Posted: Fri Nov 28, 2008 12:27 am Post subject: Short eastern San Diego County thanksgiving bughunt
So after thanksgiving dinner Denise and I did a little bug hunt on my parents property. My parents had indicated that at least once a week a find a scorpion dead in their swimming pool or in the filter, and periodically find them in or around the house. I know from when I was a kid that their property is filled with all sorts of fun stuff from scorpions to tarantulas to centipedes and millipedes. Of course various other beetles, spiders, isopods and earwigs are all over as well. So we decided to make a quick look.
Unfortunately it was wet and cold out so the odds were against us finding anything, but hey I brought the blacklight and thought it would be fun to look.
The first part of our hunt turned up pretty empty, though we did determine that this place is going to great during warmer times of year. Denise did find a couple tarantula burrows and we identified some really great areas on the property to look.
Just before calling it a night I found a small scorpion with my blacklight. It measures approximately 1.5". I believe it to be a Vaejovis sp., possibly a Puritanus. I lean towards it being a female.
Denise found a snake. I'll let Denise go into more detail, but originally we thought it was a baby rattlensake, but now we think it is something different. Denise can probably describe it in more detail and explain the thought process a bit more. We leaned towards it being a rattlesnake as my parents property is loaded with them (rattlesnakes, coyote packs, and the periodic mountain lion makes me someone leery of searching the property during the more active seasons).
On a side note from talks with my parents it sounds like they have at least one other species of scorpion, possibly two other species. Since it is cool out side at night at their place the number of scorpions visable at night might be reduced, so it'll probably be awhile before doing another look around the property. If they find any more they have promised me pictures for ID purposes.
No it was not a rattlesnake. Sean's Dad kept saying it was a rattlesnake but I kept saying it wasn't. There are many details that rattlesnakes possess and its obvious from the photos that this is not a rattlesnake.
What I found was a California Lyre snake (Trimorphodon biscutatus lyrophanes).
Very Pretty snake. Very calm and would rather retreat than bother anyone.
They are also very hissy when provoked-We touched it with a stick and got hissed at a few times but this snake would rather take off. The colors were somewhat muted-not sure if it was due to the air temps (64F) or it was going to shed at some point.
Very neat find.
I also found a juv. wolf spider walking around.
This area is a gold mine and I can not wait for the weather to warm up!
Yup! That looks like a Lyre Snake alright! What a find!!!
They *are* rear-fanged and mildly venomous, but with most rear-fanged snakes they have to get hold of a finger or some other small part of you and take several seconds to work it back to the back of their mouths in order to inject any venom at all. So for the most part, they are effectively harmless to humans. And even if you stood still long enough for them to do all that, their venom isn't very strong (usually designed to knock out small lizards). So you'd have to be allergic for it to really do you any serious harm.
Very cool!
-- Celeste _________________ "Tarantulas are friends, not food" (but I bet they taste pretty good with butter and lemon!)
You cannot post new topics in this forum You cannot reply to topics in this forum You cannot edit your posts in this forum You cannot delete your posts in this forum You cannot vote in polls in this forum
FAQ
Search
Memberlist
Usergroups
Join! (free) 
Profile
Log in to check your private messages
Log in
