. I'm really pleased with this, as they've grown quite a bit since I got them a few months ago.
The albino female will probably make the the fuzzy transition next feeding. She has been doing SO MUCH better eating, and even took food from my hand a couple days ago. My Male Lake Chapala is a garbage can, and eats everything I thrown at him. He is now taking full grown mice and growing really fast.


This years breeding season is looking very good. I sold a couple snakes over the brumation period, but should still produce quite a few if all goes well.

Litter 1 - Albino X Albino het anery
All babies will be albino, with a 50% chance of being het anery

Litters 2 and 3 - Het Albino X Albino het anery
50% of babies will be albino, with a 50% chance of being het anery
50% of babies will be het albino, with a 50% chance of being het anery

Litters 3 and 4 - Het albino het anery X Albino het anery
12.5% of the babies will be snow (albino and anery)
12.5% of the babies will be anery, and het for albino
37.5% of the babies will be albino, with a 66% chance of being het anery
37.5% of the babies will be het albino, with a 66% chance of being het anery

These are the litters that could be produced with my currently breedable animals. Depending on what I find down in CA next month I may be able to produce some F-1's this season as well. Pretty much all the CA localities have been getting good amounts of rain which should greatly increase our chances of success.
Getting excited!

Upcoming trips

I am getting really excited for the next few months. I have two or three big trips coming up.

March
My brothers and I are going on a flipping trip across rosyland in March. We plan on spending day 1 in the integrade zone, day 2 in the coastal localities, and day 3 down on the border/unicolor areas. Then on the drive home we'll hit a locality or two in the low-desert. This will be a blast herping with my brothers, and I'm sure we'll see lots of rosys.
These are the basic color variations we might see. Days 1-4:


April
I'm still trying to decide if I can go on this one or not. Jeremiah Easter is hitting an area of Nevada that he thinks will have rosys, and has invited me and some others to come along. If we can find one, it will be the first rosy boa officially recorded in Nevada.

May
The Annual Rosy Club 2009 will be held in May this year, down near the integrade zone. I plan on meeting up with an old close friend and seeing if we can road cruise some rosys. We'll probably also get up in the mountains during the daytime and find some zonatas. I'm really excited for this trip. The friend I'm going with has been one of my favorite herping buddies for a very long time. Although all our friends enjoyed snake hunting, he and I were the only ones who memorized the scientific names of every snake in North America.


I do have some sad news too. Another friend, the one who was planning to give me the pair of F-1 carrizo road rosys pinged me. The female carrizo rd died a couple days ago. It has been a picky eater and had just now started eating consistently. The male has been great with no problems. What a bummer. Oh well, we'll probably just try to catch a female. He's seen lots of them there and knows the area really well.

On a happy note, my 08 WW albino female started eating really well. I can easily start feeding her fuzzies now. With the way she's pounding food, I'm tempted to power feed her and put her down this fall for breeding. I probably won't rush things though.

Just noticed she's back in the blue. Snapped this pic a few minutes ago.

Pair of Carrizo Rd. rosys

I have this friend out in CA who has a commercial propagation permit for rosys, so he can catch and breed wild rosys and sell the offspring.
He and I have an agreement where I maintain his website, and he hooks me up with a couple pairs of snakes a year.

He just gave me (I'm going to pick them up in a month) a pair of F-1 Carrizo Rd rosys.
This pair was produced directly from his wild caughts, completely legal and legit).

Carrizo Rd rosys have jagged orange stripes on a pretty blue gray background. One of the coolest localities of that region, IMO.

I'll get some pictures of them up when I get em. Meanwhile, this is what they look like.


Also, he has 2.1 Trona rosys, so he offered me a male if I end up finding a female (which I will). Very nice guy.

Lake Chapala male

I just got this adult male Lake Chapala rosy. He's breedable size but will probably still grow a bit.

There are a few places called "Lake Chapala", but these guys come from the rocky outcroppings next to the Chapala dry lake bed in Baja Mexico, on Hwy 1 north of Bahia de Los Angeles, and about 60 km south of Catavina.

You don't see Lake Chapalas very often, or as vmsherp says it "Very uncommon in captive collections". If fact, besides the original image from Jerry, no other pictures of Lake Chapalas have been submitted for the multiple pictures project that I'm putting together.


I haven't had him long, but he's already one of my favorites. He has a little bit of a blue tint to his base color when he's in better lighting.